Текст книги "Taint"

Автор книги: S. L. Jennings

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

IT’S FUNNY HOW you never realize how much you hate sleeping alone until you’re forced to.

There. I said it. I hate sleeping alone.

Or maybe I just hate sleeping without Ally tucked into my side, her red, disheveled mane falling into my face and smothering me in slumber. Or her drool trickling onto my chest, or her spontaneous bouts of snoring scaring the shit out of me in the middle of the night.

God. I fucking love it.

So much so, that I couldn’t sleep a wink after she slipped out my front door, leaving me satisfied, yet still hungry for her in every way, shape and form.

“People will start to talk,” she said, sliding on her sandals. Those ugly-ass sandals. God, I fucking love them too.

“Let them talk.”

“You’re cute,” she smiled, before touching her lips to mine. “Cute, but not careless. You know how people love to talk. And those women haven’t had a piece of juicy gossip to feast on in months.”

“Fuck them,” I answered, wrapping her in my arms, refusing to let her go.

“Mmmm.” She ran her nose from the base of my throat up to my chin. “I like it when you don’t shave. Scruff is sexy on you.”

“You’resexy on me,” I replied, letting my hands drift down to squeeze her ass. It fit perfectly in my palms. “Stay. Don’t go.”

“You’re diabolical, Mr. Drake,” she said shaking her head. She kissed my lips and unwound my hands from her body. “Tonight, ok? I’ll come by right after dinner. I’ll even skip the panna cotta, so you better have some ice cream for me.”

“I’ll have more than that for you.”

She turned around and smiled at me just before she hit the doorframe, and all I could do is bask in that smile like it was the warmest, brightest ray of sunlight I’d ever seen. I would go blind before I stopped staring at her.

“Tonight,” she said. “We’ll have tonight.”

I wish I had made her stay. I wish I would’ve told her that I needed to talk to her, that it couldn’t wait another minute, that there was something she needed to know about me before we went any further. But I just stood there, dumbfounded, staring at that trail of fire until she disappeared into the main house.

Even with the lack of sleep, I can’t wait to get to class this morning. I shower, shave and throw on my clothes with more zeal than I’ve ever had. I don’t even bother to do my daily ritual of checking Google alerts, Page Six or all the other gossip rags. None of that matters anymore. Not when the memory of Ally’s body under mine, trembling with the aftershocks of orgasm while mewling my name, is permanently burned into my skull.

I’ve barely stepped inside, when Riku approaches me, trailed by my head of concierge, Diane, and a few members of my staff.

“Dude…are you ok?” he asks, concern engraved in his face. He squints his slanted eyes, making them look black under his dark brows.

“Yeah,” I frown, taking in everyone’s anxious stares. “What’s going on?”

“Haven’t you checked the news? I’ve been texting you.”

I fish my cell out of my pocket and press the Home button. Completely black. I must’ve forgotten to charge it after Ally and I took naked selfies yesterday. Shit, that’s not like me.

“Phone’s dead. Why? What’s up?”

Riku looks around, stalling nervously, as a few of the housewives trickle into the great room for this morning’s lesson. My gaze goes straight over his shoulder, past everything and everyone else, in anticipation of seeing Ally.

“You should really check the news, J.D.,” he says gravely. “Heidi is on her way down.”

“Heidi?” That gets my attention. I’ve worked with her for years, yet have only actually seen her less than a handful of times. This obviously isn’t a social visit.

“Yeah. Flight got in early this morning. She’ll be here any-”

“She’s already here,” a voice says from behind me. Heidi DuCane, the HBIC of the PR world, and renowned pit bull in a skirt. Heidi is probably the only person on earth that can make me shiver at her cold demeanor. The ice queen’s penchant for perfection and results is what has made her the most sought after—and highest paid—publicist in the business. And her sharp, Nordic features and statuesque frame have definitely made her the hottest.

I take in the tall, leggy blonde holding a sleek briefcase at her side, and nod at her approach. Heidi’s flawless face is screwed into a scowl that would make even the toughest alpha male wilt on sight. Riku shrinks back into the kitchen before she stops in front of me.

“Charge your fucking phone, Drake,” she says without preamble. Then she turns to make her way across the courtyard towards my house.

I look back at Diane, feeling a few inches shorter. “Dismiss the ladies. Tell them to review in their suites, then they’re free to enjoy the day.”

When I look up, she’s there, stealing the breath from my lungs and replacing it with what feels like helium. I feel like I’m floating when she’s around, so high that I can kiss the sun. She looks back at me, frozen in place, those cherry lips slightly parted as if she’s just gasped or moaned. It takes everything in me not to stride over to her and find out for myself.

“Standby. I’ll be in touch,” I mutter to Diane without looking at her. Then I turn away and step back into my cold, dark reality.

“THIS IS FUCKED, Drake. Seriously. How could you let this happen?”

Heidi paces the floor of my living room in 6-inch Louboutins, a smartphone in each of her hands. She brings one up to her ear and barks out an order, but I don’t hear it. My eyes and ears don’t move past the scenes playing out on the television screen. Variations of the same headline play over and over again as people try to speculate and dissect the bit of information they’ve been given on a silver platter.

Breaking News: Sex Doctor to the Stars Revealed!

Male Sexpert Transforms Socialites into Sexpots

$250k to sleep with your wife? You won’t believe who his celeb clients are!

A real life Dr. Feel Good? His patients unmasked.

Who is Justice Drake? Celebrity Consultant or Sexual Predator?

Who is Justice Drake?

Who isJustice Drake?

Even I can’t answer that.

“Justice. Justice!” I turn towards the sound of Heidi’s aggravated voice, but I don’t look at her. “Did you hear what I just said?”

“They don’t have anything. Just a name. All they have is a name,” I answer almost robotically, ignoring her question.

“Yeah, but who knows who leaked that? And it’s only a matter of time before they have more.”

I turn back to the TV just as the scene changes, displaying a new headline. “A Search for Justice.”Clever.

“Justice… I’ve got my hands full dealing with irate clients. You promised them full discretion, and now they’re scared this will get out.” She walks over to me and places a slender hand on my wrist. It’s the first time Heidi has ever touched me. Her skin is softer than I imagined, more delicate. Even with the hard exterior, Heidi is a woman through and through. I briefly wonder about her love life. Is she married? Dating? Gay or straight? Is someone making her toes curl regularly?

“Hey,” she coos with a pained smile. “You have to make a decision here. The curtain is closing. Time to send them home.”

“No.” I’m on my feet, fists balled at my sides.

“No? Justice, did you hear what I just said? We breached contract. You will lose everything if you don’t fix this shit right now. Send the women home, refund their money, and disappear before someone reveals your identity.”

“I don’t give a fuck. I can’t let her… I’m not ready to. I can’t send them back yet. I’m not done.”

“Jesus Christ! Listen to yourself!” she says throwing her hands up in exasperation. “I can’t represent you if you don’t listen to me. We still have time to fix this if we act now. It’s not like you’re actually fucking any of these women.”

My eyes pierce hers reflexively, wide with guilt. Or fear. Or maybe a mixture of both. She reads my expression like the back of a cereal box.

“Holy fuck, you didn’t. Tell me you didn’t, Justice. Tell me right this fucking minute!”

“Heidi, it’s not like that…” I croak. But it doesn’t sound convincing even to my ears. Apparently, Heidi doesn’t buy it either.

“I can’t believe you. I knew it. I knewit. Since the last time we spoke. I just didn’t want to believe that you would ever be so careless. You of all people, with your rules and control or anonymity. You would never do something so stupid.”

“I can fix this.”

“You can’t do shit. Who is she, Justice? Which one is it? Maybe there’s still a way to salvage this mess. If I know who she is, we know how much to offer for her silence.”

I stay quiet. Partly because I won’t betray Ally like that, and partly because I’m too much of a coward to tell her that I don’t want to fix this. Now that the secret is out, I can breathe. I don’t have to hide who I am anymore. I don’t have to hide how I feel.

“Name, Justice. Now.”

I look up at Heidi, feeling like this is the beginning of the end. As much as I try to fight it, I know it’s over. I know that the sun has set on Ally and me.

“We can’t pay her off. She’s not for sale.”

Heidi raises a meticulously arched brow. “Everyone is for sale, Justice. You should know that better than anyone.”

“Well, she’s not. Not Ally.”

“Ally? As in Allison Elliot-Carr? TheAllison Elliot-Carr? For fuck’s sake, Justice, why did you have to diddle the richest bitch here? You’re right; there’s nothing you can offer her that she doesn’t already have probably stashed in her coin purse.”

“Like I said, it’s not like that. She wouldn’t take it anyway.”

“And how would you know? Are you two supposed to be in love or something? Do you think, even for one second, that she would leave her life of excess and luxury for one with you? She has Evan, Mr. Sexiest Man Alive according to People magazine. Even Oprah would hit that. No offense, Justice, but what would she want with you?”

I don’t answer, because I don’t have one. Heidi is right. Compared to Evan, I’m a pauper on paper. And that’s never really bothered me…until now.

The television screen flashes with the words “Breaking News”scrolling at the bottom. Heidi turns up the volume just as Giuliana Rancic begins her diatribe.

“The media is buzzing after it has been revealed that an unidentified man, known as Justice Drake, is actually the sex therapist to the starlets. And apparently, he has some high profile clients. It’s been confirmed that earlier reports placing Allison Elliot-Carr, wife of Evan Carr, at an exclusive spa were indeed false, and that she has been at an undisclosed location with this celeb sexpert. When we reached out to the Carr camp for questioning, they replied, “No Comment.” The question now is, did Evan Carr actually hire a man to sleep with his wife in order to make her a better lover? Stay tuned for more on this story…”

I switch off the TV. I don’t need to hear anymore.

“You see?” Heidi says, gesturing towards the blank screen. “Bits and pieces are falling into place. And now they have the Carrs involved? This is bad, Justice. Even you have to admit that.”

“I know.” My head is in my hands, rubbing my temples.

“Let them go. You can start over somewhere else, get a new alias, new staff. It’s best to get out now before you’re forced to.”

I look at Heidi, but all I can see is Ally. All I can see are those sad eyes smiling at me for the last time. She’d go to her corner of the world, and I’d stay safely tucked away in mine.

“I can’t,” I whisper, and I know in that moment, that I will. I can’t keep her. The mirage is just that—something so beautiful and desired, it can’t possibly be real.

Light knocking at the door lifts my heavy head and has me sprinting for the door. I open it without checking who’s there.

“Ally.” It’s like I’ve just breathed after being underwater for hours.

“I’m sorry to interrupt...” She peers around my frame, and when her eyes grow wide, I know what she sees: A tall, leggy blonde with a killer body, heels and a pencil skirt that looks like it was painted on. “Um, uh, I can come back.”

I grab her arm before she can even escape me an inch. “No. Stay.” Stay.If she only she could feel the weight of that tiny, miniscule word. “Heidi was just leaving.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” the sex-on-legs publicist mumbles behind me. She makes her way to the door, stopping to press her red, glossed lips to my cheek. “You’ve got 24 hours, Drake. Make a decision,” she whispers before turning her icy grey gaze on Ally with a tip of her head. “Mrs.Carr.”

We watch as Heidi struts away, hips swaying to the rhythm of her spiked heels. When Ally turns back to me, she looks pensive.

“What?” I ask her, pulling her into my home and into my arms.

“She’s…”

“Tall? Cold? A little scary?”

“Gorgeous.And yes, a little scary. She’s like the female version of you.”

I shake my head. “You think I’m scary?”

“You were.” She wipes the glossy imprint of Heidi’s lips from my cheek and replaces it with her own. “But I believe in facing your fears. Now you’re about as frightening as a kitten. Who was that, anyway?”

“Publicist.”

“Everything ok?” she frowns with concern.

“Of course. Just some paperwork that needed to be signed in person,” I lie seamlessly.

“Oh, I hope I didn’t interrupt.” She looks back at the door and frowns. “She doesn’t suspect anything with us, does she?”

“Would it bother you if she did?”

Ally shrugs and turns back to me, her gaze unfocused. “I don’t know. I mean, I know, but I’m not really sure how I feel about it.”

“You don’t know how you feel about us.” It’s not a question.

Her eyes touch mine, searching. “No. Yes. I do—of course I do—but I feel like it’s wrong to feel this way. Like I’m a horrible, disgusting person to harbor these feelings because of my situation. And if I acknowledge them, they’ll take over. They’ll consume me. You’llconsume me.”

I step in as close as humanly possible. Close enough to feel her heartbeat stutter against my ribcage. “I want to consume you, Ally. I want to devour every bit of you until there’s no you and there’s no me. Until we’re nothing but sensation and exhaustion. Until you see music and hear colors.” My lips are just a breath away from hers, longing for a taste. “You don’t have to define your feelings for me, Ally. Let me do it for you.”

She opens her mouth to speak, but I smother her words in a searing kiss. Her response isn’t necessary. What we have, what I feel for her, goes far beyond rational explanation. When I pull away, there are sad stars in her eyes.

“Why did that feel like a kiss goodbye?”

I kiss her again just to keep my mouth from admitting that it was. The beginning of the end. The very start of the saddest goodbye in history. Because after tonight, she’ll walk away from me and go back to him, holding a piece of me in the palm of her hand. And whenever I look up at the sky at night, wondering where she is, if she’s happy, if Evan laughs at her corny jokes or smiles whenever she does, that empty space left behind within me will ache with remembrance. Because her light once filled it. She filled mein a way that nobody on this Earth could. And I’ll never feel whole again.

We don’t speak as I lead her into the bedroom. Our eyes stay transfixed on each other as we slowly undress. When I touch her, she shivers, yet her skin is burning under my fingertips. I wrap her in my arms, wishing I could cover her in a way that would make her disappear in me. They can’t take away what they can’t find.

“You’re so small,” I whisper in her hair.

“You’re just so big. But I like it.”

I hold her until the pain of my erection becomes too great to ignore any longer. She slips a hand between us and squeezes it, hearing my thoughts and making me groan without a shred of dignity.

“So big,” she repeats with a satisfied grin. “But I like it.”

“It likes you too.”

Then there are no more words, all signs of jest erased as I lay her down and cover her body with mine. I kiss her mouth, her neck, each of her pert breasts, the dip of her navel. When my tongue finds the apex of her thighs, she opens for me automatically. I drag a thumb through her folds before pressing her clit. She shudders, and I repeat the motion, slowly trailing my thumb down through her pink flesh, tracing her sex with precision before bringing it back up to apply pressure on her sensitive bud. By the time I give her my tongue, she nearly breaks apart.

“What are you doing to me?” she pants, teetering on the edge of orgasm.

“Exactly what I taught you,” I reply. Then I send her flying into oblivion, giving her my mouth and fingers. Sucking her until her release trickles down my chin. Until she pulls me up by my shoulders, begging me to stop.

“Oh God,” she sobs. “I can’t take anymore. Too much.”

I kiss her so she can taste herself, my tongue snaking with hers as we share her arousal. I’m perfectly aligned with her entrance, still slick and hot, so I slowly push until the head of my cock is nestled inside her. Ally gasps at the intrusion, and I trace her lips with my fingers before hooking two inside her mouth. I delve in some more and watch the emotions play out on her face, all varying shades of carnal insanity. When I’m completely submersed to the hilt, I pull out so suddenly that she whimpers, and I flip her onto her stomach.

“Up you go,” I say, elevating her ass and hips, and bending her legs in a way that causes the soles of her feet to touch. I admire the way her sex contracts, begging for me to fill her once more.

One hand on her hip, the other on her shoulder, I enter her from behind, slowly at first. I’m so deep at this angle, that I can feel her heartbeat in her stomach. The sheets rumple under her tight grip, and Ally grits out a curse.

“Is this ok?” I ask. I don’t even know why I’m asking. I’ve never asked for anything I’ve wanted, and I damn sure didn’t care enough to do it during sex.

Ally nods into the pillow, eyes closed tight. “Yes. Better than ok.”

I pull out to the tip and plunge back in, pulling her back into me by her shoulder. We both moan in unison, and her knees tremble.

“Good?” I don’t know why I’m asking again. I know it’s good. I can feelit’s good to her.

“Yeah,” she rasps between whimpers.

All restraint is diminished, and I let go, thrusting into her with ravenous intensity. I lean forward and kiss her back, smothering my groans of pleasure in her skin and hair. She turns her head, and my lips instantly find hers.

If this was a different time, and I was a different man deep inside of a different woman, I’d look into her eyes as my body dipped and rolled into hers. She’d stare at me lovingly and caress my jaw, a look of pure ecstasy on her face. I’d sweep her hair to one side over her shoulder and drag my tongue across her neck to her ear. And when her back begins to arch, as the first tingles of orgasm seize her body, I would whisper “I love you,” because I’d want those words to be the only thing she hears when she comes for me. Only for me.

Regardless of my feelings for Ally—and there are feelings—I’m not that man and she’s not that woman. And all the time we have is right now. Uttering those words would only spark confusion and conflict for both of us. So I swallow both our moans of surrender as I give her the parts of me that I can give. The parts of me that quiver and pulse until pain and pleasure become one and the same. Until heat and cold race up my spine, and my joints are too flooded with sensation to move, and I release it all into her—the fear, the anger, the bliss of just having her in my arms—it’s all hers.

I’mhers.

SOMETHING STIRS ME from sleep, but I try to fight it. I don’t want to move, I don’t even want to breathe. But it sounds again from the living room, and I know I have to leave this bed and the warmth of Ally’s body.

Fuck. My phone.

Dim light filters through the blinds, and I realize that we’ve sexed and slept the day away. There was talking, some eating, even some hydrating, but mostly our time was spent kissing, touching and pushing our bodies beyond pleasure.

As gently as I possibly can, I unravel my arm from under Ally’s frame. She stirs, murmuring something unintelligible before resuming a soft snore. I shake my head and laugh silently to myself as I make my way to the living room. Before Ally, every woman I had ever been with, looked like supermodels even in slumber. Hair and makeup somehow stayed meticulously in place. Part of me didn’t even believe they ever truly slept, just fluttered those long-lashed eyes closed and posed like wax statues on the bed. But with Ally, everything is different, more real. Her red hair is in knots all over both our faces. She snores a bit, not loudly, but loud enough that I know she’s asleep. And a little drop of drool settles in the corner of her mouth.

Maybe all women really sleep this way. I don’t know. I’ve never stuck around long enough to find out.

I follow the chimes resonating from my phone, and find it on the coffee table. Missed calls and text messages from Heidi. One from Diane, checking in. Another from Riku asking me if everything is ok. I ignore them all and zero in on the half-dozen Google alerts clogging my screen.

Breaking News…

This Just In…

Shocking Truth Revealed…

Same bullshit, different headline. But all I can see is a face, a name. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, crying false tears of remorse and longing.

Evan Carr’s shocking revelation: I sent my wife to the sex doctor

In a press release earlier today, Evan Carr revealed that he regrettably sent wife, Allison Elliot-Carr to celebrity sex therapist, Justice Drake, under the pretense that Drake was an intimacy professional, NOT a sexual deviant.

“When we first were told about Mr. Drake and his practice, we thought it would help Allison build her confidence and become in touch with her sexuality,” said the socialite. “We signed up with the assumption that it would be positive for our marriage. Little did we know what Justice Drake was really about. I would have never put my wife in this situation had I known.”

A tearful Carr goes on to say that he is doing everything in his power to locate his wife and bring her back. “Her place is with me,” he says. “Not with some hack that sold us a lie. I can’t even imagine what he could be doing to Ally and God knows who else.”

Evan Carr provided details of the enrollment forms, saying that the women would be sent to an undisclosed location where they could have no contact with the outside world for six weeks. When asked about Justice Drake’s identity, Carr shook his head.

“No one has ever seen him. I can’t even be sure that he’s a man. All contact has been through his PR or email.”

Drake’s publicist, Heidi DuCane, was unavailable for comment.

I dial the illusive blonde next, my heartbeat pounding painfully in my head.

“You’re lucky I have shit to do,” Heidi says after picking up on the first ring. “I wanted to storm your little love nest and drag your ass out of there.”

“Where are you?” My voice is gruff with sleep and aggravation.

“Headed back to New York, but had to make a stop first.” She pauses to give the driver instructions to a hotel on Michigan Ave. “Something came up and I want to check it out.”

“You’re in Chicago?”

“Yeah. Art is meeting me here.”

I exhale heavily and lean back on the couch. Arthur Cambridge, III is my attorney. If he’s involved, something is up. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re being blackmailed, Justice. A few hours ago, I was sent an audio recording of you having sex. I don’t know who it was with, but the woman was very vocal. She kept calling you by your name. Know anything about that?”

I close my eyes and rub the tension collecting in my temples. “No. How do you know it’s not doctored?”

“We checked it out. It’s authentic. However, my team was able to trace the IP address back to Chicago.”

I almost smirk. “You have a team of hackers, Heidi?”

“Doesn’t everybody? And even if it is from years ago, we can’t take that risk. Not with the press calling for your head on a platter. I’m texting it to you now. Listen. Call me when you’re done.”

A message chimes a second later and I hang up with Heidi to open the attachment. Heavy breathing. Moaning. A sweet voice singing my name as I instruct her to fuck, then suck me.

I don’t need to hear anymore. I was there. Just yesterday, I was there.

I call Heidi back, and she answers immediately. “I have a pretty good idea who’s behind this, and I’m sure you do too.”

Erin.

Stupid fucking Erin.

I think back to when I took Ally right here on this very couch. I remember telling her to take off her shirt and then capturing her flawed beauty through the lens of my camera phone. Then my mouth was devouring her pink-tipped nipples and demanding she take off those ridiculously oversized boxers. And then I was deep inside her, losing myself to pleasure, my phone forgotten.

How the fuck did Erin get a recording of that? Hers was the last number I dialed, but the screen was locked. Had she called? Did we accidently graze that evil, little green icon, while Ally rode me like a cowgirl?

“We’re going to bury her,” Heidi continues. “Her grandchildren will be paying you their lunch money.”

I shake my head in frustration. “How much is she asking?”

Heidi makes a tsking sound. “Two million, which technically won’t kill you but still…”

“Give it to her.”

“What?”

“Tell Art to give it to her. Give her the money.”

Heidi’s voice goes a pitch higher than I’ve ever heard it. “You can’t be serious! That bitch is in direct violation of contract, and you want to reward her? She has nothing, Justice. There’s no way she can prove it was you-”

“It doesn’t matter, Heidi. None of it matters. Retrieve the evidence, give her the money, and do what you need to do to ensure she disappears.”

The line goes quiet for several beats before Heidi chuckles. “You’ve gone completely mad, haven’t you?”

I chuckle too. I don’t know why. My business is crumbling at my feet, I’m being blackmailed by a girl who didn’t have two nickels to rub together before she met me, and I’m having an affair with a married woman that I can’t shake. I am mad. Mad, yet I’ve never felt more normal. More tied to the life I left behind—Ally’s life.

I hear light shuffling behind me, and I look up in time to see Ally leaning against the doorjamb, wearing one of my sweatshirts, sleep and sex sparkling in her eyes. She smiles at me, and a feeling too strong to fully contain bursts in my chest before sinking into the pit of my stomach.

“Take care of that for me, Heidi. And what we talked about earlier… I’ll do it. I’ll send them.”

Her voice takes on that soft, feminine sound again. Like she pities me. Like she cares for me. “Got it. This’ll be good, Justice, and everything will be ok. You can start over, rebuild. You can be whoever you want after this.”

I don’t have a response, at least one that I can voice, so I just hang up. Heidi is used to my terseness. I’m like that with everyone. Everyone except Ally.

As if she can hear her name ringing melodically in my head, she slinks over to the couch just as I set my phone on the end table. I grab her by the waist and pull her onto my lap as she squeals. I bury my face in her hair, trying to soak in as much of her scent as I can, while I can. I can smell myself on her, mixed with her perfume and sweat.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I say against the smooth skin behind her ear. “I was just about to come back to bed.”

“I’m tired of sleeping,” she sighs.

I look at her, my brow raised sardonically. “You’re tiredof sleeping?”

She pinches me on the arm. “Oh, you know what I mean.”

I snatch her hand and kiss her palm. Then we’re quiet, as we watch shadows grow before our eyes, dusk fading into night.

“Can I ask you a question?” Ally asks, her voice small in the vast silence.

“Don’t you always?”

She pinches me again. “Knock it off! Can you be serious for five minutes?”

I give her a level stare. “You’reasking meto be serious?”

“Ugh!” She tries to shimmy out of my arms, but I wound them around her tighter.

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry. Ask me anything. Seriously this time.”

Ally nods toward shadowed, white walls. “You don’t have any pictures up.”

“That’s not a question.”

“Shut up, will you, and let me finish.” She smiles and shakes her head, before laying it on my shoulder. “You don’t have any photos, and you’ve never really talked about your family. And since you already know all about me and my life, I thought…”

“You want to know about my family.”

“Yes.” She turns toward me, a tearful apology in her eyes. “I want to know you. We only have a little over a week left together. It’s not enough, Justice. I need to soak up as much of you as I can.”

I take a deep breath and position her body so I’m forced to look at her. So I’m forced to see the judgment and regret that will undoubtedly be on her face.

“My story is nothing new; you’ve heard it before. My father never loved my mother. He was charming, rich, powerful, and an impeccable liar. She was gentle and naïve, thinking that her love for him would change him just enough to make him feel for her. She was too good for him, yet too stupid to see it and leave him alone.”

She gives me a soft smile. “Sounds about right.”

“She didn’t, of course. And soon, he found himself a shiny, new toy to feed his ego. My mother had served her purpose, and so had I. His relationship with me ended with theirs.”

“Where is your mother now?”

“Somewhere grieving her broken heart, probably a dirty martini in hand. She never got over him. When he sent us away, I told myself that it was his loss. But it was ours too. I lost that warm, compassionate woman that was just too optimistic for her own good. The one that’d tell me how I’d grow up one day and be a movie star and marry the most beautiful woman in the world, and give her half a dozen grandchildren. I lost her, and she lost herself. She lost her reason to live.”

Ally cups my cheek and looks at me like she can see right through my impassive exterior. Like she can actually see the broken pieces of me that are glued together by lies and deceit.

I muster a weak smile and remove her hand. “Don’t feel bad for me. I don’t.”

“But it has to be lonely.”

“How can I be lonely?” I smirk. “I’m constantly surrounded by beautiful women and a very efficient, if not overbearing, staff.”