Page 48 of Love JD

I set the bowl on her desk and resisted the urge to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. She’d braided it, but it fell around her shoulders in adorable disarray. “I have to go back to work. There’s a whole shitstorm waiting for me there, but if you—”

“I’m fine,” she bit out.

I clamped my mouth shut, shoving my hands back in my pockets. Stubborn fainting goat. "Okay, just text if you need anything. And don't go anywhere. Please."

"Heard you the first time," she said, stabbing her salad with a fork.

"Yeah, well, if you think I'm a jerk now, just wait until you fuck around with safety," I lashed out. My patience was definitely starting to run on fumes, here.

She rotated a slow, derisive look my way. "Really."

Fuck. "That wasn't a challenge." I angled a hard look her way.

She snorted and looked back down at her book. "Okay."

I had a definitively “oh no” feeling in the pit of my stomach as I left her in her room, but with nothing else I could do about the situation, I shrugged my suit jacket back on and mentally prepared myself for a very different kind of battle. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to handle this merger, but I knew that leaving the meeting had at least delayed the progress of it while I gave myself a day to mull it over.

Speaking of which, Azura's name lit up on my phone screen. Here came the chewing and spitting out of Zev's conscientious choices. "Hey, Az," I said as I headed to my car. I pulled the phone away from my ear as her shrieking tirade poked at my cochlea. Sighing heavily, I slid into the car and waited for the worst of her shrill lecture to wind down.

This day had already been way too long. And it wasn't remotely over.

Chapter sixteen

Isla

I bathed in a soup of humiliation and fury until I thought my flesh would melt off my bones. The words on my textbook page blurred together, and a headache formed at my temples as I stared down blankly. Stupid, I thought, clenching my fists on the desk. What were you thinking? Of course he doesn’t want to have sex with you. Are you insane? You have the seduction power of a primary election debate… on mute.

Sighing with disgust at myself, I ate Zev’s delicious salad—snarfed it really—and took the bowl back to the kitchen to rinse it out and grab one of the energy drinks I’d bought. I didn’t know if they were good or bad for my health, but I didn’t care. I drank one, staring out the sliding glass door and hoping that that stupid reporter would show up so I could take out my aggression on her.

When I had finished the energy drink, I stared at it, fuming. The memory of me on the island kept replaying in my mind. My bold question. His embarrassed refusal. I crunched the can in my hand, tossed it angrily in the trash, and swiped my phone off the counter. “Stay here,” I mimicked.

Not only did he not find me appealing past mild amusement, but he also had the absolute audacity to scold me. And order me around. I pulled up a rideshare app and requested a pickup. I was twenty-one, and the only time I’d gone drinking had been on my birthday at a bar where I’d puked all over my crush.

Fuck that. Fuck all of this.

I changed into a white bodycon dress, one of the only sexy things I owned, and paired it with strappy sandals dotted with rhinestones. I’d studied hard, I’d been through some seriously disturbing shit lately, and I was going to get sloshed. Like a fucking adult.

I pulled out my wallet and stared at the matte, black credit card Tristan had given me months ago. I hadn’t put a dime on it, but the limit had made me just about fall over in shock. Making a split-second decision, I switched my ride to a deluxe edition. As a result, a slick, pearly white luxury SUV pulled up to Zev’s curb, and I threw myself into the back seat with regret hammering away at my poor impulse control.

“Where to?” the driver asked. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and her long, blond hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail. She blinked at me under a swoopy fringe, and I immediately knew she could help me.

“If I Venmo you five grand, will you be my driver for the night?”

She blew out a bubble of pink bubble gum, let it pop, and gave me a crooked grin. “Baby, for that cash, I’ll give you my car and my cussing body. How can I help?”

“I need to get drunk,” I said seriously.

She laughed, her straight white teeth flashing. “Okay, cutie. I got you. Buckle up.”

My driver, it turned out, was named Mattie, and she hopped from city to city traveling and taking on odd jobs. I didn’t ask how that allowed her access to a luxury car, but I had a feeling I didn’t exactly want to know the answer. She took us through the heart of Denver, chatting easily about some of her weirder clients and wanting to know how my parents had pissed me off enough that I wanted to skip out and get wasted.

“It’s not my parents,” I admitted as she rolled up to what looked like a club. It didn’t have parking anywhere near it, two bouncers guarded the darkened front door, and the sign had a slick, black logo that looked enticingly discreet. I had the sudden realization that I knew nothing about the world, and this could get… interesting.

“You own that house I picked you up from?” she asked in surprise.

“No, I’m staying with a friend. And he royally pissed me off,” I seethed.

After parking at the curb, she turned in her seat to give me a dubious eyebrow lift. “Oh.”

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