Page 1 of Twisted Beauty

1

Liv

It was a little late to be having second thoughts, considering she was thirty thousand feet in the air and all. But panicking? Apparently that was still an option.

Liv tipped the stemless glass into her mouth and waited while the last drop of wine took its sweet time rolling down to her tongue. This drink hadn’t worked any better than the last to calm her down. Her heart was still pounding like it wanted to claw its way out of her chest. Probably trying to hit undo and head straight back home.

The captain’s voice came over the intercom, mumbling something completely unintelligible, and Liv squinted through the haze of scratches in her window to get a better look at the coastline below.

Long stretches of crescent beach, calm waters, clear blue sky. From this high up, Mexico sure looked like the perfect escape from her crapfest of a life.

God, she hoped so. She had nothing to go back to now. Worse than nothing, actually. More like an epic, how is this even my life kind of mess.

She’d probably never get a job in the industry again. Definitely not a decent recommendation. Not after wounding that idiot’s fragile male pride.

As if he were the one who’d been wronged.

“Miss?” A man’s voice derailed her thoughts and she looked up. A flight attendant with a boyish grin stood in the aisle holding a trash bag. He looked nice. Why couldn’t she ever fall for nice? “We’re making our final descent. I’ll need you to store your tray table and buckle up.”

“Sure. Sorry,” she muttered and handed him her empty glass.

Liv folded her table and set the in-flight magazine onto her lap. She’d been staring at the most gorgeous photo of a California gray whale breaching off the coast of Puerto Vallarta, and wanted one last look before putting it away. Naturally, she felt a little jealous of the photographer who got to do that for a living. But how weird was it to envy the whale too? The caption beneath the image practically gushed over female whales, and how selective and smart they were when it came to choosing a lifelong mate.

That was clearly beyond her own skill set.

Liv rolled her eyes at herself and stuffed the magazine into her seatback pocket. Now she was comparing herself to sea life. And losing.

As the plane descended, she watched the shoreline approach. Too bad it wasn’t whale season, or she might get lucky and capture an image as magical as the one in the magazine. Unlikely, since she was so out of practice. But at the very least, she’d get some decent use out of all those camera lenses she’d packed.

When the wheels of the plane touched down, the tiniest flutter of excitement rippled through her gut. After walking around like a zombie for the last few weeks, the feeling surprised her enough that she almost smiled. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt like smiling.

Maybe this was what she needed after all. A change of scenery, and the promise of tequila-induced support from her best friend.

She tried to hold on to that hint of optimism, but lost it somewhere between the theme-park-style queue for customs and the lineup several deep at the luggage carousel. It started to bubble back up as she rolled her suitcase past the second customs checkpoint and toward what she thought was the exit. It wasn’t. Instead, a mudslide of people and suitcases and elbows swept her up and ushered her through an entire room full of timeshare dealers peddling free shots of tequila—which, at this point, was more than a little tempting—and then into a second room packed with ground transportation agents shouting for attention.

Pure insanity. Sure, this was an international airport, but she’d never seen anything like it.

When the crowd finally dumped her out onto the sidewalk, a blanket of warm, steamy air enveloped her and a local woman shuttled her toward a taxi at the curb. Liv handed her suitcase to the driver, gave him Katie’s address, and collapsed into the back seat.

She reached for her phone and hesitated. She needed to let Katie know she was on her way, but what else would she find in her messages? Did anyone from home even notice she’d left? The egomaniac himself would actually have to read the resignation letter she left behind, and considering what a priority she was in his life, that could take days.

She held her breath and switched her phone out of airplane mode. A flurry of texts popped up on her screen instantly.

Where the hell are you?

It’s time to stop this nonsense. You know you’re the only one for me.

Can’t you see how this looks to my fans? You’re making a fool of yourself.

He had to be kidding. She was officially the worst judge of character ever. And his biggest concern was his fans? Of all the arrogant, narcissistic, lying, arrogant—did she say arrogant already? Whatever. What an ass.

The next text was almost as infuriating. This one from her mother.

Olivia Jaye, you owe me an explanation.

She so did not.

This sick feeling in the pit of her stomach was getting old. Liv typed out a message to Katie and quickly flicked the phone back into airplane mode. She tossed it with a little too much force into her carry-on bag just as the taxi jerked away from the curb.