Page 33 of Chandelier Enthralled
“I deserve it.”
This, and his hate.
“We can fix a hangover.”
I stared at him. “Cameron told you?”
He shrugged. “Tell me I don’t have to clean up vomit?”
“Fuck off.” I rolled over and squinted at him. “I can hold my drink.”
That made him smile. “Clearly.” He waved a hand in the air. “Fuck this place. Why don’t you leave?”
Leave behind her memory? The woman who carried the scent of wildflowers and radiated only kindness yet always had a new reason for why she could never stay.
What if she hadn’t died? What if she’d faked her death to escape? What if she came back?
A small boy’s musings that were carried into adulthood, never absent from my harried thoughts.
“You can go, then.”
He came over and sat on the edge of the bed. “You need a shower.”
“Did Cameron tell you everything?”
“Last night you gave him permission to share, so yes.”
“You hate me.”
“I’m still here.”
I studied his face to get a read, to see if he really knew everything I’d done for Pendulum.
“Heard Amelia went back to the club.” He reached down and pulled off one of my shoes, and then the other. “Stupid bitch.”
“Don’t.” I still wanted to protect her. It was a toxic relationship I couldn’t shake out of my heart. “I found her in a scene. Sent her home.”
“What kind of scene?” He sounded disgusted.
“Don’t ask.”
“We have to get her out of Jewel’s line of sight.”
“She’s going back to Ohio.”
“Thank God.”
I was hit with that familiar rush of heartache. “I believed she loved me. She was just scheming.”
“I know buddy, it’s a hard pill.”
Like a thousand razor blades…
The truth, it lingered in the air like a dangerous elixir absorbed without drinking.
I clutched my stomach. “How can you bear to be here?”
“I’m here for the ring.”
