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“Thank you.”
I pause before exiting the living room. “I’ll try to give you what you want, Lucy, but I won’t promise to stay away.”
“Because you don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she parrots back to me.
I nod my head and walk out, making my way to the kitchen, where I call a town car company and arrange for someone to come and collect her. I don’t know what I was thinking bringing her here. I didn’t want to let her go, but I also didn’t want to force myself on her. I guess, in my fucked-up head, giving her the guest room was a good compromise.
EIGHTEEN
I walk out of the exam building and look up into the sun. I just finished my last exam for the year. Only two more years to go and I’ll have my undergrad done. But now, it’s semester break and my time to sleep, party, shop and repeat. That’s if I don’t get killed by my best friend before the weekend is out. Shar started working at Xavier’s office on Monday, and to say she’s having issues with his level of assholeness is an understatement.
At this point, I don’t know if she wants to kill me, him, or both.
Hopefully this forces them to act on that little shared crush of theirs. I couldn’t dream of a better sister-in-law than Shar, and Xavier would be more than lucky to have her—let’s be honest, it’s not like my brother is a catch. I mean, he’s good looking and rich as hell, but his personality is seriously lacking and anyone who puts up with him without smothering his ass in his sleep deserves a gold medal. Although, as far as brothers go, I did get the best.
I plan on making it up to Shar over the weekend. I send her a message asking her to meet up on Sunday.
Shit, Sunday. It’s been so quiet this week I haven’t even thought about Sunday dinner. The Sunday dinner that my mother invited the McKinleys to attend. Fuck. Maybe Dominic’s not going to show. After all, I haven’t had any creepy messages, no gifts, nothing all week. And I haven’t seen him on campus. If he’s completed his exams, then I don’t know where… because I may have searched every room. Waiting for the psycho to jump out of the shadows and snatch me.
I don’t understand what his game is. And that’s frustrating as hell. And the way my body reacts to him,thatI really don’t get. I should be repulsed by him. The guy has cameras hidden somewhere in my apartment. Cameras I’ve done my best to locate and keep coming up empty. Whatever he’s using to watch me, it’s hidden bloody well. I’ve spent the week waking up in a cold sweat, plagued by nightmares of being trapped in a glass jar.
His words haunt me:If I could lock you in a glass jar and watch you come over and over again, I would.
Who the fuck says shit like that? Dominic McKinley, that’s who.
And who the hell gets turned on by those words? Me. Apparently.
I know. I need a damn shrink. I message Xavier and make sure he’s going to be at dinner. I don’t want to be there alone if Dominic does in fact make an appearance. I need backup, support. Even if no one else knows what’s happened between us, I know. I know what I’ve let him do to me. And I’m both ashamed that I let it happen and am well aware, if trapped in another bathroom with him, I’d probably let it happen again because that man can pull pleasure out of me unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.
I tap out my message to Xavier.
Me:
You HAVE to BE at dinner this Sunday. I need you there!!!!!
I add the extra exclamation marks to show how serious I am. He replies with a simple thumbs-up emoji, and I roll my eyes. He’ll be there.
* * *
I pick up my phone.I’m sitting in my living room with Shar. We’ve spent the weekend together and now I’m avoiding the fact that I have to leave and head over to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe he’s bailing again. Asshole!” I scream, throwing my phone onto the coffee table.
“Woah, what happened?” she asks.
“Xavier, I’m going to kill him. He’s bailing on dinner tonight.Again,” I groan, covering my face with my hands.
“It’s dinner with your parents, Lucy. It’s hardly a disaster. I’m sure you’ll survive,” Shar says before plopping down beside me on the couch.
“No, I won’t. They’ve been trying to set me up with Dominic McKinley. I wanted Xavier there to act as a buffer.”
“Who?”
“The son of some business associate of theirs from Sydney. Doesn’t matter who he is; he’s a psychopath and I want absolutely nothing to do with him.” I scrunch up my face, attempting to show my disgust for the man in question, or rather the disgust I have for myself and how I react to him.
Reaching over, Shar presses the pad of her thumb against the middle of my eyebrows. “Stop frowning. You’ll give yourself wrinkles.” She laughs.
I swat her hand away with an exaggerated sigh. “Good. Maybe if I get ugly, Dominic will take one look at me and won’t be interested in pursuing this stupid setup from our parents.”
