Instead? I feel like someone unplugged my brain and replaced it with glittery panic.
Why me?
Why not one of the golden children in editorial? Why not literally ANYONE else?
I inhale deeply.
Everything feels too big. Too hot. Too dangerous.
I pull out my phone. The Nasty Nine have left ninety-something new messages.
I throw my phone back in my bag like it’s a cursed artifact.
“I need to get a grip,” I mutter.
Except every time I close my eyes, I see the way he looked at me.
Like I was already his.
And THAT is the problem.
My heart flips. My knees go weak again.
Nope.
Nope.
I slap my cheeks. “Get it together.”
When I walk out of the alcove,
He’s there.
Jaxon Cole is standing in the hallway. Like heknewexactly where I’d be.
He stops. I stop. The air stops.
He tilts his head slightly. Studying me. Reading me. Seeing way too much.
My breath stutters.
“Ruby,” he says quietly.
Oh god.
My legs nearly give out again.
I spin on my heel and walk the OTHER WAY so fast I nearly trip over a recycling bin.
I hear him chuckle behind me.
I’m never going to emotionally survive this man.
CHAPTER 22
Jaxon
She thinks I don’t notice.
