Me: I am. I’m sorry. But I love him.
I can’t believe I just silently said that.
That’s when Montana lets out a small sob. Her eyes are damp, and she’s shaking. I reach out to hug her, but she swats me away. Two more women come into the restroom giggling and then go silent as they stare at us.
“Just go,” Montana says, her voice weak. “I can’t look at you.”
I nod and leave, even though this is a public restroom and I have every right to be here. I do feel bad for her. But I also feel bad for myself because that was the first time I’ve admitted that I love John Brandt, and it was in a silent conversation with his crazy ex-girlfriend. I don’t know how or if I’ll ever say it tohim.
When I return to the table, John excuses himself from the gentleman he’s talking to and puts his hand on my thigh. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine. Do you need to give a speech or write a check or transfer some crypto or something?”
“I don’t invest in things I can’t model, Olivia. Crypto is far too speculative and volatile.”
Then why the hell did you invest your penis in that psycho model?!I want to scream.
“Do you want to go?”
“Doyouwant to go?” I ask. “Is there anyone else here that you should talk to? Anyone you feel obligated to catch up with? Anyone who might flip out if you don’t give them some of your valuable, undivided attention?”
John grins and leans in to press a kiss to my forehead. “Just you. Let’s go.”
He must have optimized Boyfriend Mode again. And so, we go.
CHAPTER 24
JOHN
I’m glad I waited until tonight to have sex in the back of a limo for the first time ever. Although it’s not so much that I waited until tonight, as with other women, I could always wait until later to have sex. But tonight, I needed to be inside Olivia as soon as we had the slightest semblance of privacy.
She’s always beautiful, but she is a goddess in that blue gown. As soon as I saw her in it, I wanted to stick my head under the long, flowy fabric, feel her thighs squeeze against my ears, and cunnilinguate her until I made her scream. So now I can check that off my to-do list.
I hope the indentations her feet left on the ceiling above the back seat disappear before the next clients get in.
Zipping up my pants, I tap on the tinted divider window, telling the driver that he can take us home. It looks like he drove all the way around Central Park a few times after I’d told him to “just drive around for a while.” Which is limo speak forWe’re going to fuck in your car now.
Olivia’s silky straightened hair is wildly tousled, and she is using my handkerchief to wipe the lipstick off her very satisfied, gorgeous face. She licks the handkerchief, says, “Come here,”and then wipes around my mouth too. I don’t even think it’s gross. She looks so hot that I’m thinking about asking the driver to go twice more around the park, but there’s a lot more surface area to use back at the condo.
After giving the driver a hundred-dollar tip—on top of the tip that was included in the booking fee—I help Olivia out of the limo and onto the sidewalk in front of my building. She frowns as she stares past me.
“Julian?” she says. She doesn’t let go of my hand, but I loosen my grip on hers.
The infamous Julian fucking Bartlett struts over toward us, in the same leather jacket he was wearing two years ago. But instead of synthetic musk, he reeks of whiskey. What a delightful surprise. His hair is longer and stragglier than it was two years ago, and how unique—is that a tattoo of an Asian character on his neck? I’m pretty sure it’s Chinese fortool.
Olivia looks back at me. “I didn’t tell him to come here,” she says in a hushed voice.
I believe her.
“Yo, O! I was just at the bar down the street. Come on.” He holds up his arm, like she’s supposed to rush over to his side and position herself under it.
“Actually, we were just going home,” she says.
And I absolutely love that she said that.
He doesn’t even look at me. He just stares at Olivia’s tits and holds his arms out for a hug as he stumbles over to her, drunk eye-fucking her, not using protection, not caring if she comes or not. Fucking prick. “It’s good to see you,” he says as he grabs her and pulls her in. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
I let go of her hand to give her a minute to deal with him…and also to keep my punching hand free, just in case.
