Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 30055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
EMOTIONAL DISTRESS (N.):
SEVERE MENTAL OR EMOTIONAL SUFFERING, SUCH AS ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, OR HUMILIATION, CAUSED BY ANOTHER PERSON'S CONDUCT.
JAMESON
Scarlett doesn’t utter a single word to me for the entire drive.
She keeps her face buried in her phone, refreshing an email inbox that never changes.
Every time I glance at her, she makes it more than clear that she’s going to deny giving me a full view of her beautiful face.
But at every stoplight, under the bright cast of the reds and yellows, I can see a gloss settling over her eyes.
She’s refusing to let me see her cry.
The sight of her hurting makes my chest ache even worse than it did when she left me, and I’m still confused as to why.
MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCE (N.):
A FACT OR SITUATION THAT DOES NOT EXCUSE OR JUSTIFY A WRONGFUL ACT OR CRIME, BUT LESSENS THE SEVERITY OF THE FAULT, PENALTY, OR DAMAGES.
SCARLETT
“Good evening, Miss.” The valet at the Four Seasons extends a white-gloved hand to me. “Thank you for staying with us this evening.”
I nod and step out, waiting for Jameson to say “Goodbye, Scarlett,” and drive away, but he steps out, too.
Biting my tongue, I walk inside and approach the front desk.
“How may I help you tonight, Miss?” The agent smiles at me.
“I’m checking in,” I say. “Scarlett Winters.”
“Okay, one second.” She taps her keyboard. “Ah. You’ve reserved our penthouse suite for the night. Allow me to grab the keys and your special amenity bag.”
She stoops down and emerges with a gold tote bag and a room key packet.
“These are yours as well, Miss.” The front desk agent picks up a bouquet of bright white roses.
“Thank you.” I take them and carry them to the elevator, with Jameson following my every step.
He joins me in the car before the doors close.
“I’m just making sure you get inside the suite safely,” he says. “That’s all.”
Right… I hit the button for the top floor and keep my gaze straight ahead as we ascend.
It takes everything in me not to look over at him, not to steal one last long glance before we disappear from each other’s lives again.
“Los Angeles doesn’t seem like the right city for you,” he says out of nowhere. “It’s the opposite of everything you’ve ever shown about yourself to me…”
I don’t respond.
“It’s also ridiculously expensive,” he says. “You’re not in any financial trouble, are you?”
Ping!
I step onto the floor and head straight for the suite’s golden double doors.
Taking out the keycard, I sigh and turn around.
“I’m at the suite safely now, Jameson,” I say. “I’m fine.”
“I said ‘inside’ the suite.”
“Because a criminal is going to randomly pop out between now and the next five seconds?”
“Open the goddamn door, Scarlett.”
“I will, the moment you go back to the elevator.”
“Okay, then.” He takes the keycard from my hand and holds it against the pad until it flashes green.
Pushing the door open, he gently nudges me inside, and the lights flicker on.
He moves past me instead of exiting, and I place my flowers and tote bag on a hallway table. I step out of my heels and wait for him to return to the door, but he doesn’t.
Sighing, I walk into the living room and spot him standing by the windows.
“Thank you for making this reservation for me, Jameson,” I say. “As you can see, I’m safely inside, so you can leave now.”
“I will,” he says, nodding. “But before I do that—”
“Just do it now and finish your sentence later.”
“Your words are a lot more cutting than I remember.”
“I guess I learned from the best.”
Silence.
“I need to know a few things about your new boyfriend,” he says.
“Who I’m dating is none of your business, Jameson.”
“It is since I don’t have a new girlfriend.”
“That’s because you’re very hard to put up with.”
“It’s because I’m incapable of thinking about anyone else but you.”
“Liar.”
“You’ll always be my favorite hypocrite when it comes to lying.” He narrows his eyes. “How serious is this relationship?”
I say nothing.
“Are you letting him kiss you?”
“Jameson—”
“Answer me.”
“I don’t have to.”
“So, you’re fucking him?”
He doesn’t give me the chance to answer.
“You could’ve at least asked for my permission before you moved on to someone else.”
“Your permission?” I glare at him. “Is that what you just said?”
“Yes.” He glares right back. “My fucking permission, since you promised that your pussy belongs to me.”
“Good to know I was just ‘sex’ to you.”
“You weren’t and you know that.” His face reddens. “You fucking know that.”
“Right.” I nod. “I was also the woman who wasn’t allowed to ask you too many questions about your personal life, and couldn’t get upset about you representing some of the most terrible people on this planet.”
“You were more than that, too.”
“Doesn’t seem like it…” My breath hitches as he crosses the room, and my heart trips in my chest until he’s standing right in front of me.