Page 161 of New Growth
Red. All I saw was red.
My grip on the phone tightened. My heartbeat pounded in my ears. “Are you avoiding me, Elliot?”
“What?” He sounded caught off guard.
“Are you avoiding me?”
“No, Peanut, why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because you left my place before sunrise, you haven’t called, and now you’re too busy to see me today?”
“Ellie, I told you that—”
“Is it because we slept together?”
“Huh? Elliot that has nothing to do—”
“So that’s it? You got what you fucking wanted, and now you’re done with me? Is that how you wanna do it? Then fine!”
I hung up before he could respond.
My hands shook. My breath came fast and sharp. The second I set my phone down, the dam broke. Tears spilled hot down my cheeks.
I think I’m going crazy. I have to be. Why else would I get so emotional like that?
Elliot wasn’t like that.
But last night had left me feeling so raw. I had given him a part of me I’d locked away for years. I hadn’t even pleasured myself in over a year, let alone let someone else touch me. I had spent so long in self-inflicted celibacy, convincing myself I didn’t need intimacy, that when he came in and shattered that illusion in one night, I was unraveling.
Apparently, the cons of self-inflicted celibacy was freaking out on the man who knocked your screws loose.
After a very shameful pity party—complete with wiping my tears on the freshly washed hair towels—I forced myself upstairs and back to work.
I moved through my appointments in a daze, doing what I had to do with minimal conversation. My hands worked on autopilot, but my mind was somewhere else. Half of me wanted to call him, and apologize for the way I snapped, but the other half convinced me he was probably pissed.
No calls. No texts. Nothing. That wasn’t like him.
“Ouch!”
My client flinched as the needle nicked her scalp while I sewed in a track.
Shit.
I blinked, snapping back to the present. I needed to be focused on EL’evations, not the man who had completely wrecked me last night.
“I’m sorry, girl. I spaced out.”
“You need a minute?”
I shook my head, forcing a smile before placing the needle between my teeth as I tightened the thread. “No, I’m good. Almost done.”
“Elliiiieee!”
Johanna’s voice rang across the salon. This girl was gonna be the next person to receive an Elliot Sawyer-style cussing out.
“Johanna! Please! No yelling across the salon!”
She stood in the doorway that led to the reception area, giving me a sheepish smile. “Sorry. But, uh… El’s here to see you.”
