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“You don’t need to worry about paying us. That’s all taken care of.” The woman said without missing a beat. “Kev, can you make sure Miss Lawson's cases are in the car?”
“Of course.” He turned to me. His hand stretched towards me and I took it without really thinking about it. “It’s been a pleasure serving you, Taylor.”
Smiling weakly, I waited until they had left me to change before I looked at the slip of paper he had placed secretly in my hand.
Gazing down at it. I frowned.
* * *
“Hey, sorry.” Leaning forward into the small space between the centre console, I tried to get the driver's attention.
He didn’t take his eyes off the road, but he did flick them up to meet mine in the rearview mirror for a second. “Yes, Miss Lawson?” His voice was ultra polite.
What was it with everyone and calling me Miss Lawson? It made me feel like a school teacher.
“Could we make a quick stop at Club Kudos?” The idea had popped into my head the moment we had driven into the city. I didn’t know for sure whether Judge would be there or not, but Gio owned the place. And they were friends. Gio would be able to tell me where to find him.
There were things I wanted to say to Christian, to The Judge. Very un-lady like things.
“I’m afraid my orders are to take you home, Miss.”
I did a double take and sat back against the cool leather. “Orders? Whose orders?”
Again, his eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. They weren’t friendly. If anything, he looked bored by this whole situation and it made me wonder. Just how many women had he driven home before me? How many times had he been forced to have this conversation or one like it?
Probably more than I wanted to know.
“You know whose orders, Miss.” He seemed to spit the words out.
“Do you always follow orders?” I couldn’t help the bite in my voice. He didn’t answer me. His eyes swivelled back to the road. I had been dismissed.
“I will go to Kudos anyway, I’ll just get a cab and–”
This time when he met my eyes, there was real anger in his face. He was tired of my whining and it showed. “It won’t do you any good. Look,” he sighed heavily, “if you tell me what you want to say, I will try to get a message to the appropriate person, but I can’t promise you they will be bothered.”
My eyes burned and for the first time since I had left the yacht, I had to fight back the urge to cry. It wasn’t that I was hurt, because I wasn’t. Not really. I was humiliated more than anything else. And angry. Not just at Judge, but at myself as well. I had known it wasn’t real, but I had let myself get drawn in anyway.
This wasn’t one of my damn romance novels.
“No.” I closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths before I spoke again. “No, I don't have any message for him.”
From the front seat, he nodded. “I knew just looking at you that you were a smart young lady.”
I didn’t know about that. I didn’t feel smart. I felt used and heartbroken.
JUDGE
“Keeley.” The last person I expected to see when I walked into Gio’s office in Kudos was his heavily pregnant but still stunningly beautiful wife. Her blonde curly hair was tied back at the base of her neck and her cheeks were glowing as she heaved herself up out of her chair to come in for a hug. Which I did with some difficulty. I had never in my entire life seen someone so huge before. Her stomach protruded outwards like someone had put a football up there. No, not a football, a beach-ball maybe.
Keeley looked about ready to pop.
“Hey you, troublemaker.” As always, her voice was soft, the American twang in it mixed permanently with her London accent. It was a weird mix. but what was stranger was how much she reminded me of Taylor. It was the inflection of the way she greeted me more than the fact they were both gorgeous blondes. I shook the thought away.
I had made my decision, and it was the right one. I knew that. I had to let Taylor go. She deserved so much more than I could offer. If I held on to her, I would have killed that pure spirit inside of her, dimmed the light that attracted me to her in the first place.
“It's good to see you, Keeley,” I kissed her cheek. “You're huge.”
Gio made a warning grumble in the back of his throat. His blue eyes rolled at my foolishness.
