35
TATE
“I haven’t heardfrom Brandon in a while.”
Ashley snorts. “Perhaps, he’s fallen in a ravine and been eaten by rabid rats.”
I study the counter as I wipe up a drip of coffee, then buff the surface until it shines, the ache in my arm helping to take the edge off the nausea I’ve felt since hearing my song on the radio.
“You can prove you wrote that song. You kept all of Brandon’s text messages begging you to let him pitch it. You have the power to ruin that asshole.”
“I know,” I say, finding a new blemish on the counter to scrub. “And I’m going to go to the record label after my shift today.”
Ashley grins. “Want a wing woman?”
“Please.” I’ve spent the past two days going over what I want to say, and how I intend to get past the front desk and into the CEO’s office. I’ve got my evidence all printed out in a folder, ready to slam at them.
Ashley’s right. I have a good case to put forward. And I’m determined not to leave that office until I get what I deserve.
My song back.
“I know that look on your face. What else is eating you?” Ashley muses.
“It’s Sullivan, he’s been… I don’t know, acting weird since I woke up and Molly was in bed with me.”
“You think he’s worried about her finding you there?”
“No, that’s just it. Molly wasn’t bothered at all. I told her I was feeling sick, and that Sullivan had looked after me, and I’d had to sleep over. She saw me get sick in the car the night before, so it made sense.”
“So what is it, then?” Ashley leans back against the counter.
“I don’t know. He’s been distant. I keep catching him on the phone, but he hangs up when he sees me. Then last night he told me it was a wrong number. But I swear before I walked into the room, he said something.”
“Like what?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. It sounded like, ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I miss you’.”
Ashley’s brows shoot up. “I’ll grind his balls in the coffee machine if he’s cheating on you.”
I give her a grateful smile. Knowing Brandon cheated has made her extra protective.
“I don’t think he’d have the time, even if I did think he was capable, which I don’t. He’s always working. And in the evenings we’re together.” Except the past two nights. He told me he thought it was a good idea if I didn’t stay over for a while, just until he was sure Molly wasn’t going to have any questions about finding me in his bed.
Goosebumps prick up over my arms, and I desperately want to ignore the warning bells making my gut churn. Despite me not staying over, I’ve still spent the evenings with them both. And he’s still wanted me to stay after Molly’s asleep.
Sex has become more intense.
Sullivan’s been intent on fucking me all over his penthouse, like he’s trying to impregnate the memory of us together throughout it. Just last night he lifted me into his arms as I was about to leave and fucked me desperately against the front door.
He tore my skirt in his haste to shove it to my waist and sink inside me, despite us only just having finished fucking in his bed minutes earlier.
“Well, I’d do it without question. Just so you know.” Ashley winks at me and pats the coffee machine.
“I know you would.” I smile. “And that’s why I love you so much.”
“I hate you,” I tell Ashley.
“No, you don’t,” she whispers back as she marches toward the sleek reception desk inside the lobby of Liberty Records with her hand on my lower back, herding me along. “I know you’re nervous, but you’ll thank me later for not letting you wimp out.”
