She’s clutching one of the shopping bags so tightly the handles have gone white around her fingers.
For one second, guilt floods me. Then I kill it.
“Seems you’re just in time,” I say, my tone turning even colder. “Maybe you can explain to Anika why half my staff are talking about you this morning.”
Wynter swallows hard. “I . . . I brought the things for Anika’s room.”
I glance at the bags like they offend me on sight. “Right. The tat you bought yesterday.” I look back at Anika. “It’s all going back so don’t get attached.”
“Ray,” Anika warns.
But I’m already done. I pick up the breakfast tray and move past Wynter without looking at her again.
“Try not to embarrass yourself today,” I say as I brush by.
WYNTER
“Sit down and tell me everything,” Anika demands.
“I’d really rather not,” I mumble, sinking into the chair beside her bed. It’s my day off, but after missing our chats yesterday, I needed to come in and see her. “I’m still mortified.”
Anika grins. “Then you absolutely have to tell me. Remember, I’m living my life through you now, so don’t leave out a single detail.”
I groan and drop my face into my hands.
“Where do I even start? The wildly inappropriate text messages I sent to Ray? The bucketload of Champagne I drank at his expense because I was annoyed? The position he found me in at the casino? Or the fact I threw up all over a roulette table?”
Anika bursts into laughter.
I peek at her through my fingers. “I haven’t drunk in ages.”
“Oh my god,” she gasps between laughs. “You’ve just made my whole day and it’s barely begun. Start with why you were annoyed.”
I straighten and cross my arms. “Because Ray paid Holly to take me out.”
Anika’s smile softens. “That does sound like him.”
“It was humiliating,” I say. “I thought we were just hanging out, having a nice day, and then she casually tells me Ray asked her to take me for lunch and cocktails like I’m some sort of lonely charity case.”
Her brows lift. “You did tell him you didn’t have friends here.”
“That does not mean I wanted him to hire me a fake friend for the day.”
Anika winces, though she’s still amused. “Okay, fair.”
I sigh. “And the worst part is . . . I think he meant well, which somehow makes it even more annoying.”
“His heart was probably in the right place.”
I snort. “The jury’s still out on that.”
Anika grins again, eyes sparkling now. “Forget his heart. Tell me about the vomit.”
I groan so loudly she laughs before I’ve even started.
“I couldn’t find the bathroom,” I say, already cringing. “Ray had just humiliated me over the whole booth disaster, I was panicking, my stomach was turning, and I was trying to run in the right direction when I tripped.”
Anika is already laughing again.
