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I gave her a light handshake and a warm smile. “Well, it’s nice to meet you too.” I smiled. “I don’t think I caught your name.”
I was on the show. Alec had not taken his eyes off me, and when I snuck a glance at him, he was looking with a feral kind of lust that made me shudder.
“Ashely … I’m Ashley Dobrev. I work for Alec, I mean, Mr. Blair.” She bit her lip, catching herself.
So, he’s bonking the staff? Weird, it didn’t seem to be his type of thing. But again … I didn’t care. I had to remind myself, I couldn’t care.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ashley. Working for Mr. Blair must keep you very busy!” I meant that as a remark for Alec, of course.
“I’m a monster,” Alec answered for her laughing broadly.
She seemed a bit uncomfortable. “No, it’s great. He’s great.”
Wow, it was all so very awkward. “I’m sure,” was my plastic reply.
“Well, I’ve got a call in fifteen minutes. We’d better get back to the table. I just wanted to reach out and give you the check. My office will be in contact soon.” His arm wrapped around Ashely, but not intimately.
“It was nice meeting you all.” Ashley almost bowed.
Alec looked back at me, and our eyes met as I sat back down at the table. He mouthed something, but I wasn’t sure what he said, so I ignored him until I got a text a few moments later.
How long are you planning on keeping this up?
It confused me. Keep what up? We had a one-night stand that lasted exactly one night. What was his issue? He was the one who called the shots. He wanted me to be wet and wrung out after one night! Bravo. I slept the entire next day, mission accomplished.
I decided to come back … all business.
Until we have enough money to help the kids who need it. Thank you for your donation to Morning House. It helps.
My pleasure. Let me know when I can donate to Every Dream … Of course, he would donate to my foundation; he had to be as amazing an asshole as was ever born. Give me money, but not his love. Fine.
Thank you. We have an event next month. I’ll send you the info. I kept it cool, even though I was shaking.
Then you have found something you – love? His response was strange, but not considering.
Yes. Was all I replied. I put my phone back in my purse, determined to ignore it.
My phone pinged a few times, but I didn’t look at it. I was dying inside; he twisted me up so hard. I couldn’t get home fast enough. As soon as I walked through the door, my girls were on me. Apparently, the event had been filmed and clips were shown on TV. They saw Alec and the questions went flying.
“Oh, my God. Kylie, he was there … did you guys talk? Did he apologize?” Maddy asked.
“There’s nothing for him to apologize for,” I said quietly. “He was just being him. We weren’t … I don’t know …” I didn’t want to cry.
I had been so emotional and unbalanced since I ran from Alec’s penthouse. I couldn’t find my center anywhere. It helped to focus on my non-profit and cleaning up my image, and I loved what Avery was doing with her fashion brand and clothing line and how we were empowering teens to live their dreams and be their authentic selves, but still, there was a part of me that was hiding. It had a lot to do with Alec and the crazy attraction I had to him even though I knew he was trouble.
It was odd that he tried to reach out to me whenever we crossed paths. He didn’t get as much as he wanted out of our night, and I got too much. For him, it was just sex, and I was looking for something more substantial. Just sex was never enough for me. I was an idiot to think it was.
“You weren’t compatible or whatever or maybe you just aren’t ready yet, but someday, someday soon you are going to have to get out there and use all those years of therapy to overcome your fears and date a man who might … love you,” Avery schooled me like a mother.
“I know.” Suddenly, my heart hit the floor.
“Did you eat at the event, or were you too freaked?” Maddy asked.
“Too freaked.” I gave a quick reply as I looked over Avery’s final designs for the Every Dream charity event the following month. “These are so awesome, Ave. Which one am I wearing?” I was like a little kid, finally excited about something.
“You’re in the wedding dress and are the last one to walk,” Avery was just as excited.
