Page 25 of Bodyguard Wolf's Fated Mate
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JASMINE
The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. My father was the consummate businessman. Putting on a fake smile was part of his arsenal when dealing with people he wanted to do deals with.
It felt like I was a stranger at my own party. It all seemed superficial and ridiculous. These people were sheep without a leader. They ran around in circles trying to find their purpose and didn't mind stepping over the little guy to get what they wanted.
I saw her from across the room and my body craved the white powder in the plastic bag. Knowing what I knew, I was not going to go down that road again. It shut down my mind and made me forget but the wolf was always there.
Caitlin fingered her purse and played with the clasp as she made her way over to where I stood by the abundance of food catered for this event. I just wasn't hungry. Everything seemed pedestrian compared to a nice juicy steak still bleeding on the plate.
"Where is your bodyguard? I don't mind telling you he scared the shit out of me." She showed me the packet of the good stuff.
"Luke is a little rough around the edges and is what I would describe an acquired taste. That doesn't justify you being here. I haven't contacted you in days. I didn't even send you an invitation. Do you think there might have been a good reason for that?" I hinted about going on the wagon without coming out and saying it.
She was a smart girl and could figure it out without me having to paint her picture.
"Good for you. This stuff will kill you. I'm not going to judge you. If this is about money, I can give you a very sweet discount. Call it my friends and family rate." She dangled the white packet with the powder moving back and forth inside almost putting me into a trance.
"I swear you don't know how to take no for an answer. Don't call me and I certainly won't call you." I took a deep breath and inhaled Luke's masculine essence.
"I'm just trying to be a good friend. It's not like I need the money when I have a variety of clients begging for what I have. You're missing out. This stuff is the purest I have ever sampled. Don't worry, I'm leaving, but I won't be surprised when you call me in the middle of the night looking for something to take the edge off. You can have this one on the house." She slipped the packet into my black Gucci purse, and I didn't try to stop her.
The red dress made her stand out from the crowd. It was long and slinky, easily able to attract attention from the room.
I had chosen something understated in white. It was an off-the-shoulder number with plenty of skin showing. Luke was in the room, but I sensed he wasn't alone. I wondered what my father would do when he saw him, and I didn't have to wait very long to find out.
Instead of making a scene, he left the room with a couple of influential young bankers. He didn't want to be bothered to give Luke a piece of his mind when everything that had to be said was already said.
The redheaded temptress on his arm was anything but subtle when it came to her intentions. Hating her, at first sight, made my blood boil. That should've been me making eyes at him. Why he thought it was a good idea to bring another woman to the party was beyond me. Could it be that he wanted to make me jealous? If that was the case, then he was doing a remarkable job of it.
The awkwardness I felt was made even worse when he brought his date over. She had this certain something I couldn't put my finger on. The plunging neckline revealed more than an eye-opening experience for the men and some of the women attending the party.
"I want you to meet Mercedes." Luke introduced the woman who had replaced me.
"I have to use the little girl's room. Will you excuse me for a moment?" I stated sarcastically while brushing past him with an icy stare of red-hot anger.
I fought my way through the crowd with the faint voices of familiar faces congratulating me and wishing me a happy birthday. I just couldn't get the woman's face out of my mind. She was exceptional and made me feel inferior, despite my lineage and status.
The man I loved had stomped on my heart. Accepting defeat wasn't one of my strong suits. Luke was everything to me and my feelings meant nothing to him. My father was right. He used me for his pleasure and then discarded me without a second thought.
I pushed my way into the bathroom slightly flustered and feeling like the room was spinning. My hands grabbed onto the counter with my purse sitting there calling my name. There was one surefire way to make all of my troubles float away in the ether.
It just so happened Caitlin had provided me with the perfect way to drown out my disappointment in him. We never promised each other to be exclusive, but I thought we had an unspoken arrangement.
I took out the plastic bag and no woman freshening her makeup in front of the mirror batted their eyes. My fingers trembled when I pulled the bag open. Spreading it out in three distinct lines on the counter would be more than enough to dull my senses.
"Don't let me stop you, unless, of course, you are doing this because of jealousy. There's nothing like that between me and Luke. It's funny when guys are totally oblivious to the pain they cause others. You didn't give him a chance to explain, but I understand." Mercedes stood next to me, applying a gloss of lipstick.
"What is there to explain? He moved on and I'm going to have to do the same thing."
"I can't believe I'm hearing this. I can't let you do this over a misunderstanding. He hasn't stopped talking about you. I had to put on the in-flight movie and drown him out. The man has it bad for you. Don't do something you're going to regret," Mercedes advised.
"You work with him?"
"You could say I'm his secret weapon."
"What do you do for him?"
