Page 42 of Worth the Trouble

“You’ll have dinner with him,” Mom says, ignoring the fact that she knows I can’t stand him.

“Dinner?” I frown.

“Don’t,” Mom snaps. “He’s the owner of the company. This isn’t the time for temper tantrums. If Vaughn Davis wants to meet with you, you’ll go. And you’ll behave.”

Meet with me. What a loaded statement and she knows it. I’ve been keeping him at an arms-length distance for the year since we split, and if he wants to see me now, it’s not for anything good.

“When?”

“Sunday.” Mom smiles proudly at the fact that I’ve all but given up my fight. “Wear something nice.”

She means something pretty and tight. God forbid I am not presentable for a rich man. Sometimes I wonder if Mom was always like this, or if she once had dreams of her own before it became all about mine.

“Actually, I’ll have something delivered,” Mom decides, pulling out her phone and typing away.

It’s statements like that one that make me feel like a child. Like she thinks I’m incapable of such things as picking out my own clothes.

“Is that all?” I cross my arms over my chest.

Mom’s eyes narrow, focusing on my face. She no doubt notices my colorless cheeks and the hollow flush from puking, but she doesn’t say anything. Nodding instead, almost looking proud of me for slowly deteriorating.

“Get some sleep this weekend.” She brushes past and walks away. “You look tired.”

One final insult as she disappears.

At least I have an entire weekend to myself. Pauline is traveling to New York for the show she’s choreographing after this one, so I have five whole days without someone else’s schedule determining my every move. A freedom I’m basking in right now.

My phone pings, and I pull it out of my purse as a text lights up the screen.

I didn’t expect to hear from him after our night at the strip club, but like the man he is, always catching me off guard, he can’t seem to help himself.

Rome:Party at my house tonight, sweetheart. Worked me out of your system yet?

I wish.

He’s in my veins, swimming around. He’s the flicker sparking life through the butterflies in my chest. He’s the apple dangling from the tree of life, tempting me. He’s the headrush at the start of a downward spiral.

Rome is worse than a heartbreaker, he’s out for souls. And mine seems more than willing to hand itself over.

With the burn of bile still fresh in my throat, and a familiar sourness in my gut, I tuck my phone away. I barely recognize myself anymore, and it scares me that somehow Rome does. He sees the broken girl I hide from everyone else and wants to play with her.

Rome’s text falls somewhere between an offer and a threat. He knows he’s got his hooks in and that I enjoy it.

Popping a mint, I make my way to my car and slowly weave out of the city. All the way to my house in the middle of nowhere. Where I know just beyond the trees is a man waiting to destroy me.

14

Rome

Noresponse.

I unlock the screen again like the pathetic ass I am and check my messages, but there’s nothing there I want to see. A hundred texts and none of them are from her.

Not sure what I expected but… something. Anything.

Women are usually clawing to get to me, but not Lili.

Even when I was knuckle-deep inside her with her pussy squeezing my fingers, she still felt unreachable. What’s that all about?

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