Page 35 of Forbidden Desires

Again, more assertion in his tone. I bristled, about to snap at him when Jeff pulled up with the car. He stepped out, opening the back door for us.

I gave Eric a glare before slipping in, Eric following not long after.

“Shall we head to your place, sir?” Jeff asked, which had been our normal routine before the weekend with Eric’s parents.

“Yes—”

“No,” I said, cutting off Eric, pissed that he’d even make that assumption when I was so fucking furious with him. “Take me to my apartment. Mr. Maxim and I won’t be staying with each other tonight.”

Eric sighed, and Jeff looked between the two of us with an uneasy glance before shutting the door and getting back into the front of the car. He started the vehicle, driving off with the strained silence stretching between Eric and me.

CHAPTER 15

Jasmine

Ilooked out the car’s side window, content to say nothing more to Eric since clearly everything about me was wrong tonight, from my clothing and defiance (which admittedly was intentional) to my associations with James (not intentional at all).

But Eric couldn’t leave well enough alone. “Is this because I haven’t spoken to you since our last meeting?” he asked.

Meeting?Is that what he was calling that wholly intimate weekend together? I turned my head toward him and hid my hurt with a scoff. “You can’t even say what it was outright, but you expect me to answer you?”

He sighed, the sound rife with exasperation. “You’re being immature.”

Thatlit me up. “You fucking ghosted me!”

“I don’t think that’s what I would call it,” he said, too calmly, too rationally.

“Oh? You wouldn’t?” I refused to let him off easy, when I’d suffered for the past month. “So, after dragging me across the country, having me tell you shit about myself no one else knows in response to trying to helpyouwith shit no one else knows, you don’t speak to me and you cancel all our arrangements, that’s not ghosting?”

“I kept paying you.”

“Because that makes it so much better and eases your conscience, doesn’t it? And then this—” I indicated my outfit, my agitation building even more. “Fine, I broke guidelines by dressing like this, but I don’t need you having a conniption fit about me knowing someone that runs in your circles because of work. I’m an escort, Eric. The likelihood that I’ve fucked all of your colleagues is a lot higher than you having fucked all of mine.”

“I—”

“And you know what,” I went on, refusing to let him get a word in edgewise. “It’s really fucking shitty that after all this time of you not talking to me, the most emotion that you show me is becauseone, I’m dressing like the thing you pay me to do, andtwo, because of a confirmed association with someone else. You don’t own me because I work for you. You can’t just do whatever you want to do and put me through an emotional wringer just because you pay me. That’s fucked up.”

“Jasmine—”

“What!?” I nearly screeched, the hurt inside of me burbling to the surface.

Eric sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, as if my tirade had given him a headache. “I swear, this is ridiculous.”

God, he was such a fuckingman. “Yeah, imagine being me.”

From the front of the car, Jeff cleared his throat. “Uhm…we’re at Miss Greene’s. Shall I…”

“I’ll let myself up,” I said abruptly, done with everything and everyone for the evening. “Good night.”

I let myself out of the car, not waiting for Eric or Jeff to get out and come around, but doing so myself. Coming out tonight had obviously been a huge mistake and to be perfectly honest, I questioned whether or not my little act of defiance was worth it. I’d let myself slip past the emotional barrier that I had always kept up for myself, and what it was getting me was nothing but bullshit and heartache.

I was content to storm up to my apartment and spend the rest of the evening on my own, but Jeff had other ideas and decided to escort me, anyway. I heard the car door close behind me as I trekked to my building, along with the sound of shoes padding a few feet behind me.

But it was Eric’s voice that called out to me. “Jasmine, wait.”

“Leave me alone, Eric,” I said, ignoring his request. “You’re very clearly good at leaving people alone. For weeks. With no word. So do me a favor and go back to doing that because right now I have no time or patience for you.”

“Jasmine, if you would just calm down and let me explain—”

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