Once I’ve pulled myself together, I drive into downtown and pick up enough stuff for the next couple of weeks. I send a group text to my cousins letting them know I’ll be off the grid for a while. I confirm with my security team that Jasalie got home safely, and Dale assures me he’ll guard her with his life. Then, with security following me closely, I head home to Malibu. I need to hide out and think. The only woman I’ve ever loved just walked out my front door, all because I asked her to, and I don’t have a fucking clue what to do next.
* * *
Jasalie
“So what’s this all about?” Lilla asks me the next morning as we meet for coffee before work.
“Dylan and I had a fight. A big one.” I lean my cheek on my hand. “We broke up.”
“What? Why?”
Glad I cried out all my tears last night, I stay calm as I tell Lilla about the death threat. “And so now he’s decided I’m better off without him. He ended it.”
“Shit. I’m so sorry, Jase.”
I glance out the window of the coffee shop and glare at the security detail waiting for me to emerge.
Yes, Dylan kept true to his word about hiring protection for me. The guys freaking follow me everywhere. Last night when I left the apartment for frozen yogurt, this morning when I stepped outside my door to get the mail, and now…as I sit with Lilla and try to talk about him, his damn security guards are stationed feet away. They can probably lip read and are deciphering everything I say about their boss.
Well, fine, they can decipher this then.
I turn my attention back to Lilla. “The issue is that Dylan and I both have to put our hearts on the line, or it won’t work.”
“Because you love him?” she asks me.
“Yes.”
“What?” She stares at me in shocked silence. Then she starts to yell. “Oh, my God! You love Dylan!”
She reaches over and throws her arms around me.
I push her off of me as best I can. But I’m weaker than usual. I didn’t sleep all night, and I’ve hardly eaten. At this rate, I’m going to be completely strung out on coffee by the time I get to work.
“This is like a fairy tale,” Lilla squeals. “A fairy tale with the perfect ending.”
“Did you miss the part where he dumped me?”
“No, I heard you. But I don’t buy it. Dylan can’t stay away from you, Jasalie. Mark my words—he’ll come crawling back and beg you to forgive him. Give it a few weeks.” She glances out the window. “He’s still staying close to you right now through his security team. They’re probably supposed to report back to him at least once a day, so make sure you keep a happy face in their presence. Men hate it when we thrive in their absence. Makes them come back even quicker.”
“Well, Dylan will have to have one hell of an apology speech planned if he’s even thinking of contacting me again. I told him that dumping me was essentially saying I wasn’t worth the risk.” I remember his expression when I said those words to him. “He hated when I said that part. He broke up with me, but something about what I said broke him. I wish I knew what it was.”
“Is it like some football insult?” Lilla asks.
“Maybe, but I imagine it goes deeper than that.”
“You know what—maybe you should show up at his house, possibly in only a towel—oooh, that might do the trick…” Her eyes glaze over.
“Lilla, I can’t do that.” I swallow down the rest of my coffee. “Dylan Wild made his choice. He chose himself. So now I’m going to choose me. Anyway, now I have plenty of time to focus on my art.”
We leave for work, but the whole walk there, with security trailing closely behind us, Lilla suggests idea after idea for how Dylan’s going to try to woo me back into his life.
“He could have a DJ play you his apology with a love song,” she suggests. “And he could be standing outside of your door when you forgive him.”
“This isn’t Hollywood, Lilla.”
“Au contraire, Ms. Gordon,” she says. “We’re in the middle of Hollywood. And I think this deserves a major happy ending.”
A happy ending? I’ve stopped believing in one.
