And that couldn’t happen tonight. I needed answers so badly. I needed to know that he and Nadia … that they were … a couple, so I could forget all about him and about the way he made me feel—because what had I been thinking?
Honestly? He was waaaaaaay out of my league, and I couldn’t date a porn star. No matter how good of friends we were. We should just be friends and nothing more. That would solve all my problems.
I glanced up at the door.
Floor seven. Floor eight.
We were whizzing up to our floor, yet time seemed to move so slow.
Floor nine. Floor ten.
Just two more.
Floor eleven. Floor?—
Before the 12 could light up above the door, the elevator suddenly stopped. I glanced at the door, waiting for it to open, but instead, the elevator remained stagnant. I pressed on the button for the twelfth floor several times, but with no success.
Charlie tapped on the Door Open button, and nothing.
“It’s stuck,” I muttered to myself. “Why is it stuck?”
God, this is just my luck!
All I had wanted to do was sink into my bed and cry myself to sleep, not get stuck in an elevator with the man I loved, who obviously didn’t love me back if he had been at a sex club with the girl he was supposed to sleep with!
Tears welled up in my eyes again.
“Don’t cry,” Charlie cooed, hitting the Call button. “We’ll get out of here.”
He didn’t know I wasn’t crying because of this. Or maybe he did. I wasn’t going to ask.
My gaze landed on his hand as he pressed the button again. His knuckles were covered with dried blood.
What happened?
He had just been at Radiant with Nadia. Why were his knuckles bloody? Had he gotten into a fight with someone?
“Hello. How can I help?” the operator said through the speakers.
Charlie glanced back at me, but I looked away. “We’re stuck.”
“We’re aware of the issue, and we’re working on fixing it as soon as possible.”
And with that, she didn’t say another word. Charlie stepped back and took a breath. I crossed my arms and glanced over at him, and he looked away right after our eyes locked. He scratched the back of his head and shuffled his feet.
“Did Derek touch you?” Charlie said, breaking the silence.
“Derek? No.”
“Are you sure?”
I glanced down at his bloody knuckles. “Did you hit him?”
“Are you sure he didn’t touch you?” Charlie asked again, ignoring my question.
Which meant that he’d totally hit Derek. It must’ve been right after I left because I hadn’t been gone from Derek’s house for more than an hour, an hour and fifteen minutes tops. Had he tracked me down after spotting me at Radiant?
“He didn’t touch me,” I said, and then he went silent. “So, did you record your scene?”
