Page 6 of Twisted Lies 4
I yawned. “What are you talking about? This is my party face.”
“The hell it is. You look like you’re about to curl up as if you were some damn cat.” She rolled her eyes. “Get your party face on, damn it. We’re celebrating. We’re going to turn it up tonight. Tabitha, the Iron Dragon, has finally acknowledged how talented you are.”
I pumped my fist unenthusiastically before sliding down against the leather back seat. I’d only had a few hours of sleep, and this was all the zeal I could muster. It had been an exhausting day—or rather, it had been an exhausting year. After I’d enrolled in design school, my life had gone through a tornado of events—from moving into Jade’s new luxury apartment in Manhattan to interning during the day for Tabitha Thorp, the temperamental and eccentric celebrity fashion designer. All the while, I’d been working a dead-end job at night.
I was mentally and physically drained.
Even with the steady paycheck coming in, I still hadn’t been able to keep up with the tuition. It had been heartbreaking when I’d had to drop out of school after only nine months. I’d really thought my dream was over, but surprisingly, Tabitha had thrown me a lifeline, offering me a full-time job. The job offer had turned my life from negative to positive.
Even though Tabitha was a perfectionist and a pain in the ass, I’d learned a lot from her, and I’d eventually gained her trust and formed a strong friendship. Our friendship had forced me to push my creative process and clothing designs to the next level. So today, when she’d called me into her office and told me she was giving me a small space to sell my designs in her upscale SoHo boutique, I’d nearly fainted from excitement.
“Heads up, your stalker, Jaxon, is going to be at the club tonight.” Jade dug in her designer handbag, pulled out lip gloss, and handed it to me. “Here, put this on and plump up those gorgeous lips.”
I gave her a sidelong look while grabbing the tube. “Jaxon? How does he know I’m going to be there?”
“Because I told him.” Jade ran her fingers through her hair. “It’s time for you two to stop circling each other with your exhaustive flirting. Get to the damn fucking already.”
Kirby, who worked as Jade’s chauffeur, chuckled.
I jabbed her in the side. “Will you lower your damn voice?”
“Ouch! What?” she screamed, giving me the evil eye. “Kirby’s like family.”
“And it’s not flirting. It’s foreplay, which you know nothing about,” I said.
“Foreplay doesn’t last for three months. That’s as annoying as a guy going down on you for more than fifteen minutes. Enough already.” Jade pursed her lips. “It’s been months since you’ve had sex. All that work and no fun has made you one cranky bitch.”
I grimaced. “It hasn’t been that long.”
“Bullshit.”
I counted in my head.Shit. She’s right.Maybe it was time.
I shook my head. “I’m not sure I want to have sex with him.”
I twirled my hair, staring out the window at the New York traffic whizzing by. I wasn’t opposed to filthy, hard sex with Jaxon, but it would only be on my terms. My terms were nonnegotiable—no attachments and absolutely no relationships. I didn’t have time for it. These were my rules of engagement. The knowing gleam I’d seen in Jaxon’s eyes told me he was willing to play by my rules. He wanted me. I was his current fixation, the new flavor of the month, and he craved a lick before he moved on to the next woman.
The situation should have been golden, but something about him niggled at me, warning me to stay away. Maybe I was just annoyed that he was what I called achameleon. By night, he would play gigs like some starving musician, and by day, he was the only son of a filthy rich family, who were waiting for him to get his shit together and join their prominent law firm.
Maybe I was just tired of men like him—cocky, wealthy, spoiled, and privileged. Their entire lives had been planned for them, and those lives didn’t include getting serious with women like me with no pedigree. Men like Jaxon would only fuck women from the wrong side of the tracks, and when they got bored, they would settle down with the ice-princess socialite women their parents had picked out for them from the day they were born. I’d learned the hard way that relationships, love, and commitment didn’t mean shit to affluent, overindulged people like him.
“Okay… Well, maybe some deep-throat action?” Jade asked matter-of-factly.
Kirby swerved.
“Uh…that’s still considered sex.” I sighed heavily. “I don’t know.” I arched a brow. “Don’t you think it’s creepy that he’s been showing up at every club I’m at? It’s like he’s got a damn GPS on my ass.”
Jade shrugged. “Creepy? No. Focused? Yes. He wants you—bad. According to his schedule, you should have been checked off on his ‘already fucked’ bucket list.” She lifted a brow. “Would it be so horrific to try him out? You know”—she waggled her eyebrows saucily—“to take the edge off?”
“You do know he’s not some car I can take out on a test-drive?”
Jade regarded me, totally perplexed. “Why the hell not?”
I couldn’t stop my laughter. “Okay, you’re right. I could test-drive him, but… I don’t know.” I bit my lower lip. “There’s something about him I can’t put my finger on.”
Jade’s eyes softened. “Sin, you’ve got to get over Kyle.”
My brows came together in a puzzled frown. “I have.”
