Page 135 of The Elusive Billionaire
I scoff.
“I’m not,” she insists. “I had a minor setback with all the stress. But I wasn’t actively trying to harm myself.”
“It’s the inactive harm I’m worried about, Sav. You didn’t even realize you’d slipped into old patterns, did you?”
She swallows and breaks eye contact. “Not at first, no,” she admits as though it pains her. “But now I’m aware, and I’m working on it. Don’t pull that shit out there with me again. I mean it.”
Anger settles into the frown she shoots my way. Her hand covers her mouth, and she shakes her head as though I’ve betrayed her. “Oh my God. That’s…that’s what all these games have been about. You’ve been trying to trick me into eating.”
I busy myself with takeout containers.
“Screw you, Grey.” My head snaps up. “No.” She waves her hands in front of her. “Seriously, just screw you. You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to be the mastermind pulling strings in my life. If you see something you don’t like, then you talk to me like a normal human being. You don’t use my body and my attraction for you against me. Jesus, Grey.Fuck,” she yells. “How could Ihave been so stupid? How did I not see what you were doing this whole time?”
Helplessness settles into my shoulders. I don’t know how to talk my way out of this one. I didn’t want to upset her—I just need her healthy.
She steps into my space, a fiery ball of indignation. “I’ll only say this once, Greyson. Once. Are you listening?”
I nod.
“If youevertry this Machiavellian bullshit to play with my head instead of talking to me again, no amount of your self-control will matter. We’ll be done. I’ll burn every bridge from me to you with so much gasoline, the fire will burn long after we’re dead. Do I make myself clear?”
“I…” I what? What can I say to that? “I’m just worried. That’s all. I’m scared for you.”
The lines around her eyes soften fractionally. “I understand that, but I also cannot take on your feelings about my life. I’m doing the best I can to handle my own shit, okay? I promise you though, I’m working on myself. You either have to accept that or leave me the hell alone.”
She doesn’t wait for me to answer, and it’s a good thing because anything I say now will end in a fight I don’t want to have with her. Leaving Savvy now would shred all the pieces of my heart that’s only just begun blooming for her.
And now I sound like a fucking Heartmark card.
I want to take care of her, and because of that, I will accept a hell of a lot—there’s simply no other choice.
With a silent curse, I join the girls at the table.
“Sorry,” I mutter. It’s the best I can do. “Let’s get to the questions, okay?”
Madi nods, but the lines between her eyebrows are more prominent than they were when she first sat down.
Clover is the only one smiling, which makes me wonder how much she already knew about Savvy. It’s the quiet observers who cause the most trouble sometimes.
Savvy sits in silence, eating—slowly, but eating.
“Yeah,” Madi agrees. “We’ll do rapid-style questions, Savvy. Just give the first answer that pops into your mind.”
Savvy nods, and I pull my MacBook closer.
“Crowded or intimate?” Madi asks.
“Intimate.” There’s no hesitation in Savvy’s reply. It has me leaning in closer, craving this vulnerability, the unfiltered version of her.
“Night or day?”
“Night.”
“Dinner or coffee?”
Savvy’s gaze lands on mine—a missile hitting its target. “Dinner.”
“Fancy or casual?”
