Page 66 of I Would Die for You

“Mostof the people there were trusted friends and colleagues,” he says, pointedly.

Cassie shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly, but her words are anything but. “Well, then, you’d better make sure you don’t piss any of them off,” she says with a smile. “Now come and sit down with me.”

“I really can’t,” he says, looking at his watch. “Let me give Michael a call to find out where you should be.”

He goes to make a move toward the phone, but Cassie catcheshold of his hand. “Come on,” she says, pulling him down onto the sofa. “Why don’t you relax for a bit?”

He loses his footing and half falls onto her. “So, you want to finish what we started, do you?” she says, giggling.

He tries to right himself, but she makes a grab for him, one hand on his shoulder and another on his cheek as she pulls him closer. She wants him to give in to the inevitable, relinquish all others and allow himself to be caught up in the moment, but as her mouth moves in on his, she senses a resistance.

“Look, you’re great, but I can’t do this,” he says, taking hold of her hand and moving it away from him.

A clap of thunder sounds in Cassie’s head as the realization that she’s not going to get what she came for—at least not willingly—hits home.

“Nobody needs to know,” she says, her free hand going to his crotch. “This can be our little secret.”

He pushes her away and stands up. “I’m sorry, but you need to go,” he says, looking as if he’s already done something he can’t forgive himself for.

Cassie doesn’t move, choked by an anger so raw it paralyzes her. “You can’t treat me like some groupie who you can pick up whenever you feel like it.”

“I-I wasn’t aware that I was,” he says, running a hand through his hair.

She gets up and goes to him, pulling at his fly, to give him one last chance to save himself.

“I mean it,” he says, shrugging her off. “If you don’t go, I’ll call security.”

Cassie laughs caustically. “Are you absolutely sure you want to do that?”

Ben looks at her uneasily. “Is that some kind of threat?” he asks, going to the door.

“I couldruinyou,” Cassie hisses, narrowing her eyes.

“What, you think you’re going to blackmail me?” says Ben, smiling inanely, making Cassie feel small and stupid. “You think you’ve got a hold over me for what happened at the Savoy?”

“I’ll tell everyone that you’re exactly who the papers say you are,” says Cassie. “A sex-mad, drug-crazed egomaniac.”

“And to stop you from doing that, I have tosleepwith you?” he asks, disbelievingly.

Cassie’s lip wobbles, though she doesn’t know if it’s because when he puts it like that, it sounds ridiculous, or that she’s going to have to follow through on her plan if he doesn’t.

“It would definitely be the easier of the two options,” she says, reaching into her bag on the floor. “You don’t get to do what you do without consequences.”

He puts his hands on his hips and shakes his head. “You make it sound as if I’ve somehow mistreated you or promised you something I’ve failed to deliver.”

“You wereeverythingto me,” says Cassie, unable to stop a tear from falling. “And I thought I meant something to you.”

As if sensing a tip in the wrong direction, Ben throws another glance toward the phone, no doubt assessing how quickly he can get to it and call for help.

“But I’ve never met you before,” he says gently. “At least, not that I can remember. And I’m sorry for that, really I am, but I meet a hundred different people every day.”

It sounds like a well-rehearsed speech and Cassie can’t help but wonder how many times he’s used it before. How many other girls has he made to feel special, only to discard them when someone better comes along? But he’s done it to the wrong one this time.

“And they all want a piece of me,” he goes on, “thinking they own me, but it’s all part of the job. This isn’t real life.”

He looks at Cassie imploringly, as if willing her to understand, but she’s not going to fall for it. “I really thought we had something,” she says, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the knife and pulling it out of her bag, its five-inch blade catching the light.

There’s a sharp intake of breath.

---