Page 38 of Desire
Chapter Thirteen
“Got it, Holly,” Kylie said. There was a defiance in her eyes and the way she tightened her mouth.
Gosh, did she hate Jasper. I was starting to wonder if she hated him so much because he had ignored her sexual advances at one point in time. Her abhorrenceof him was nonsensical.
“Got it,” I said weakly.
Kylie threw her hands up and faced Rachel. “She’s going to fuck it up, and we have no time. This story has to come out now.”
“Calm down, Kylie,” Rachel said in her customary reasonable tone. “We may have to admit defeat on this one.”
“Never. And I’m not working for him either.”
“What is it with you?” I blurted.“Why do you hate him so much?”
“Because he’s a crook, and so is the rest of his family.” Kylie was shivering slightly.
Rachel and I widened our eyes at each other.The rest of his family?I wondered what she meant by that, and I was going to ask her when Rachel reminded us that we’d been gone too long. We decided to table our conversation until our nine a.m. meeting the next morningin Rachel’s office. Then we would discuss our Hail Mary tactic to get Jasper to sign off on the story about sexual misconduct in Christmas Industries.
When we got back to the table, my heart felt as if it had constricted into a tiny, tight ball. Jasper and Julia were gone. Their place settings were clear, and when I asked Rod if he knew where they had gone, he said they’d informed the tablethat an emergency had arisen and they had to leave.
For the restof the night, I put on a happyface. Whenever I thought about Jasper and Julia skipping out of the gala together like the perfect couple on the cover ofGQmagazine, my stomach hurt. I barely ate the main course and refused dessert. Of course, whoever had made dinner was not even a quarter as good as the chef at the Christmas mansion. The food was subpar, and I planned to order a late-night BLT with a green salad as soon asI returned to my suite.
I remained spaced out through the rest of the night’s proceedings. After our dessert plates were collected, theDeep Sourceteam was introduced, and Rachel talked about her plan to air a six-part special with Daniel Arroyo during our first week on the air.
“Real reporters on the ground in real time,” she said. “No talking heads. No actors pretending to bejournalists. We’re presenting objective and serious news coverage as they used to do in the old days.”
Earlier, when we were stowed away in a tiny room near the bathroom, Rachel had asked me a number of times how I felt about Jasper owning BCN. Three times, I insisted I didn’t have a problem with it in a way that made me convince myself I was okay with it. Of course I wasn’t okay with it.His decision seemed rash and pretty crazy. I’d heard what he said about considering buying the company four months ago, but I didn’t believe him. I felt he was saying that for my ears.
Finally, the night ended, and we all made our way to our cars and limousines. Not many people stuck around to chitchat. Just about every face I passed looked as exhausted as I felt. The hotel wasn’t thatfar from the venue, and I was prepared to walk since I didn’t want to be confined in the back of the limousine with Kylie’s ex-boyfriend. It was strange, though—the two had barely said much to each other all night. Instead, Rod had spoken to Katherine Donovan, Dave, and Daniel for most of the night.
“Hey, Holly, wait up,” Rod called just as I stepped out into the cold night. He rubbed upagainst my side, walking way too close for comfort.
I shifted to my left to put some distance between us. “Oh, Rod. You know, I think I’ll walk back.”
He put his hand against the small of my back. “No way. It’s too dangerous. Come on, let’s ride back to the hotel together.”
Rod was leading me to the limousine. Only a very small part of me wanted to insist on walking. Truthbe told, I was exhausted and heartbroken and just wanted to crawl into bed and figure out how to quit my new job the next morning during our nine a.m. meeting.
On the ride to the hotel, Rod kept watching me with flirty eyes and a small smile. He wanted to fuck, and I just wanted him out of my sight.
“How about we have a drink together before bed?” he asked.
“No,” I said sharplyand instantly regretted my tone. I mean, we were colleagues. There was certainly a more respectful way to refuse him. “I mean I’m sleepy. I just want to go to bed.”
He nodded, still wearing a grin and a faraway look in his eyes. “The last time we tried to, you know, fuck, it wasn’t good, was it?”
“No, but only because we don’t have sexual chemistry, Rod,” I said without regrettingthose words.
“No? I just think I had too much to drink.”
I wanted to laugh. Was that the story he’d been telling himself?
I tilted my head and frowned thoughtfully. “I remember you only having three drinks that day and the fourth that night in my bedroom. You weren’t drunk. You were very lucid.”
He shook his head adamantly. “I’m good at appearing sober. I was drunk.”He shrugged. “I’m better at fucking than what I showed you.”
I thanked the Almighty that our car stopped in front of the hotel during my speechless moment. Truthfully, I didn’t know what to say. Even if I weren’t so hooked on Jasper, I wouldn’t do anything with Rod. He was Kylie’s ex-lover. She was a friend. I had never knowingly let any dick that had once been inside a friend of mine entermy depths. The guy would have to be special for me to cross that line, and my friend would have to grant permission before I even kissed him.
I opened my door before Rod or the driver could get out of the car. “Goodnight, Rod.” I flowed out of the back seat and walked so fast through the lobby that I was practically running. I knew Rod was somewhere behind me, intending to catch up. I’dgotten out of that vehicle so fast that I was sure he was shocked. I saw him through the narrow opening of the elevator doors after I rushed inside.
Thank goodness I had a straight shot up to the fortieth floor, where my suite was. My hands were shaking, and nervousness gripped me as I kept swiping my key wrong.
A tall figure stepped behind me, and I nearly froze in place.
“Let me get this for you, baby.”
I could’ve broken down and cried as a familiar presence washed over me. I let Jasper take the key out of my hand, and after one swipe, we were in my suite.
