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“Time to leave,” said Dax, tipping his head toward the door.
She backed up fast, crashing into the island again. “No.I like it here. And I’m not going anywhere withyou.”
“You don’t have a choice in that,” he told her, a chill to his voice. “You’ve been your usual, destructive self and so overstayed your welcome here. But you’re too wasted to be left alone, so one of us needs to take you somewhere safe.”
She scoffed. “Like you give a shit if I’m safe.Youdon’t care aboutme.” She swallowed, her eyes glistening.“Why won’t you care about me? Why can’t you want what I want?” She stumbled toward him.
He lifted a hand to ward her off. “Don’t,” he ordered, his voice sharp. “We’re not doing this again. I’ve told you many times that you’re pushing for something you’re never going to have. I’ve also told you why, but you’re choosing not to listen. If you’d prefer to ignore me, do that. But I’m not going to cover old ground yet again. And if the fact that I married someone else doesn’t clearly spell out for you that I don’t—and never will—want a future with you, I doubt anything will.”
Harsh words, harsh tone, but I couldn’t blame him for feeling so exasperated.
The distress fled from her expression in a rush, rapidly replaced by anger. “You can be so cruel sometimes. It’s because your exes are right—you’re cold inside. I see that now. What warmth you had died with Gracie. And now you can’t love anyone.”
Bristling, I spoke up, “You don’t believe that. Youwantto believe he’s dead inside because then it will hurt less that he doesn’t feel for you what you feel for him. But you know it’s pure bull.”
Her cheeks flaming with rage, she pointed at me again while cutting her gaze back to Dax. “Get her out of here,” she imperiously ordered … liked this was her home and he lived to serve her. “I don’t want her near me.”
More like she didn’t want to hear what I had to say, because she knew it to be true and didn’t want to face it.
“The only person who’s leaving is you, Mimi,” Caelan cut in. “Even if I have to carry you out of here, you’re leaving.” He looked at Dax. “I’ve got this. You and Addison head home.”
“Home,” Mimi spat. “How cozy.” She flashed a sly smirk my way. “Did Dax tell you about us? About the times we slept together?”
I shot her aBitch, pleaselook. “That never happened, and we both know it.”
“But the press doesn’t.” Her smirk widening, she turned back to him. “Imagine what the world would think if they thought you’d slept with your dead girlfriend’s identical twin. Imagine the pretty lies I could tell them.”
I went motionless. Oh, that motherfucking skank. I would have marched over there and gotten right in her face if Caelan hadn’t grabbed my arm.
“Imagine how much they’d lap that shit up,” Mimi went on. “There are other things I could tell them. Things about Gracie.Goody-two shoes, Gracie. She wasn’t really so perfect, you know.” With a gasp, Mimi slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes going wide.
I tensed. Now what in the hell wasthatsupposed to mean?
Dax slowly stalked into her personal space. “If you want to join the list of women who talked to the tabloids, you do that,” he welcomed, his words coming low and unrushed. “I don’t care what the world thinks of me. The question is … will you care that you’ll have burned every last bridge you have? Let’s face it, there aren’t many.”
Her eyes flickering, she flexed her fingers. “I wish I could say I hate you. I really do.” The admission was quiet. Sad. Self-pitying.
Unmoved by that, Dax said, “Caelan’s going to take you to one of your friend’s houses now. Don’t be any more difficult than you already have been—for Raven’s sake, if nothing else. She’s always been a good friend to you. You’ve disrespected her enough for one night, don’t you think?”
Releasing my arm, Caelan crooked his fingers at Mimi. “Let’s go.”
Straightening to her full height, she swept her hands down her sides. “Fine. ForRaven,I’ll go quietly.” She pretty much weaved her way to him.
I stilled, bracing myself for her to do something dumb like launch herself at me. Not that it would work—her balance was shit, Caelan wasright there, and the others would step in if he didn’t—but it seemed that she wasn’t the most rational of people when drunk. She didn’t pounce, however. She instead painted a haughty expression on her face and didn’t even glance my way, as if I wasn’t worth her attention.
Right back at you, heifer.
Honestly, I got the feeling that the real reason she’d so easily left without incident was that shewantedout of here so she could escape being questioned over what she’d said about Gracie. She’d startled herself by blurting that out. Panic had rippled across her face.
Also guilt.
But was she playing Dax? If Gracie had done something that would hurt him, wouldn’t Mimi have told him about it in an effort to make him let her sister go?
He hadn’t reacted to her comment. Hadn’t so much as batted an eyelid. He’d been more bothered by her threat to talk to the press. Which said he either trusted Gracie so implicitly that he wouldn’t believe she’d done anything to wrong him,orhe simply thought Mimi was attempting to dick with him.
Once I heard the apartment front door close, I puffed out a breath. “That was rough. Are you okay, Raven?”
“Yeah.” Her shoulders drooped. “It’s just sad that things are the way they are, you know? It isn’t the first time she’s showed up here moaning about how much she wishes she could stop feeling anything for Dax. But it was different this time. She’s bitter. Resentful. I expected it, because it was inevitable that she’d be pissed that he’s married. But I didn’t expect her to say she was considering selling her own story to the tabloids.”
