Page 61 of Sweetheart: Part One

WhywasI offering her attention at all?

I was above it. Yet, something about her gripped me.

That something hadalmostmade it impossible to not just sign her in tonight, when she agreed to be this kind of Sweetheart for me again, with golden lace flashing, her dressing gown hanging from one shoulder.

All I had to do was walk to the office and drop my signature on that contract.

Fuck no.

Not after tonight.

Relief flooded my system as I finally found the piece of the trophy I’d been so desperate to get back.

It was in the grass, the wood of the base split from the impact, but the plate on the front was saved.

VEX

I fled the house, taking the spiral stairs by twos. I barely looked back until I was out in the warm summer night air, until I was past the pool and into the back gardens.

I could sense him on my heels.

A phantom.

A nightmare.

A part of me knew he wasn’t there, knew that I’d left Rook behind in his room. Yet I couldn’t stop. The looming walls of the maze appeared before me, offering a strange safety with three tall entrances. I didn’t slow down until I was deep within the tall walls of green.

Finally, panting and shaking, I collapsed to the grass between pristine, towering hedges.

There, I wept, great ugly sobs as I buried my fist in my mouth as I screamed with frustration for what I’d done.

I’d been standing on the precipice of victory—one step away. And then I’d shattered it into a million pieces.

All for what?

Pride?

This nightmare coming for me was of my own making.

EIGHTEEN

Day Six

DRAKE

I woke up in the morning to find Vex in my embrace.

I’d have believed she slipped into my arms through the night, and if it had been the truth, I wouldn’t have been mad. Except, that wasn’t the case.

I was on her side of the bed. She was facing the wall, and I had her all bundled up in my arms.

Uh…

Okay. Maybe wewerein desperate need of a Sweetheart.

Just not her.

A different Sweetheart that Ebony didn’t hate.

---