“First of all,” I argue, “you came crashing into me. And second of all, don’t think yourself special. I treat everyone like this.”
She scoffs, looking away from me and out the window. I watch her, seeing the way her full lips press together and her black brows tense, forming a delicate wrinkle between her eyes.
“Take him home first,” she says to Lucien. “I don’t need his help.”
Lucien tenses as his eyes find me in the rearview. “Sir?”
“Yes, take me home,” I mutter. “If she wants to handle it herself, let her.”
She makes a frustrated sound. “Unbelievable.”
“I’m sorry my sister didn’t give you warning that I’m not the most amicable person, and I don’t go out of my way to makeyoufeel comfortable.”
“Oh, she did,” Freya replies.
My head turns toward her with surprise. I can feel Lucien watching me, his hands clenching around the steering wheel. He’s probably mentally hoping I drop it and stop being such a pretentious asshole to this girl, but I wish I could tell him and everyone else that I can’t help it.
This is who I am.
“She did? What exactly did she say?” The thought of my sister talking about me to her friends,warningthem about me, has me feeling unsettled.
Freya turns toward me, and my gaze fixes on the red lipstick across her pouty lips. On her warm golden skin and the expressiveness in her eyes as if she can say far more with them than she needs to say with her mouth.
Suddenly, I find myselfhatingjust how gorgeous she is.
“She said you pretend to be miserable and hateful all the time, but it’s just an act to try and get pity from everyone in your life. I think she feels bad for you, but I don’t. I’m not as selfless as Amelia. Because I think you really are miserable, so you try to make everyone miserable right along with you.”
My face forms a scowl so deep it hurts. The air in the car is thick with tension as Lucien pulls up to my building, and I can tell by the way he shifts toward us that he’s dying to say something, maybe try to defuse the situation, but it’s not his place, so he stays quiet.
“How dare you talk to me like that?” I ask with quiet astonishment.
“How dareyou?” she replies. Her delicate little chin is held up, and it reminds me of a small child attempting to look more fearless than they are.
There’s no point in arguing with this girl, so I snatch the handle of the door and open it with anger. The sky has opened up again, and it’s coming down in sheets. Lightning cracks, illuminating the dim cloud-covered sky, and thunder roars shortly after.
“Mr. Kade,” Lucien says, pleading with an umbrella in his hand, but I ignore him.
I’m too angry. The audacity of this woman to speak to me this way…
I want to hurt her back, so I say the only thing in my power to say. “You can kiss that job goodbye.”
Her jaw drops, and sorrow flashes across her eyes.
I wish I could say it was satisfying to see the effects of my words, but it’s not. When I climb out of the car in a rush, I feel nothing but remorse.
Trying to run from it, I slam the door closed and walk through the downpour to the front of the building. The doorman is there to usher me inside, but I pause on the sidewalk instead. The water soaks me, my too-tight shirt, my designer shoes, and my perfectly styled hair.
“You all right?” a deep voice says from my right. Turning, I stare into the face of a handsome yet familiar man. He has brown curls and eyes like a rich chocolate cake or a forest of dark oak trees in the spring.
It takes me a moment to realize the rain is no longer drowning me. He’s holding an umbrella over my head as his eyes fix on mine.
“Mr. Kade, please come in,” the doorman pleads, and I snap myself out of my daze and rush into the building. Once in the lobby, the man with the umbrella closes it and hands it to the doorman, who stores it in a nearby rack.
I can’t take my eyes from his face. I swear I’ve never seen him in the building before, and yet…I feel like I just saw him recently.
He’s exquisitely dressed in tight black slacks, a white long-sleeved button-up, a long wool coat, and a plaid scarf.
The lights flicker in the lobby, and I force myself to look away again as we walk together toward the elevator. He stands next to me as we wait for the doors of the lift to open, and I glance down at his hands as he reaches out to press the button. My eyes narrow, noticing the broken skin and scabs on his knuckles, and everything comes rushing back.
