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“I know, but you did earn that money. You’ve worked so hard to make that event rock. I swear I will be so mad at you if you let this question your talent.”
We all startle when there’s a hammering on the door, making it rattle in the frame.
“Ainsley!” Casper shouts, pissing off half the street. His voice is enough to bring tears to my eyes again. He’s loud, frantic, and I don’t think he’s going to give up easily.
I look at the girls, wide-eyed and scared to deal with this tonight.
Imani stands and walks out of the room. Her back is straight in a way that I know means business. It’s how she looks when she’s ready to kick arse. “I’ve got this. You’re fine.”
“Ainsley, I know you’re home! Let me in! What the fuck is going on? Come on, I’ll break this door down if I have to!”
“Stay back, she doesn’t want to talk to you right now, fucker.” If she’s on his side, she doesn’t let him know it.
Freya whispers, “Are you okay?”
“Ainsley!” Casper shouts. “Imani, I need to see her.”
“She doesn’t want to see you.”
“Why? Fuck. What’s going on?”
“Like you don’t know. How could you do that to her?”
“Do what? I’m not going anywhere until I’ve seen her. I’ll sleep on your doorstep if I have to.”
“You crack on with that, buddy, because we don’t care!”
“Ainsley! Seriously, Imani, let me in.”
“Oh my God, the whole street is going to hear this,” I say.
“Do you want to go out the back? We could go stay with my boyfriend or get a hotel,” Freya offers.
I take a long breath that carries the weight of the world. If I want him to stop shouting outside my front door, I have to face him. He doesn’t seem to know what happened, either. That, or he’s going to act as if it was no big deal.
I’m bothered far too much about what he thought before we were anything other than enemies. His actions have made it clear that he has never believed I could take care of myself or make it on my own.
“You don’t have to face him,” Freya says when I stand up.
I straighten my back and swallow my tears, preparing myself to face him. “I do.”
Casper spots me the second I walk into the hallway. “Ainsley, are you okay? What’s going on? Imani, for fuck’s sake, will you let me in?”
“I’ve got this,” I tell her.
Seamlessly, we switch positions like the changing of the guards, just with a little less fanfare, and I’m now the one blocking the door.
“Sweetheart, what happened? I’m going out of my mind. All Reggie could tell me is that you’ve gone. I tried to call. Why did you leave?”
He looks wrecked. His pretty eyes are hollow and troubled. They beg me for answers and for a way to make this right. He leans against the doorframe, his hands pressed against the side of his legs as if it’s an effort to stop himself reaching out for me.
His pain is clear for everyone to see, etched into his expression, a constant reminder of how much easier it is for us to hurt each other now.
It’s not a power I should have handed over to him.
No one can torture me quite like Casper Hart.
“I overheard your conversation about hiring me with your parents.” The words leave wounds on my lips as I speak them.
