Page 16 of Bitter Secrets

“I need my laptop.”

“I got it. Shoved all your papers and shit into a bag.”

“But I—”

He grasped her wrist and towed her out of the closet.

“You didn’t tell me when to wake up,” she grumbled.

“You didn’t want to know.”

“I’d want to know if it was at this hour!”

“You used to be a morning person,” he said as they boarded the elevator.

“I was a young student,” she yawned. “Now I’m an artist who goes to sleep at the crack of dawn.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“Where’s my laptop and your stuff?”

“Mo already has it.”

“You put everybody on this awful schedule?”

He squeezed her hand to shut her up as the elevator operator grinned. She was grateful the lobby was empty, since she was in no state to deal with people. She climbed into the back of the SUV and slumped against the door. She felt like death.

“How do you do this?” she groaned.

“Practice.”

“You probably got less sleep than me.”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“Hours?”

“Yes.”

“Three.”

“You’re going to kill yourself,” she said darkly.

His hand rested on her thigh and squeezed. “That’s where you come in.”

“What?”

“Having you with me will force me to schedule free time.”

“You never did that before.”

“I told you, things will be different this time around.”

She was too exhausted to examine what he meant by that. Mo and Johan talked in low tones as Roth messed around on his phone. She pulled up her hood and dozed off. It felt like seconds later that Roth was shaking her awake. She gave him a killing glance as she hopped out of the SUV and started toward the jet. The light was too bright and the flight attendant's chipper voices hurt her ears. This jet had a different configuration from the one they took from Colorado. This one had a long couch along one side, which she honed in on before she was blocked by a woman with a megawatt smile. She eyed Sarai, Roth’s personal assistant, with such potent menace that the woman should have leapt out of her way. Instead, Sarai grabbed her hand to inspect her ring.

“It’sgorgeous!” Sarai gushed.

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