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“Brad?” Ezra’s voice sounded from behind me, and I turned just in time to see him shoving through the crowd to survey the scene. His eyes widened at the photo. “What’s going on?”
“I’m here to get my girlfriend back,” Dennis said. “Who the hell are you?”
“This is my event,” Ezra said coolly. “And I don’t remember handing you an invitation.”
Craig was the next person to shove through the crowd, nothing but malicious intrigue lighting up his eyes as he spotted the photo Dennis still held up. “That’s from three weeks ago,” he said, reading the timestamp above the damn photo and almost bouncing on his feet with delight. “Holy shit, this whole engagement stuff you’ve been spouting with her has been fake!”
“Engaged? Those two?” Dennis shook his head. “No way. We’ve been together for years.”
“We’re done!” Luna fired his direction, stepping toward him like she might strangle him. I held out an arm, gently holding her back.
“Wow,” Craig said, nodding to Ezra. “Do you really want to get into business with a liar?”
Ezra pursed his lips, looking at me. “Are you with Luna or not?”
I swallowed the knot in my throat, my mind whirling. Instinct shouted at me to pummel Dennis for even trying to come near Luna again, but the uncertainty of where we stood haunted my every breath.
“I’m not,” I finally breathed the answer, and hated the gasp that slipped past Luna’s lips.
Shit. Had she wanted me to lay claim to her when we hadn’t ever discussed the reality of our situation? I didn’t want to speak for her without her telling me exactly what she wanted. Fuck me, I shouldn’t have waited so long—
Luna shoved past me, through the crowd, hurrying out of the ballroom.
“Luna!” I called after her, moving to follow her.
“That’s right,” Dennis said, stepping in front of me. “She’d never pick you. Not when she could have me. Not when I’ve been inside her more times than you could ever imagine—”
I didn’t think, didn’t breathe, I reacted.
My fists stung, my knuckles singing as I hit and hit and hit.
“You never treated her right!” Punch, crack. We tumbled to the floor, and I hit him again, feeling him go limp beneath me. But I wasn’t going to stop. I wasn’t going to stop until I’d paid back every ounce of pain he’d ever caused her—
Arms encircled me from behind, dragging me off the floor, forcing me to stand before shoving me through the crowd that parted with nothing but fear in their eyes. I heard Ezra give a few demands to his security team before he shoved me into the hallway, down it a bit, and into a room before he slammed the door behind us.
“My team will get that asshole to the police,” Ezra said, and my vision finally cleared of red.
We were in a small conference like room, Ezra leaning against the closed door as if he was afraid I’d bolt through it and attack Dennis again.
I breathed deeply, urging the adrenaline to slow it as I shook out my aching hands. Fuck, I had blood on my knuckles that wasn’t mine.
“I’m sorry,” I finally said to Ezra. “I wasn’t trying to scam you,” I explained. “I just wanted a fair shot at your time.”
“Who is Luna to you?” he asked, calmer than me for sure.
“Everything,” I said. “She’s everything to me. And I respect you, Ezra. I really fucking do. You know that. You know how I feel about your company, but if it comes down to this business deal or chasing after the girl of my dreams, then you know what I’ll choose.”
“Her.”
“It will always be her,” I said, stepping up to him. “Please move.”
Ezra nodded, grinning up at me as he stepped to the side. “Go get her.”
CHAPTER 17
Luna
I didn’t even bother getting my things from our room—I just headed right out of the hotel lobby and hailed a cab with nothing but my small clutch in my hands and tears streaming down my cheeks.
Lucky for me, I had my wallet and phone in my clutch, and it was all too easy to make it to the airport and buy a ticket home. I’d have to wait an hour, but who cared? I’d absolutely ruined everything in the span of ten minutes.
I sat heavily in the waiting area for my flight, hurrying through my phone to turn off the tracking app. I hadn’t even thought about it after I’d blocked him, certain that it would take care of the sharing information portion of my phone too. Apparently not.
Not only did it lead him right to me, but it’d exposed what Brad and I had done, the relationship we’d concocted.
Dennis may have showed up and wrecked everything, but I’d lost the deal for Brad. Lost it by ever being connected to a person like Dennis. Lost it because Dennis wouldn’t have even been there if I hadn’t blocked his number, hadn’t stopped responding to his antics.
