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Her cheeks turn rosy at my words, and her dark eyes flash.
Damn it, now she’s pissed.
“What do you know about Ian, huh? Nothing, that’s what. You just barged into my life and turned it completely upside down, and you don’t even care. All that matters to you is your career and your image. Well, what about me? What about my image?”
“Don’t forget that you’re the one who kissed me,” I remind her.
It’s not totally my fault that this happened. She’s the one who made the first real move. I might’ve grabbed her, but damn it, she’s the one who put her lips on me first.
She glares. Fumes. Then lifts her hand and points her finger toward the foyer and the front door. “You need to leave.”
“But—”
She shakes her head, cutting me off. “Seriously. Go. Before I get my father and he kicks you out for me.”
I start to exit the living room, heading for the foyer, but I stop at the doorway, glancing over to where she stands by the window. “I’m sorry.”
I probably should’ve said that about sixty seconds ago.
Scarlett lifts her chin. “Your apology doesn’t make a difference.”
Damn, this girl is seriously mad. “You won’t hear me out?”
“No. Not at all. I don’t care. You need to go, Tate.”
I leave the Lancaster penthouse apartment without looking back. Ride down the elevator while my thoughts are a jumble of confusion. She turned me down. She’s not going to listen to what I have to say. Every time she said something mean—which was often—I said something shitty back, and I ruined everything. I need her and I lost her, all at once. Like usual, I fucked everything up.
Including my future.
CHAPTER10
SCARLETT
It’s only been approximately seventy-two hours since my birthday party, and my life has been turned so completely upside down that I don’t know how to right it again. Tate dropping by didn’t help matters. Rachel lurked in my bedroom while I spoke to him, and I was soangryabout everything. All of it. Especially at how nonchalant Tate acted about the entire situation. Everything that’s happened to him since Saturday night has been great. Wonderful. He’ll be able to reclaim his career and find new stardom, while I’ll be that one heiress nobody he made out with the night he got a second chance at fame.
It’s so unfair. But who said life was ever fair?
No one, that’s who.
I sent Rachel home after Tate left, not wanting to talk about any of it with her or anyone else. I tried texting Ian, but he mostly gave one-word responses, which told me he was super busy. Or mad. I don’t know which.
Fine. Whatever. I’m done waiting around for him. Oh, I’ve thought this before, and I’ll probably continue to wait around for him like the lovesick fool that I am, but God, I really didn’t need Tate to come along and screw everything up for me.
Like my entire life.
It’s Tuesday night, and I’d spent the majority of my day sulking in my room when my father announced at lunchtime that his friend and lawyer, Kincaid Baldwin, was coming over for dinner, accompanied by his wife, Miranda, and their son.
Ian.
I was a frantic mess trying to get ready for this dinner. I tried on what felt like fifty dresses, every one of them disappointing me in one way or another. I straightened my hair, then curled it. Applied too much eye shadow and out of pure frustration washed my entire face before I started all over again.
I basically drove myself so out of my mind with apprehension and worry that by the time the Baldwin family showed up, I was still in my room, half-dressed and with no makeup on my face.
The first course of dinner is being served when I finally glide into the dining room, a smile pasted on my face as I approach the table where everyone is seated. The chair directly across from Ian is empty, meaning it’s my seat, and for once in my life I wish my brothers were here.
And I never wish for my little brothers to be around. They make me crazy most of the time. They’re twins, they’re mean, and they like to play tricks on me. Dad always says they’re more Lancaster than he is, whatever that means.
Okay, I know what it means. The Lancasters are mostly a ruthless bunch. My father is a gentle soul compared to the rest of his family. Even compared to his sons.
