Page 74 of Inarticulate

“Please,” her voice cracked. “I need you to be strong.” She let out a slow breath and prayed for the bile to stop rising up her throat. “I’ll figure it out. I promise.” There was no other choice. Shehadto figure it out. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were on the line.

“I’ll be back there soon with Grant. Go to the bar, have a relaxing drink, and wait for me. Tell any staff to continue as best they can until we arrive.”

“I…”

“I promise I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Okay,” Amanda’s voice shook. “I’ll be waiting.”

Savannah was thankful for the wall that kept her upright as her arms fell to her sides. She hung her head and breathed through the negative thoughts that threatened to drown her. There was no way out. Not from the wedding nightmare, and definitely not from the memories of silence that screamed with passion.

She’d made too many mistakes in her life. First with Penny, then Spencer, now Keenan. Seattle seemed to be her punishment, with each past indiscretion compounding her inability to fix the here and now.

“Goddamn it.” She spoke to her shoes. “God. Damn. It.”

The rhythmic thud of footsteps approached, stopping at the start of the bathroom hall. Someone was there, staring at her. She raised her head, narrowed her gaze to a feral glare, and prepared to tell them to mind their own business.

Prepared and failed.

It was Keenan, his dominance narrowing the hallway.

There was concern in his eyes, those deep depths speaking to her through the surrounds of harsh features.

“Leave me alone.” She held her chin high through the force of self-loathing and placed her cell back into her clutch. Her hands shook, trembled, each of her fingers fluttering like butterflies’ wings. She was losing herself. The grip of sanity loosening its ties to her.

He approached, calm, controlled, and far from civil. There was a wealth of hatred in his breathtaking features. Yet his eyes, those conquering, undeniable eyes, produced a symphony of worry.

She pushed from the wall and winced at the tumbling anxiety in her belly. Dizziness overwhelmed her, the black of breathlessness biting at her periphery. She focused on the ground that rolled under her feet and tried to tell herself to move, to flee.

Tightness encased her upper arms and she raised her gaze, falling under his spell. Words flittered in and out of her consciousness—sarcasm, spite, hatred, even admiration. The emotions he inspired could overflow a gorge. She wanted to say them all and wasn’t sure what would come out when she opened her mouth.

“You can start to celebrate,” she sneered. “You and Penny… You wanted to drag me down and now you have. Congratulations.”

He frowned and tightened his hold, demanding answers.

“They’ve quit—waitresses, bar staff, anyone and everyone because of the nastiness from Grandiosity. The hotel is barely functioning. And now…” She released a maniacal laugh. “Now, we have a wedding to cater tomorrow, and my head chef just had a heart attack.” A fucking heart attack. Oh, god, she was going to lose it.“I have employees almost dying because of stress.From you,” her voice cracked. “Youdid this.”

His gaze cut to the entrance, to the woman Savannah hadn’t heard approach the bathroom hall. Keenan’s focus turned lethal and the woman paled in response.

“Sorry,” the intruder murmured and quickly two-stepped around them to push into the female bathroom.

Savannah didn’t care anymore. She didn’t give a shit if people found them together. She couldn’t give a flying fuck if all her secrets were exposed. She was tired of fighting. Of hiding. She’d taken on too much. Made the wrong decisions. Dug a deeper hole to bury herself in.

“You win,” she whispered.

Keenan’s beautiful lips parted and she ached for his words. She ached for anything that would stifle her hatred. He yanked her, pulled her so strongly away from the wall that she gasped. Her feet followed after him, the movements made on numb legs. He dragged her across the hall, into the disabled toilet and slammed the door shut behind them.

Her chest throbbed as he leaned her back against the cold tile wall, his palms still gripping her flesh. She stared at him, her throat convulsing as his focus intensified.

“Why?” The question bubbled from her without permission. “Why did you have to destroy me?”

That’s what this was all about. She could’ve handled the professional assault. She could’ve recovered from Penny’s nastiness and the pressure from resigning staff. But not this. Not him.

His chin lifted, taking her onslaught head on. He leaned closer, eye to eye, almost chest to chest. She could smell the tang of scotch on his breath, could practically taste his intoxication on her tongue. She shuddered, not from hate, but from longing. The sensation clogged her veins, blurred her vision, made her despise herself so fucking much that her chest threatened to crack under the pressure.

He frowned down at her, taking his time to scrutinize her features before he stabbed a finger at his sternum. “I’ll fix it,” he mouthed.

She laughed. “You can’t. I’ve already called every recruitment agency across the city.”

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