Page 107 of Now and Forever

Refraining from sighing, I strode toward the door, intending to shut it, but the insufferable man made it his mission that I memorize the ridges of his six-pack and the impressive size of his whatchamacallit.

“That’s probably due to Yvonne; she’s a persistent one.”

“Good to know. Thanks,” I muttered as nonchalantly as I could before I busied myself with my things. Call it immature, but I was too startled and wound up about the unspoken past to pay mind to small talk.

My instincts told me that he was still hovering close to the door, although I kept praying he would leave me alone. He hadn’t had any qualms about doing it in the past, so why bother this time?

“How have you been?” he casually drawled, as if we were buddy-buddies.

He was obviously too dense to realize I wasn’t up for chitchat. Since we were going to be sharing this place for quite a long time, however, I knew better than to start something that would make the situation twice as uncomfortable as it already was.

“Things are … as expected,” I finally said as I opened my luggage and blankly stared at the contents.

My body was too hyped, too aware of him to fully function as normal. It was irritating to see myself in such a position after what he had done to me. I had been here not even half an hour, and I was more affected than I should be. Life wasn’t fucking fair.

“Well, good to see you again, Chloe.”

I hardly doubted it, but I knew better than to say it out loud.

“It’s good to see you, too.” I held my breath as I waited for him to move out of my room, but that hope was dashed when it became apparent he wanted to prolong this encounter.

“You sure don’t look it. Is lying part of this new package, too, Chloe?”

His voice was so filled with unmistaken sarcasm that I spun quickly to face him and became dizzy for a second.

“What package?” I quipped back, meeting his blue eyes for the first time in so long.

The moment our gazes clashed, my stomach dropped before I felt butterflies break out, leaving me agitated, angry, and frustrated all at the same time.

“This …” He used his eyes to point out my body, perusing it with such agonizing intensity that it burned my skin, making me feel exposed, unarmed, vulnerable. “You were perfect the way you were.”

Those are just empty words. He doesn’t mean any of them.

Not enough, apparently, or I would have heard from him, but not a single word. He had left me as though that night had meant so little to him. He wouldn’t know what his actions had done to me, though. Like him, I very much preferred to forget it happened at all.

The art of pretention would take time to hone and perfect, but I would get there, even if it killed me.

“This is the new me, so take it or leave it. You’d be surprised to find out I won’t care either way.” Amber meeting his blue, I challenged him in ways he hadn’t seen coming. Gone was the girl who’d worshipped at his feet. I wasn’t sure what I was yet, but I damn well knew I wasn’t going back to that pathetic sap of an idiot I once was.

“You’ve changed.”

“And you haven’t.”

I didn’t realize we weren’t alone until I heard someone clear their throat, immediately getting both our attention.

Glancing past Drew’s shoulder, I watched as a tall, svelte woman eyed us with curiosity before diverting her attention to Drew, freezing me out as if I weren’t even there.

“I’ve got to dash. I have a shoot in an hour, but we’re still on for tonight, right?” she asked.

“We are,” he calmly replied, unmoving from his position.

A cat-like smile crossed her face. “Just double-checking,” she murmured before leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. Then she strutted down the hallway and out the door.

Right, I thought as I realized what that was. Obviously, she had spent the night here—that was why he was in his undressed state, doing God knew what before he had come out to greet me.

It was infuriating, and I wasn’t sure why I was feeling the way I was, but somehow, I felt insulted. It was as good as a slap to the face. The fact that the woman was beyond gorgeous didn’t help much at all or the fact that she had openly dismissed me as if I weren’t worthy of her attention, which wasn’t a surprising attitude when it came to women these days. Whatever.

Back home, he had been into cheerleaders. He now had upgraded to models, it seemed. If that didn’t state how particular he was with the kind of women he dated, well, ponder no more. There was the answer.

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