Page 73 of Seduced By You

“Fine.” He wouldn’t give in until I offered him something. “I fake-kissed her, twice, then Benedict dropped his truth bomb, I confessed, and one thing led to another.”

He held up his wine glass, tapping it against mine. “I’m happy for you, man, seriously. She’s terrific.”

“Yeah, she is. She’s—”

Leesa walked toward me, her face ashen, Penelope trailing a few feet behind. I dropped my napkin on the table and rose to greet her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ayesha… Ayesha… she’s…”

She plunked into the chair. Crouching in front of her, I gripped both her knees. “What about Ayesha, babe?”

She blinked several times, absently wiping her mouth. Her eyes were glassy, as if she were looking through me rather than at me. “Kadon, she’s dead.”

My head snapped back. Dead? What the fuck? It’d only been two weeks since she’d stopped by our table in Dubai. I mean, she’d been horribly thin, but…

“How?”

“She… killed herself.”

“Oh, Christ.”

“Who’s Ayesha?” Blaize mouthed at me. I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time.

“Lee, do you want to go back to the hotel?” Her face was as pale as wax. Shock, most likely.

“Yes, please.”

I curved an arm around her waist and took her purse from Penelope.

“Thanks.”

“I’m so sorry to ruin the evening.”

Blaize got up and came around our side of the table. He kissed Lee on the cheek and squeezed her hand. “You haven’t ruined anything, sweetheart.”

“We should pay the bill.” She looked around, bewildered. “Where’s my purse?”

“Forget the bill. Blaize will sort it out. I’ve got your purse.”

Even though she and Ayesha had been more enemies than friends, it couldn’t be easy to hear that a woman you’d spoken with recently wasn’t around any longer.

Suicide.

A tremor hit me. I’d been there. I’d never told a soul. Not my parents or my brothers, and not Lee either. But sometimes in the weeks and months that had followed Henry’s death, I’d thought about ending it all. The only thing that had stopped me was knowing the disastrous effect my decision would have on my family. It was the one thing I clung to, to see me through the darkest of days.

“Call me,” Blaize said.

“I will.”

Settling Lee in the back of the car, I jumped into the other side and instructed the driver to take us to the hotel. Lee didn’t say a word during the entire journey. She clutched her purse, bit her nails, stared out the window, but she didn’t give me any more information on how she’d found out about Ayesha or what had happened. Although, these things often took weeks to unravel, and answers weren’t always forthcoming.

She leaned against me as we took the elevator up to the top floor and flopped onto the sofa seconds after we entered our suite.

“Do you want to talk?”

She lifted her head, eyes bleak. “I can’t take it in. I’ve never known anyone who’s killed themselves before.”

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