Page 44 of Enemies, Lovers & A Valentine's Baby

“You have a point, Lila, but—”

“No, Sue. I don’t want to be anywhere near Cole Matthews. I’ll be fine planning the ball by myself. I can do it with my eyes closed.”

“Lila—” she reaches out to hold my hand again, but I snatch it back from her.

“Why would you even ask me to do this, Sue?”

My voice trembles on her name. I thought I made my feelings about him clear the last time we had a similar conversation. Why is she bringing him up again?

“You know what? I need to get back to work,” I mutter, rifling through my bag and slapping some bills down on the counter.

“Wait, Lila…” she says, but I’m already halfway out of my seat.

Chapter 16

Desperation

Lila

I lean against the wall of my kitchen, eyes fixed on the pot I have heating on the stove. I watch as it comes up to a rolling boil, the divine aroma of the tomato soup wafting through the house.

A dry, humorless chuckle leaves my lips, still bearing a pink stain from the lipstick I’d put on when I went out to meet with Sue earlier.

I can’t believe her. How could she ask me to work with Cole to plan the ball? The Valentine’s ball was always our thing. It’s our tradition.

The days leading up to it were always the best. From picking flowers to decorations to tastings and figuring out what cocktails we wanted making the rounds at the ball throughout the night. We went from shop to shop figuring out every little detail of thenight together. It was the one time I didn’t have to be the boss. Nothing was ever set in stone until it had been agreed upon by both of us. For the last ball, we even invented our own cocktail. It was a cross between her favorite one and mine. At first, we thought it would be a crazy combination, but it turned out to be the best thing either of us had ever tasted. I was looking forward to seeing what new, fun ideas we would come up with this time.

I couldn’t tell her this, but it was the only thing I was looking forward to.

It would’ve been the only thing capable of lifting the veil of depression trying to blanket me. Now, even that’s taken away from me.

My body sags against the wall, and every fiber of my being just wants to let the weight of my body slither to the floor, curl into a tight ball, and just…do nothing.

Sue’s words come back to echo loudly in my head, bouncing around the void.

“I promise there’s more to him than that one encounter. He’s a good person. He just had a lot going on.”

Well, I don’t care. I only care that he hurt me and never apologized for it. I only care that he tore me down when I’d done nothing wrong to him. He can’t be that good of a person to have run into me over the years and never once apologized.

I try not to look too closely at why it bothers me that he hasn’t. I shake it off; anyone would feel the same way.

Cole Matthews may be beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, in the words of Paula Abdul, he’s a coldhearted snake who doesn’t care how his words or actions affect others.

I would literally jump off a cliff before I would ever ask him for help.

The sharp, sizzling sound and smell of something burning jolts me back to reality.

“Shit, shit, shit!” I yell, rushing to take the tomato soup off the heat. The scorching handle of the pot burns my palm, instantly turning it red.

“Dammit,” I mutter under my breath, running my blistering hand under cold water. Something else to blame on that jerk.

Crisis averted, but not without casualty. Exactly what will happen with Sue’s plan. She thinks she’s helping by getting Cole to assist me, but in reality, I will eventually become a casualty yet again. With a man as destructive as Cole, it’s inevitable.

I’ve just shut off the water when I hear what sounds like a faint knock at my door. I pause, listening for the sound again. A second later, I hear the sound of knuckles softly rapping against my door again.

I wonder who that could be. I’m not expecting anyone.

“Coming,” I call, drying off my hands and making my way to the front door.

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