“I don’t need anything from you. All I got from you was broken promises.”
She walked by him, her head held high. Gabe paced to the window at the end of the hall and back again. The woman had a knack for goading him. Usually, it led to sexy times. Now it just made his rage bubble over with all the hurt he had stored inside.
But her barb landed. He let her down and should have taken care of her. Taking out his phone, he transferred money into her account. He tried not to think about what it meant, that the action soothed his rage. He took the stairs to the ground floor of the hotel, catching up with Erik and River. He needed to finish here quickly and not think about Ivy Powell.
CHAPTER TEN – IVY
Ivy squirmed in the office chair under the steely gaze of Zee Riddell, owner of Club Bandit. “I got the letter in the mail asking if I would like to apply for membership and schedule an interview. So I did. Here I am for an interview.”
Zee rubbed a palm over his face, and gave her a small smile. “Those invites went out to everyone who has ever been a guest of a founding member.”
Ivy chewed her lip. “Oh. So it wasn’t a personal thing? I thought when you scheduled this interview... I had hoped I would be approved because you know me.”
“Ivy, that’s the problem. I don’t think Gabe or our founding members would be comfortable with you playing at the club. You have a very public display of outing a member, and we must protect the privacy of everyone who plays here.”
Ivy shook her head. “It’s been over six months. Nobody believes me, but my reasons were good.”
“The community has a long memory. Even if your reasons were noble, you still outed Gabe.”
“Did I?” Ivy said. Her body heated. “I said I couldn’t wait for my Dom to play with me tonight. I didn’t say he was a member of this club.”
The stare Zee sent her made her scoot to the edge of her seat.
“I’m sorry, Ivy, I can’t offer you membership to Club Bandit.”
“Okay,” Ivy said. Another thing she had lost was because she tried to save Gabe.
“I’ll walk you out,” Zee said.
Ivy followed him out of his office through the gorgeous golden textured walls of the main space of Club Bandit. All the play equipment gleamed. Walking past the station with the wooden cross, she shook her head, not wanting to linger on the memory of Gabe tying her up and using the crop on her nipples that flooded her brain. God, that was a great night, a sweet night.
“Take care, Ivy,” Zee said. He looked like he meant it, so Ivy tried to smile at him as she felt tears gather in the corners of her eyes.
Her mother told her life wasn’t fair, but this sucked. In her car, she took a deep breath, trying to ward off the emotions. Fine, if Club Bandit didn’t want her, she would just take herself to the other club in the city.
Maybe she could make new memories there, find a Dom to play with for a few hours, and forget about her life.
She didn’t want a new Dom. Sighing, she drove through the gates, leaving Club Bandit behind.
Her phone rang, flashing Bethany’s name.
Ivy pulled over. “Hi, Bethany!” Ivy said. “I got an email from Emergence this morning. They loved the results of the product launch.”
“Yes, I know. They want me to do another shoot. Meet me at the Lions Bridge right away.”
Ivy gritted her teeth. “Which part?”
“Obviously, the part where people take selfies? The underneath part in the park?”
“Got it.”
“Be here soon! I’m going clubbing tonight.”
At least it gave her something to do than feel sorry for herself. She wasn’t going to give Gabe that kind of power, not like this. If the man wasn’t so stubborn and he had listened to her, she wouldn’t have had to make a post that ended her life.
The congested traffic didn’t improve her mood. She clicked on a self-help audiobook and clicked it off again when it suggested she “envision the life she wanted.”
The life she wanted was the one she had with Gabe. With her friends. She wanted to sit in bed naked on Sunday morning, drinking coffee and eating the pastries he brought back for her from his run. She wanted Christmas at her parents’ house, with the chaos. Though she could pass on Christmas with his dad and brother and the awkward conversation that consisted of his father asking him when he was going to make some money.
