Page 87 of Selling Scarlett

Chapter Thirty-Three

~ELIZABETH~

Holy crabcakes. This is not good. I'm lying here with Hunter, and there is Priscilla, leaning against the door to his room. Her eyes and mine collide, and I drag my gaze down her body. She's wearing a black pantsuit and tall red heels. Her blonde hair flows over her shoulders like she's just come from a beauty parlor.

Her red lips curve into a twisted smile, and she purrs, “Scarlett.”

I sit up and glance wide-eyed at Hunter. He's still sleeping. On his stomach. So I can see all the half-healed welts on his back. It’s all I need to get angry—at her for what she’s done him. And that she’s even here at all, ruining our moment. I have no idea why Hunter's tied up with her, but I know he shouldn't be.

I pull the sheet around me and hop down off the bed, moving with borrowed bravado. Hunter, still sleeping peacefully behind me, is my inspiration. He's got enough on his plate. He doesn't need a drop by from Priscilla. Normally my insecurity might cause me to question that—maybe he's in love with her; blah blah blah—but I know deep down he's not. I'm not even sure he likes her, and if nothing else, I know she won't be as gentle with him today as I will.

Holding the sheet tightly around myself with one hand, I use the other one to point at the door. “I have no idea what you're doing here, but it's creepy and you need to leave. He's asleep, as you can see. He isn't feeling well.”

Priscilla laughs. “His little hooker. What a spitfire you are.” She rakes her mean gaze up and down my figure. “I'd like to know what you did to lose all that weight. That night I saw you at Hunter's party you were quite the fat ass.”

Her comment bounces off me. I stalk closer to her and jerk my finger at the door. “Get out of here. I’ll tell Hunter you came by, and he can decided if he wants you back.” If she doesn't leave in just a second, I might claw her.

She laughs, a throaty, knowing sound. “I see what this is. You actually have a thing for him.”

I look down at myself. “Um, I think it's clearly mutual.”

She shakes her head and makes a tsk-ing sound. “Believe me sweetheart, you don't want to get involved with him. He's poison.”

I frown at her. This makes no sense. Hasn't she spent the last few months—or even longer—having sex with him? Good sex, from what I saw through the powder room keyhole.

Intuition tells me she's full of crap, so I roll my eyes as I wave at her again. “I know what I want, and I don't trust a word out of your mouth.”

She shrugs. “Your choice Triple X. But if you think he's yours, keep dreaming.”

It takes me a minute to realize she's not calling me X-rated; she's calling me plus-sized. I snort. “You're ridiculous, and believe me, you really need to leave before I call security.” It's a bluff—a stupid one, since I have no idea how much she knows about his house—but she takes a small step backward, the backs of her heels bumping the door.

I glance again at Hunter's sleeping form, and I know in my gut that isn't true, what she said. He's not poison. She is. “Get out of here and don't come back. You sadist.”

I march forward, and to my shock, Priscilla turns, opens the door, and steps into the hall. “I'm going,” she says in an airy tone, “but it's not because of you, Elizabeth DeVille. I'll be back when Hunter has time to enjoy his true pleasures.”

The sad thing is, I might have believed her, had a gray-haired man dressed in a butler's outfit not come striding down the hall at that second. “Ms. Heat?” He takes a few quick strides, closing the distance between the two of them, and I'm surprised by how fast he's got her by the waist.

“Hal, I—”

“Mr. West has placed you on the do-not-admit list,” he says, as he hauls her off. “I don't know how you got in through the back gate, but it's time for you to go.”

Priscilla shrieks, and I watch as he unceremoniously tosses her over his shoulders and marches toward the stairs.

As they disappear from sight, and I sink down in front of Hunter's door, shaking. What have I gotten myself into?

*

When I return to Hunter's room, he's still sleeping. I hesitate only a minute before unraveling the sheet from around my body and lying it gently over his. I slip back into my teddy and robe and go next door to call Suri.

“Hi.” I smile, feeling oddly content after my little run-in with Priscilla.

“Hi! Lizzy, how is everything? I want to hear about it all. I'm sorry I haven't been a good friend this last little while. Has he put the moves on you?”

“Sort of.” I blush. “But I want to hear about Cross first.”

She says Cross is awake, but he's quiet and moody. I smile, because that sounds about right.

“I'm sure he'd love to talk to you, but there's a social worker in there with him now. Do you want to call back later?”

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