Page 70 of A Sweet Mess

“He’d better not die in my villa.” At least Lucien whispered.

Aria perched on the side of his bed. “Landon, sweetheart. Where’s Aubrey?”

Resigned to the fact he couldn’t will them away, he tried to answer the question. Maybe that would get rid of them. Tragically, he couldn’t get the words past his parched throat. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had water. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done anything.

“Could you bring up a cup of water for him?” Aria asked Lucien.

Landon knew he couldn’t keep his eyes closed when Lucien and Aria tugged on his arms to get him sitting upright, so he opened them to glare at Aria. Unfazed, Aria put the cup to his lips.

“Drink.”

Glaring made him tired, so Landon closed his eyes again and tried to lie back down.

“Drink this water. Or, so help me God, I’ll throw it on your face.” Aria shook his arm sharply and shoved the cup into his hand.

Aria didn’t make empty threats, and Landon didn’t feel like changing out of a wet T-shirt. He grudgingly drank one sip, then gulped down the rest of the water, realizing how thirsty he was.

“She’s gone.” His voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper despite the water.

“What?” Aria’s voice rose an octave, and Landon clutched his head, cursing under his breath. “She didn’t even say good-bye. What did you do?”

“Darling, maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it right now.” Lucien rested his hand on her arm.

“It doesn’t matter. She’s gone.” Landon wished he couldreturn to his fascinating study of the bedroom ceiling. “There’s nothing to talk about. Now or later.”

“It doesn’t matter?” Aria said with some heat. “You disappear for two days and we find you here looking like death, and you have the gall to tell us that it doesn’t matter? If I were your mother, I’d box your ears right now.”

“I’m just trying to survive,” Landon clarified.It’s been two days. Only two days.He recalled assiduously emptying all the wine in the villa to dull the pain in his chest, but for the life of him, he couldn’t get himself drunk. He couldn’t hide from the pain. She was gone. God, she was gone.

When he made to collapse back into bed, Aria slapped him sharply on his shoulder. “Don’t you dare lie back down. What in God’s name prompted you to let her go if you were going to fall apart like this?”

“She overheard me talking to Stan about the rumors going around,” Landon said.

Aria squinted in confusion. “What rumors?”

“The one where the crew decided I hired Aubrey after my review because she was sleeping with me.”

“Mio dio,” Aria breathed, then she slapped her thigh and stood up bristling with temper. “Don’t they realize they’re talking about real, flesh-and-blood human beings?”

“I told Stan she meant nothing to me and asked him to kill the rumor.” He felt quite detached from it all. “And Aubrey heard me.”

“What did she say?” she asked incredulously.

“She wanted to know if I’d meant what I said. I told her I had to say what I did to protect both of our reputations. Restoring Comfort Zone and her reputation was the end game from the beginning. We couldn’t risk discovery.” Landon pinched the bridged of his nose and squeezed her eyes shut. “She said shedidn’t want to be my secret anymore. She wanted to go public and weather the storm together.”

“And?”

“I told her it was impossible, so she left.”

“How could she have stayed after that? She wanted a life with you. What were you thinking?”

“Please, shut up. You’re not helping.”

“You need to hear this,” Lucien said firmly. “I almost lost Aria because of my stubbornness until you talked some sense into me. Aria and I want to repay the debt.”

“Landon, you’re an idiot if you can’t see that Aubrey loves you,” Aria said.

“I know. She told me before she left,” he replied.

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