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“Then maybe we need to stop.”
“Why? You can’t live your life hating him forever, Matthew.”
“That’s exactly why we need to end this if you're starting to want more from me. Because I will hate him for the rest of my life. Even if that means I have to hate you, too.”
“That’s not fair,” I pointed out, as tears stung my eyes. “You can’t punish me for something my brother did.”
“It’s simple collateral I’m willing to live with.”
Translation: You didn't matter enough.
I shook my head at him in disbelief, as heavy tears rolled down my cheeks. “Fuck you, Matthew.”
Chapter seventeen
Matthew
A week before the gala, the hotel was hectic. It wasn’t the same as our last-minute golden anniversary party before. This one didn’t make anyone panic like last time. Instead, everybody in the hotel, waitstaff or otherwise, was feeling a surge of something close to wedding-day jitters.
Posters of the Global Business Gala were posted in the lobby, emphasizing that Parker Villas was hosting it this year. And now that our marketing department had posted said poster on the internet as well. It was what everyone was talking about in the business sector.
I, for one, couldn’t get my head around the idea that after only two years, my hotel had been chosen to host the world’s biggest business gala. But I couldn’t find it in me to be as ecstatic as I probably should have been because, for seven days, my mind had been revolving around Reagan.
It had been a week since our confrontation at her apartment. Seven fucking days since I told her that we should end our relationship because she admitted that her feelings were starting to get involved. And I didn’t need that. Not when she was the sister of the man I hated most in this world.
Reagan had taken my words personally and I didn’t blame her because I knew it had hurt her. I mean, I fucking admitted that I meant it to hurt her at first. I didn’t know how to tell her that since I had started sleeping with her, it had never crossed my mind to intentionally hurt her to get even with Ryan. It might have been part of the plan at the beginning, yes. But I didn’t have the heart to go through with it now.
But it was better, I guessed, that we stayed away from each other so we could contemplate what was really happening. Perhaps after this gala, we could sort things out.
I was signing a few documents when a single knock came from the other side of the door before it opened. Clair wore a green cowl-neck blouse and white trousers, her red hair loose behind her as she paraded into my office.
She carried a white folder with her and she handed it to me before she took the seat on one of the chairs in front of my desk.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“The performance appraisal summaries you wanted,” she said, producing her new vape of the month before she inhaled the thing and blew out smoke tricks from her mouth.
“It’s a month overdue,” I retorted.
“Yeah. You should read the one I wrote about Reagan.”
Even the sound of her name made me internally flinch. Was it possible to feel this way over something so stupid? Jesus. Perhaps it was because this past week had been the longest I’d ever gone without having to have sex with anyone. I couldn’t find someone to scratch the itch. All my body and my mind were looking for was the blonde employee who was on floor sixteen at the moment, cleaning rooms.
Clair raised an eyebrow before giving me a knowing look. I forgot that my friend could read me like an open book. It was both a blessing and a curse to have been friends with her for so long.
“Are you okay?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I pretended to read her report about the new employees, and true enough, I saw that Reagan’s was almost a page long.
“I don’t know, you seem a little…off.”
I scoffed at her choice of words and shook my head. “It might be because of this business gala we’re hosting. I mean, didn’t you feel it when you entered the lobby this morning? The place is buzzing.”
“Is it because of her?” she asked, ignoring my sentiment about the gala.
“Who?”
“Reagan St. James,” she clarified.
