Page 132 of Burn With Me

Ginny

Soft, giant, silvery wings are waiting for me outside my dressing area. These ones are bigger than the black and gold ones and have more meaning behind them.

Trust.

Experience.

“He requested you wear them. Along with the outfit he sent,” Carmela says behind me.

My stranger.

Jackson.

When Carmela called and told me I’d been booked, I immediately said no. I’d already told her I was done working at the club.

But then she saidhe’dbe waiting for me.

Hearing those words let all the stress and tension from the week prior melt from my body, leaving hope and anticipation in their wake.

And maybe just a little anxiety.

Why does he want to meethere?

Whydidn’t he tell Carmela to sayhewould be waiting, instead of specifically saying I’d be meetingmy stranger?

Jackson has barely spoken to me in days—avoiding me so I can take our time apart to decide what I want.

I don’t know how to get it through his thick skull that I just wanthim.

But now he’s asking me to meet him here—the place where our storyline unfolded.

Before we both ripped the pages out and threw them into the flames.

Is this our elegy? Will this be a sad lament of a relationship that never truly got to flourish?

Does our story end tonight?

A female security guard enters the room, taking Carmela’s attention away from her phone. “You have a visitor in your office, Ma’am.”

“You gonna be okay?” Carmela asks me.

I’m not entirely sure why she’s being so informal with me. I know she’s close with Lenni, and technically, Jackson has a huge stake in Désirer now, but Carmela has never been so attentive before.

“I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me,” I tell her as I pull the outfit Jackson sent off the hanger. It’s a simple slip dress—black satin with scalloped edges.

“I don’t worry about you, Ginny. I’ve watched you blossom since you met him. You’ve become a strong woman—the perfect example ofwhyI created Désirer. Everyone deserves a happy ending.”

The way she says the last part has me asking, “Did you get your happy ending?”

Carmela smiles. It’s the type of smile that is full of secrets she’ll likely never tell me. Her eyes fall back to her phone. “You could say that. Now go get yours.”

Every nerve ending in my body feels like it’s been electrified as I walk down the Desires wing. The large, feathered wings on my back are heavy, but it’s a comforting weight,grounding me in the moment.

This hall has vases of the reddest roses I’ve ever seen. Huge blooms, with a scent that is almost too strong to breathe in without their smell getting caught in the back of my throat—trying to overpower the heady musk of sex that permeates the air.

The smell doesn’t seem to bother my guard as he opens my door and steps back to allow me in.

“You don’t have to stay tonight,” I tell him.

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