Page 30 of Miles Apart
“He’ll be here.”
He better.
A low rumble of laughter builds in his clean-shaven throat. “We’ll see.”
Time is many things, but it’s not a liar. By six thirty, Carter is ushering me to the car to head to the airport, leaving Miles wherever he chose to be instead of here with me.
“Can I get you anything else, Mr. Davis?” The flight attendant all but purrs in his face with a stare that makes it clear she’s more than okay getting bent over at cruising altitude. This is her third check-in. Our trip isn’t long enough for this level of customer service.
Carter leans back and sips the bourbon she poured him two minutes ago. He flashes a grin in appraisal of her slender body in a navy dress as she leans and juts her breasts in his face.
If it were anyone else, I’d say, “Get yours!” and mind my business. But I don’t need the visual of Carter pushing her onto her knees seared into my brain. I’m horny as it is and pissed I’m heading towards a good-dick dry spell,andI got stood up tonight.
Was ghosting Miles’s only option? I still don’t know what had him so angry last night, but it couldn’t have been bad enough that he didn’t slip a note under the door or leave one at the front desk.Something.
We’re not friends, but I expected better.
“No updates?”
Two men might get smacked tonight, starting with the one in the seat across from me showing his ass and a full set of perfect white teeth. A considerate human being wouldn’t gloat at another’s pain—but that’s not Carter. He enjoys watching me squirm, especially after I claimed a man I waited around to show but never did.
I shoot him a hostile glare and toss my phone into my clutch. Why am I looking for texts like Miles has my number? “I told you the last time you asked, something came up.”
Now I’m lying for him. Great.
Carter drops his elbows to his thighs and leans forward with narrowed eyes. “Know what I think? I think you wanted to save face in front of your parents and picked the first bum—”
“Bum?” Miles is many things, but a bum isn’t one of them.
“Bum, Emma.” His scowl deepens. “You and I come from a different circle. Someone like that isn’t fit to be on your arm and will disappoint you every time.”
I fold my arms, annoyed that this flight is taking its sweet time. “Enlighten me, oh wise one. Who’s fit to be on my arm?”
Carter’s gestures to himself, and it takes everything in me not to laugh in his face. Impatience seeps into features I once fawned over. “Em,” he sighs. “We could rule Washington if you knew what was good for you.”
“Wow.” I choke out a laugh and lean toward the aisle to find where the flight attendant went. “Let me get you someone who will entertain this nonsense.”
“I’m serious, Emma.”
“No, I’m serious, Carter,” I snap. “You seem to be under the delusion that I need to be on a man’s arm to unlock a new level I don’t have a key for my damn self. Save yourI Have a Dreamspeech for someone else.”
The words I uttered last night slide into memory. I shake my head for calling Miles “my man” like I’m not strong enough to stand on my own. The disappointment cuts deep, at myself for pretending to have a man in the first place, and at Miles for ignoring me so effortlessly.
To hell with him and Carter.
The ten-minute ride to the hotel was silent after I stormed off the plane ready to battle whoever else wanted some. Carter rightfully chose to shut the hell up, opening the door to our limo and sneaking glances when he thought it was safe. Tonight isn’t the first time we went at it, and it won’t be the last.
I check my coat and proceed down the red carpet with the fakest smile for photographers. Carter guides me into the crowded ballroom with a hand on the small of my back. Steel blue and gray lights streak across campaign donors and career politicians swarming white linen tables and bars stationed around dark hardwood flooring under the gleam of chandeliers.
My father spares no expense with his fundraisers or the chance to plaster his face on every wall within a mile radius.
“Let’s get this over with,” I say over my shoulder. I march in with my head high and enough anger in my veins to hold a lifetime of grudges.
My parents are nowhere in sight, but a congressperson close to my father comes into view alongside a man molded to his tux.
“Emma! So nice to see you.” Congressperson Daniels pats his companion’s shoulders with a broad smile. “Allow me to introduce you to someone.”
I clamp my jaw tight and stare.
