Page 77 of Plum

“Dan Gershund.” The man offers me a hand. I shake it, dig deep, and summon up my stripper smile. This guy looks like agreatidea. Adam Wade is done with me? I’m so beneath him he doesn’t even need to say why? Fine. I’m done being a fool. I’m getting back to work.

“It’s nice to meet you, Dan.” I arch my back and wiggle in my seat. His gaze dips down to my tits.

“Somebody forget to give you the memo about the red and white? You should thank them. You look fantastic in purple.”

I flash my teeth and hope it looks like a smile. “I thought I’d go for something different. What about you, Dan? Would you be interested in something a little different tonight?”

I rest my hand on his thigh. He licks his fat lips.

“Is this my lucky night?” He leans in, grinning.

“It could be. For five hundred.” That’s one thing I should thank Adam Wade for. Teaching me to value myself.

Dan Gershund backs up a hair, bristles almost imperceptibly. Aw. He really thought he was getting lucky. I can tell the instant when he sees this another way, forgets to be mad that he ain’t hot shit after all.

There’s a glint in his close-set eyes when he realizes that I’m not a woman after all. I’m merchandise. Oh, the possibilities when you don’t have to care about what other people feel.

“Plus two hundred gratuity.” I thrust my tits up until you see a shadow of nipple.

“Yeah. Okay. Ah. How do we do this?” He’s looking around like a bed’s miraculously going to appear. He’s got me by the hand, and his grip is sweaty and tight.

“Wherever you want,” I say. “However you want.”

“For seven hundred, you’re going to let me put it in your ass, aren’t you,” he slurs in my ear as he pinches the nape of my neck with one hand to steer me toward the door. I hate the feeling, but I’m kind of above it all.

“Whatever you want, baby. I’m yours.”

I’m already floating away, up with the red and white balloons, losing myself between the notes of the music. The numbness is so familiar it feels like home.

I breathe in the flowers as we pass them, attach my mind to the colors, the glittering crystal vases. I like the combination of roses and calla lilies. Come spring, I’ll buy some. Plant them out back by the fence line.

I let my thoughts fly, and it’s spring already, and I’m not here. Whatever is about to happen doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Not Adam Wade. Not me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I’m dragged back to earth so suddenly, I stumble. I’m in the great hall, a yard from the red and white balloon arch marking the entrance, and Adam has stepped into my path. He’s looming in front of me, blue eyes spitting fire, glaring at the man at my back.

I blink. Try to focus. “Why do you care?”

Eric’s standing at Adam’s elbow, as if he’s trying to drag him back where he came from.

“What thehell, Jo-Beth?” The way he saysJo-Beth, it makes me hate him, makes the fury flail in my chest like it’s gonna break my ribs.

“I’m gonna go fuck this guy for money.” I jerk my head.

Adam breathes through clenched teeth. “Jo-Beth. Can you not speak straight to me? For once? You come all the way here, and all you have to say is I owe you? For what, Jo-Beth? What do I owe you?”

“I take it back. I don’t need anything from you.”

“You make that crystal clear. So why come? Why, Jo-Beth?” He plunges his hand in his hair, and his blue eyes blaze. “Just tell me. For once.Let me in.I can ignore it all, if it’s real. If you feel it, too.”

A lump nearly swells my throat shut. “You can ignore it all?”

“I can.”

Me. He can ignore me. What I am. Fuck. That’s a hell of a kind of love. When you love so much, you can pretend a person isn’t who they are.

“No worries, Adam. I’m gone. You don’t need to ignore anything.” I reach out and grab Dan’s hand. He’s been hanging close, watching this go down.

Dan circles his hand back around my neck, tightening his grip. Adam’s eyes catch fire.

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