Page 86 of Make You Love Me

End of summer-

Nori Beach

I’ve been calling Lottie since I got my phone back this morning. We tracked it with the find my iPhone app and luckily it was in the house we partied at last night. Nox ran over to get it for me while I drank some coffee and sobered the hell up.

I was a fucking disaster last night. No matter how much the rational part of my brain kept trying to intervene, my destructive side was winning out.

Today my need to get to Lottie is outweighing my hangover.

Pulling up to Ethel’s mansion feels like a slap to the face after yesterday. I was so happy just twenty-four hours ago parking in this exact same spot. Now I have no clue where we stand and it's killing me. I drove my truck today in case she tried to call me back. My calls keep going straight to voicemail. I even tried from Ford’s phone just in case. It rang all the way through but no answer. The guys think she might have blocked me. She wouldn't do that to me… but maybe I’m in denial. I don’t blame her for being pissed at me, I shouldn’t have taken off like that last night.

Within thirty seconds of knocking on the door James answers. He tries to greet me, but I waste no time. “Hey James. Is Lottie around?”

“What are you doing here Mr. Rexwood?” Ethel says, appearing quickly as James opens the door for me to come in. The sound of her voice is another sign of my unlucky day.

“I came to speak to Lottie. I can’t get her on the phone. Is she in her room?” I say, eyeing the staircase and considering barging up there without their permission. I need to see her.

A sly smile appears on her face. “Oh well no such luck here. She left to go back to New York late last night. Said she realized she had been living in an unsustainable fantasy this summer and needed to get back to reality.”

What did she just say?

“She left? No, she wouldn’t do that, not without talking to me,” I say, my words sound surer than I feel at this moment.

Needing to see for myself, I dodge past James up to her room. Busting through her door, the hope that Ethel was lying deflates right out of my chest.

Everything is gone… the bare minimum remains. The unicorn I won her sitting on her perfectly made bedspread is the only sign of the summer we spent together.

I rush back downstairs to demand answers.I know Ethel had something to do with this shit.

Ethel walks back into the foyer when I make it to the bottom of the staircase. I notice she has something in her hand as she says, “Well do you believe it now, Mr. Rexwood? As you can see, she is gone. What did you expect? You knew this was a means to an end. She would never end up with someone like you. After yesterday, I think she finally sees that Jacob is better suited for her.”

Like a ton of bricks, it hits me… this was her plan all along. It wasn’t about caring for Lottie and getting her away from Jonathan. This was about getting in good with the Roberts family. She’s using Lottie just like she used me this summer. Money and greed rule every decision Ethel Richmond makes.

She drives the nail into the coffin with her next words, “Your mother just adores her. Sherri thinks she would be a great fit for Jacob.” My chest aches with her words, with the thought of Lottie meeting my mom and having no clue who she was to me. Just that she was Mrs. Roberts, Jacob’s mother…stepmother.

“Now here… take this and move on with your life,” she says, reaching her hand towards me.

Completely ignoring her, I snarl, “You are a manipulative piece of shit!” I can’t see straight I’m so pissed at this spiteful, calculated woman.

“You’re entitled to your own opinion Greyson, but you didn’t seem to mind when I was writing you a check earlier this year. I suggest you let Lottie move on or she will be hearing about the role you played in her falling for you this summer.”

Her hand stretches out toward me again. I look down, realizing it’s a check she’s trying to hand me. I snatch it. My vision starts to cloud with black as she says, “A deal’s a deal.” Pulling myself together and ripping the check into tiny pieces, I throw it at her. It lands around her on the shiny porcelain floor.

“Fuck your money. I was planning on giving you this yesterday… but here,” I say as I hand her the envelope from my jean pocket. “I don’t give a fuck about anything but Lottie. You know good and well us falling for each other this summer had nothing to do with the deal we made. This is what you gave me at the beginning of the summer. Every cent of it.” Shaking with rage, I hand her the check for two thousand dollars.

Refusing to take my money she says, “You made your bed, now you have to sleep in it.” Not looking the slightest bit remorseful, she turns her back to me and walks away.

FUCKING BITCH.If she wasn’t a sixty-year-old woman I would drag her ass back here right now and shove this check down her throat.

Still fuming, I feel like I have so much to say to her. I held a lot back this summer once I saw how she treated Lottie.

As I fell for Lottie it became very clear to me that Ethel didn’t have her best interest at heart and had done a number on her self-confidence. Part of me held out hope that there was a caring bone inside her body, one that genuinely thought Jonathan was a bad dude and wanted Lottie away from him. But over time it became clear that wasn’t the case.

I need to find a way to get Lottie to talk to me and explain everything to her myself.

“Tell me where she is? Give me your parents’ address at least, Ethel!” I holler after her.

James steps to open the door. “Son, it's time to go. She won’t hesitate to call the cops and I don’t want to see you get in any trouble. Just trust that everything will work out for you and Ms. Lottie.”

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