Page 110 of Can't Get Enough

“She was angry?”

“And hurt. She asked point-blank if I fucked you on her birthday,” I tell him with quiet misery. And it does make me miserable that she suspects and that it hurts her so badly.

“She was probably in bed with Charles that night,” Maverick says.

“Oh, undoubtedly. She’s in Paris with him now.”

“Wait, and she’s angry that we’re together? How does that make sense?”

“It doesn’t and yet it does. I’m a woman and on some level it makes perfect sense to me.”

“So what did she say about the show?”

“She needs to think about it, but I don’t hold out much hope that we’ll be able to work together. She seemed to agree that Chapel should still get a show, but it’s just my role that is in question.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“I will,” I correct.

“Being in a relationship means helping each other, Hendrix. Are you saying you don’t want to help me when I need it?”

“Of course not. You know it’s not the same.”

“Because I have a lot more money? You’re gonna hold that against me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“When Soledad was going through all that shit with her ex, were you there for her? You said she had to rebuild her life from scratch.”

“She did.”

“And did you and Yasmen help her?”

My thoughts drift back to the times we helped Soledad prepare gift baskets she sold to earn money. To all the times I’d ferry her daughters to practices so Soledad could work an event. To the times I gave her money for her mortgage when she was on the verge of losing her house. I would do it all again. A hundred times and for as long as I had to.

“Of course I helped Sol,” I say. “She’s my girl.”

“And you’re mine.”

There’s a possessiveness in his tone that should make my feminist tendencies bristle, but it instead makes something inside me purr.

“You’d help me if I needed it, right?” he persists.

“However I could, yes.”

“I know you would because that’s the kind of person you are. Your big heart, that generosity, is one of my favorite things about you. You always extend it to everyone else. It’s time you let someone do that for you. Letmedo that for you.”

“I’ve been doing me for a long time. I pride myself on my independence.”

“I don’t want to take that from you, but I also don’t want you worrying about people thinking you’re using me to get ahead. I’ve learned to block out the noise of other people’s opinions and live my life the way I want to. The way that makes me happy, and you make me happy, Hen.”

The words settle over my anxiety, my frustration, and I can’t suppress the smile that reaches my lips. “You make me happy, too.”

“Good, then block out the noise, and let’s just be us. Inside this relationship, we know why we’re here. Remember, let’s just be good to each other, okay?”

Be good to each other.

It sounds so simple, yet it feels like a new concept. That I would make myself vulnerable to someone this way, and trust that he has my best interest at heart and that he would trust that I feel the same.

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