Page 29 of Green Lights and Obsession
“Two. Final offer.”
She swallowed back her argument. “Fine.”
Daisy knew she wouldn’t get to make all the arrangements. Tom would insist on some of them. She could at least make sure she was staying at the host hotel. If there were more people around, maybe her guards would blend in. She was going to insist they dress a little more casually. If she was going incognito, so were they.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
JAY
Never had his name held such power over himself. Jay rolled his neck and attempted to unclench his jaw. He’d been tense ever since she texted him that final word. That’s what it had been. Final. Daisy always had an influence on him, it was why he was living the life he was. She had the power to bring him to his knees and didn’t know it. He never realized how much authority she had. He only ever thought of bringing her to hers. The control over her was an addiction, and he wasn’t about to let it go.
After everything that happened between them recently, he thought she knew better. Didn’t she understand they were end game? There was nothing he wouldn’t do.
Every message he sent her after his name was left unanswered. Not only that, but undelivered. Did she really think she could cut him out that easily? She may have thought she ended things, but that’s not how it was going to work. He would never give her up.
Many referred to him as Gatsby, but never Daisy. She preferred to call him Jay. Once upon a time, she even used terms of endearment.
NeverGatsby.
It was why it was the chosen word. Instead of red to stop things, it was his name. The one word that would halt everything. He never thought she’d actually use it, not like this. He knew her better than that.
She couldn’t have meant it. Shock hit him first, then anger. He’d taken it out on a few people before he found himself following her. She hardly left the house, so he kept to the shadows.
Extra security was set up around the Buchanan residence. There were more cameras than before, which he had someone to hack into them. He also had extra eyes and ears inside the place, her own best friend and cousin. The extra bodies guarding the place was more difficult.
It wasn’t until he watched her leave the house with an overnight bag and limited security when he realized he honestly didn’t know what she was up to. Thankfully, after a quick phone call, he was back in the loop. His girl was going to a book event. He remembered when she used to write poetry, but it didn’t occur to him she had such a love of literature. That new hobby came out of nowhere.
He engaged the tracker on the car as they pulled away and sent a message for Rob to pack him an overnight bag. Jay kept a go bag in his trunk, but he wasn’t sure what this weekend might entail. He needed to prepare for anything.
A few hours later, he was parked at the same hotel and using fake identification for a room. He caused a minor issue, formed a complaint, and changed his room to be on the same floor as hers. Nothing too damaging, but enough that the initial room he’d been put in couldn’t be used for a few hours. He heavily tipped the bell hopper and found out the man was going to community college for computer security. It was the little ways he found out about people and how he could use them for his benefit.
Everything had a price. Including people. It was one of the first lessons he learned from Wolfsheim. After that, with the right connections, reality could be whatever you made of it.
It was that very lesson that had him leaning against the wall of the security office of the hotel receiving a complimentary lesson from the bellhop and head of security. He nodded at the right moments and pretended to take it all in as he gathered the information he actually wanted. A few hand shakes later and he was taking the back hallways with an employee badge he swiped and making his way down to the hotel bar to observe from afar.
Daisy was laughing and chatting with other women dressed up. Drinks were poured heavily and the things being discussed would be enough to make his deceased grandmother roll over in her grave.
It wasn’t just a book convention, these individuals were here to talk about dirty books. Sure, there was some romance to them. It was no wonder Daisy was reading them. She pushed Jay out of the picture and ignored her husband. Some action had to come from somewhere. He’d have to pay her a little visit later.
CHAPTER TWENTY
DAISY
It took everything in her not to fangirl over meeting a few of the authors she’d read from recently. She recognized their names and faces from their social media accounts and websites. It was like she stepped out of the world where she had zero control and stepped into this world of beautiful fiction. Everyone was happy to be there and discuss everything from books to life.
There was so much she couldn’t and wouldn’t discuss when it came to personal matters with strangers, but books were easy to talk about. It was easy to discuss her favorite tropes and genres within romance and others did the same. She even brought up a book that had accurate depictions of the BDSM world and a few other readers shared their love for it and recommended more books to her.
It was only the first night, and she was having more fun than she could last remember having. No secrets to hide. No hidden agendas. Just a girl that loved romance books hanging out with others that enjoyed books.
The signing event wasn’t until the following day. She’d planned to get a good night’s sleep, but found it all too easy to stay up too late giggling and drinking with her new friends, Carlie and Kay.
It was when the bar announced the last call that she even realized what time it was. She promised to meet up with them in the morning for breakfast before the event before making her way up to her room.
The main bodyguard assigned to her this weekend was keeping his distance after she explained how it would look. She jokingly referred to him as her lover with stalker tendencies and that had him taking a few steps back, but he still watched her. Daisy shook her head at the thought.
A lover that stalked. It only reminded her of the one that got away. It was her fault; she pushed him away. He may never forgive her for using the word, but his safety mattered more than the happiness of either of them. She wasn’t going to let their story be like Romeo and Juliet; they weren’t going to die because they couldn’t be together. Daisy was going to make sure he lived, whatever it took.
Jay may never understand why she did it. That was something she would have to live with. She shook her head as she opened her hotel door.
