Page 91 of Forking the Billionaire

I took a step back, then another.

Jules looked at me. A wicked smile curved across her lips.

My back slammed into the wall.

I twisted on my heel, the image still seared into my brain. And I ran. I didn’t know where I was going. All I knew was I needed to be away from here.

Farfaraway.

My lungs and my calves burned.

I should have been mad, should have thrown the pair of them out of my room. But everything I thought I should have felt—anger, jealousy, anything really—I felt none of it.

Halfway down the road, I burst into laughter.

It was the only logical reaction. Vomiting would have been appropriate, too. The first thing I wanted to do now was tell Esme all about it.

A weird energy sparked through my limbs as I walked the rest of the way to her place. I reached the porch and noticed the lights were on.

Good, she was home.

I couldn’t wait to see her, couldn’t wait to share.

Through the open window I heard laughter—not just Esme’s, but a man’s, too.

A lump formed in my throat.

“But in all seriousness, Es, I need to tell you something,” the man said.

And I knew who it had to be—Ziggy, the musician. The weird elation I’d felt on the way here slowly blew out of me with every breath I took.

I should knock on the door, let them know I was here. But I couldn’t.

“Spit it out,” she said.

“It’ll sound better through song.”

“Fine. Dazzle me.”

I felt sick. I should just leave. I couldn’t manage to do that, either. It was like my feet were cemented to the porch.

Ukulele music played. “Shaded beneath the palms, beside the ocean blue,” Ziggy sang. “Startling as a seagull's coo, my heart fluttered and flew.”

No, this wasn’t happening. Walk away, legs. Now.

“Life's a beach, with you, it's true,” he sang. “Esme, I love you.”

It felt like a grenade went off in my chest, shredding everything in its path. All the emotions I should have been feeling before, I felt them now.

I didn’t care if Jules and Chester banged. But this, hearing another man profess love for Esme…it broke me.

Furious and gutted, I stepped back into the sand.

It was a mistake to come here, one of so many mistakes lately. I just couldn’t seem to stop screwing up when it came to Esme.

TWENTY-FOUR

ESME

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