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As soon as the car came to a complete stop, she undid her seatbelt, and opened the door. She climbed out then slammed it behind her. Chloe was headed deep into the Mojavi Desert when Jordan finally caught up with her. He took a hold of her arm, and as she slowed her steps, he locked his elbow around hers. She was not going to get away.
“Let go of me,” she snapped.
“No. Not until you explain that quip at the rest stop. What the hell do you mean I walked away? You were the one who took up with Zippo,” he bit back.
Chloe came to a sudden halt, her boots scuffing up a small cloud of dust. She turned to face Jordan. “For the last time, his name is Zapp, and I didn’t do anything with him. Foster had just signed Zapp, and his band and he wanted to create a fantasy for the fans. When he first suggested it, I said no, but then you abandoned me and went back to New York. I agreed to pretend Zapp, and I were a thing. Not because of the publicity but because I wanted to see if you really did give a damn about me. And your silence was all the proof I needed, that you didn’t care.”
What he’d seen on the red carpet at the All American Music Awards had been for show? It was just something to get a rise out of him. Chloe hadn’t ever been with Zapp.
The truth was, his and Chloe’s relationship had been crumbling long before the awards night. The album launch had really been its death knell.
I walked out of her home the night of the album launch. And I did go back to NYC. I made her believe I didn’t care.
“Throw another man in my face all you like, Jordan, but you were the one who left my launch party. You were the one who decided I wasn’t worthy of meeting your father. And you were the one who decided that the awards show didn’t mean a damn thing, that I didn’t matter. You went home and had a barbecue with your family instead.”
He let go of her arm, taking a step back. It left them standing face to face under the bright California sun. If they were going to have it out, then he may as well get his side of the story told.
“You did matter, Chloe. More than you will ever know.”
She rolled her eyes at his words and huffed. “Bullshit. I was a fling, a notch on your billionaire playboy bed post. If you had cared, you would have at least called the night of the awards.”
There had been plenty of women in his life over the years, some he had even fancied himself falling for on the odd occasion, but none of them came close to what he’d felt for her. Or the pain he’d endured when things had ended so badly between them.
“If I thought that what we had was just a fling, Chloe, I wouldn’t be here. I would have told my father that I couldn’t be bothered with you, and to get someone else to do this job.”
I need to tell her the truth about why I left. About how she made me feel less.
“So why are you here, Jordan? I can’t for the life of me figure out why an executive of Royal Resorts would be tasked with the job of babysitting a pop star.”
* * *
Chloe didn’t reveal that she’d discovered Jordan’s profile was missing from the executive team page on the Royal Resorts website. And she wasn’t going to mention the articles she had read about the Laguna Beach resort, and its initial failed opening. After the pain he’d caused her, she wasn’t going to give him an easy way out.
Let him tell me the truth.
“Are you going to tell me that you are doing this job simply to stay on the right side of your daddy, to protect his company’s investment in the deal? If that’s the case then just have the balls to say so Jordan, and we can build from there. And when I mean build, I mean a twenty foot high wall between us with a small hole in it through which I can pass notes when I need things from you.”
Her fingernails dug deep into the skin of her palms. She was not going to cry. She’d rather march out into the heat of the blistering desert, die, and let the vultures pluck out her eyeballs than do that in front of him. Jordan didn’t deserve to see the fruits of his cruel hearted labor—to see her pain.
He closed his eyes and sighed. “No. It’s not just about the money. But you’re dragging all the reasons for our breakup from out of the past and turning them into fodder for an argument here and now. You keep trying to put all the blame on me. You still don’t understand why I left. Or how small you made me feel. You are not the only one hurt here.”
I’d hurt him. Made him feel small. What?
Chloe lowered her gaze to focus on the brown and white sand at Jordan’s feet. She’d learned long ago not to look directly at the person who had come to deliver her bad news. Her memories of her parents were of not of their faces, but rather their shoes. Objects always held less pain than people.
“Tell me, Jordan. Why did you leave, and don’t bother trying to sugar coat it, I would rather hear the truth. I can handle that much better than lies.”
“Chloe, look at me.”
She shook her head. No. That was not how things worked. Her heart and mind processed pain in a particular way. A way that offered protection. She kept her head down.
His boots shuffled forward, and Jordan’s tall figure blocked out the sun. “Chloe. Please.”
Damn.Why couldn’t Jordan be like everyone else in her life? Just dump a world of pain and trouble on her head and then leave. At least then, she could get on with dealing with it. Alone. Like she’d always done.
Here in the middle of nowhere, he wasn’t going to let her retreat into her usual safe place. He was going to make her look and listen.
Think of the house and how getting this Vegas gig will save it. Come on, Chloe.
