She swallows. “What is that supposed to mean?”
A bitter laugh leaves me. “Stop pretending like you care, Noelle. This isn’t real. What we have is not real. You were paid to be here. Paid to act like you give a damn. Paid to fuck.”
The slap makes my face move to the side. “Fuck you, Roman Voss.”
The hurt reflects in her eyes.
Anushka comes to her side and gives me a sad smile. “Roman, Noelle, maybe you both should talk in the morning.”
“I think so too,” Noelle says softly. I can hear the sliver of pain in her voice. I wanted her to bleed like I was.
I hold her chin and look her dead in her eyes. “You’re acting like you matter when you don’t. This was a job; you are a contract, and it has been fulfilled.”
My words make her flinch.
She pulls her face away from me. “You don’t get to hurt me because your family hurt you. Grow the fuck up, and don’t take your issues out on me. I won’t accept it. I hope hurting me made you feel like you are in control again. But the truth is you are not in control; cowards never are.”
With her head held high, she turns and heads out the door with Anushka.
I open my mouth to call her back, to make things right…but I can’t. My throat feels tight.
“Fuck,” I mutter. Why the hell did I say that? I walk down the hall, shuffling my way to the garage. The lights in the garage automatically turn on as I enter. She looked so hurt when she walked away.
“Keys, I need keys,” I say out loud.
“No, you don’t.” Tillie’s voice echoes behind me. “You are slightly drunk. You can’t drive. Come on.”
My legs feel like lead. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere you can regain your fucking common sense,” Tillie replies as she grabs my hand and leads me out of the house.
NOELLE
Don’t let him see you cry, I say to myself. My fists clench at my side.
“This way,” Anushka says as she guides me by the elbow outside. I welcome the cold air on my face. He hurt me. I can stillhear the things he said. The way his voice dropped cold, the way he looked at me in disgust. Anushka moves, and I sit.
I asked him what his goal was with this, and he said he didn’t want Tessa. Yet, he called her his girl and me a slut.
I close my eyes and press my head against the windowpane.
“I’m such an idiot,” I whisper.
I dropped my guard and hoped for something, someone to love me. I thought we had something, but I was wrong. All we had was an illusion of a relationship.
A hot tear rolls down my cheek. It feels so hard to swallow. He is a coward. He saw what he had, and instead of standing with me, he hurt me. He was cruel because he was scared. Scared men lash out, and scared men run.
“I have to call, Lia,” I say. My throat hurts.
“I took care of it already,” Anushka says.
Streetlights pass over my face. I don’t know where we are going. I don’t care. The car stops, and I move like I am in a trance. Anushka’s hand holds on to mine as she takes care of things.
Now I am standing in the middle of a bedroom in a penthouse suite, and I don’t remember how the hell I got here.
“Hey.” Anushka comes in with a T-shirt and a box with some new underwear.
“Where are we?” I ask as I watch her place the stuff on the bed.
