AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I gave him the finger and tottered from the room.
Luke was true to his word. Within minutes, he texted me Celine’s location.
CHAPTER 20
CELINE
Ihad thirteen missed calls from Marcus.
I knew I had been very mean to him. He deserved so much better, but last night I had been furious with him. And the worst part was that he would never understand why.
I knew part of it was because of his privileged upbringing. When you were so rich, it was very easy to keep money out of the equation and just do nice things for the people you loved. But not all relationships were equal. I had learned the hard way that when relationships were unequal, it messed with the power balance between the couple.
That’s what had happened with Brandon. Because he was doing so much better than me, he thought he could tell me how to live my life, and I refused to let anyone control me again. I deserved better than that.
Although, I might have crossed the line when I abandoned Marcus at the bar last night. Well, not abandoned exactly, because Cam promised to keep an eye on him until he woke up.
“You’re as mean as a snake, Celine,” he’d said. “The poor bastard doesn’t know what he’s in for.”
“That’s the whole point, Cam. I want him to know the real me. I can’t be anything but myself, and I’m the sort of mean bitch who will leave him squirming if he pisses me off. If his ego can’t take that, we will never be happy together.”
“Still, you should have cut him off after the second jello shot,” Cam had replied, shaking his head disapprovingly.
Maybe, but I wanted to see what Marcus was like when he wasn’t his usual straitlaced, sober self. What if he got mean when he was drunk? I needed to find out now because I had to protect Rose, no matter what. I wasn’t getting into a committed relationship with a man so out of my league unless I knew for sure it was the right thing to do. I didn’t want any nasty surprises after I was locked into a relationship with him because if Brandon could turn out to be so nasty, Marcus had the resources to be a million times nastier. And no matter how much I loved him, I had to put Rosie and her safety first.
When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was call Cam.
“He’s alive,” he announced. “But he’s got a hell of a hangover, you evil skank.”
“He deserved it after he sucked down six jello shots,” I replied drily. “Did he get home safely?”
“Yes. His car was waiting to take him home.”
I had called a cab last night after Marcus passed out because I had to go home to Rose. But first, I turned him on his side, so he didn’t choke on his vomit if he threw up, and I made sure Cam kept a close eye on him.
I thanked Cam and hung up. I had no intention of waiting for Marcus to catch up with me until I decided if I could deal with his bossiness forever. So I took Rose out for breakfast at our favorite café at the Metropolitan Museum. We shared a breakfast bowl with granola, chia, fruit, and yogurt, and then, some French toast sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.
I forced the food down because I refused to set a bad example for my daughter. If she saw me skipping meals every time I was sad, she’d learn to do the same. But the French toast tasted like sawdust in my mouth.
I ordered a coffee to go and put Rosie back in her stroller. It was a gloomy day, just like my mood, so I thought we could take in some art and hope it lightened my mood. As I pushed the stroller out the door, I ran into Marcus’s Aunt Fee.
“Celine! What a pleasant surprise,” she exclaimed. “And little Rosie. I’m so glad to see you, my dear.”
We chatted for a bit, and then I asked her if she wanted to take a turn around the museum because Rose was getting restless in her stroller. She agreed and we set off.
“How was your night out? Did you have a good time?”
I felt a pang of guilt as I remembered what I’d done to her nephew.
“Ohmigod, what did that boy do now?” she asked in exasperation.
“Quite the reverse, actually,” I hastened to reassure her. “I’m the one who did something quite unforgivable.”
Reluctantly, I told her how I’d got him drunk and abandoned him at the bar.
“Hmm. I hope you took a lot of pictures,” she said, with a grin. “We need blackmail fodder if we hope to deal with these three idiots.”
I stared at her in surprise.
