Page 74 of Pin-up Girl

“Good, I’ll call you tomorrow. Have you seen which way Emmett went? I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.”

Finally, Jules released me, but snatched my hand when I attempted to go to Cass. I glared at him. He ignored it.

The heat of Felix’s gaze pulled my attention back to him, and I swore, it felt like pity. I flipped him off with my free hand. He cackled, but answered Milo anyway.

“I believe I saw him head to the guest rooms on the first floor. Only the first door was unlocked tonight.”

How convenient.

“Brant, take Derek to his room and clean him up. It wouldn’t be good press for him to be trampled at his own party. Make sure he knows he fucked up.” Milo and Jules both took off toward what had to be the guest wing. I almost had to run to keep up with them.

When we were approaching the door, Milo stopped me with a hand to my chest. “Stay here, I don’t want you to see something Emmett can’t come back from.”

“No.” I pushed past him. “If he’s doing something I can’t come back from, I want it seared into the back of my eyelids.”

For the first time that night, I was fast enough to elude their clutches. The door was unlocked—rookie mistake—and flew open on well-oiled hinges with very little effort from me.

This time, it was my turn to freeze, too shell-shocked to move, speak, or even fucking breathe.

Emmett grimaced when he saw me, like he was in pain—or pleasure? He also looked fucking guilty.

A sissy-assed scream drew my attention to the girl kneeling before him with her arms holding her dress to her chest and her bright red lipstick smeared across her face, like she was impersonating a sloppy ass clown.

A small twinkle of light caught on Emmett’s phone where he held it, directed right at the slut. What a fucking pig. Getting a blowjob and recording it. I was fucking lucky he never tried any of that shit with me.

“Elise…” Emmett drawled out my name, like he was unsure what he should say.

“Don’t worry. I’ll cut your dick off with a letter opener the next time you try to touch me, so there’s nothing to say.”

I twisted on my heel to run out of the room, only to collide with Jules’ chest. “Take me out of here, please?” My voice was thick with the unshed tears clogging my eyes and throat.

No, fuckinghellno. I wouldn’t lose it here for Emmett and his bitch to see. I would lose it behind closed doors, once I got rid of everyone.

Squeezing my eyes shut to push those traitor tears back down, I allowed Jules to lead me out of the room. Where I’d been fighting a hellacious amount of anger from taking me up in flames all night, now I was the fool getting pulled under by the icy cold waters of stupidity.

It was stupid to put my heart on the line.

It was stupid to think there was anything for me outside of Infinity.

It was stupid of me to believe that some men wouldn’t carelessly shatter my heart and trust into a million fucking pieces.

This was what it felt like when someone knowingly broke me.

Part Three

Where the fuck did we go from here?

Chapter Twenty-One

Milo

“What the fuck, Emmett? You said you weren’t with her anymore!” snarked the stupid slut Emmett had decided to walk off with as she zipped up her dress and wiped her face.

He fucked this up for everybody, thinking with his dick.

Elise might have almost fucked us over, but she didn’t. At first, I wanted to see deception in every move she made and every word she said. But the longer I watched her, I only saw Elise.

Before Dad’s idea of providing ahelping hand, she seemed larger than life, bitchy with a sharp tongue and a zero bullshit tolerance. Now, I saw something altogether different. A woman who embraced who she had to be to save herself and hopefully the people she loved.

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