Page 82 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

“I’d worried I had to be remembering how perfect you were wrong. There was no way you could be as beautiful and sexy as I was remembering, but damn, woman, that was amazing. You sure you want to go out tonight? We could stay home, and I’ll order pizza.”

She knows he’s teasing. “Very funny. What do I look like, a cheap date? I already bought the concert tickets. Now you’re trying to get out of buying me a nice dinner too? I don’t know about you, Troy.”

“Fine. If you insist, but I don’t want to hear complaints from you when I can’t keep my hands off of you in public. And damn, this bed feels like heaven.”

“I know. I’m worried about you. You’ve barely gotten any sleep the last few days. All teasing aside, I’ll understand if you want to stay home to snuggle and sleep.”

“Oh no you don’t. It’s New Year’s Eve. We’re going out and going to ring in the New Year together. Let me go take a shower to wake me up and then we can head out to dinner.”

Troy has rolled away from her and is halfway to the bathroom when his cell phone on the nightstand rings. Hallie notices his aggravated look when he walks back to retrieve his phone. She’s happy to have the chance to admire his naked body as he stands next to the bed, looking down on her with a grin.

“Hello, sir. I wasn’t expecting to talk with you again today. Do you have any new information?”

Troy is listening to the call and she watches as his grin turns to a scowl. “With all due respect, that’s bullshit. You know damn well this is out of our control for right now and you’ve made it clear we have to wait for Victoria’s results before we can move forward.” His scowl is turning to outright anger. “Hold on, Peter.” Holding his hand over his phone, he whispers to Hallie. “It’s my boss. I’ll take this in the bathroom. You can have the bathroom in like twenty minutes, okay?”

Hallie tries to hide her worry. “Sure. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Just the issues with the project. He just wants to talk about the plan.” “Okay, let me know when I can have the bathroom to freshen up.”

He leans in to kiss her forehead and heads to the shower.

Twenty minutes later, as promised, Troy emerges ready to go to dinner. All traces of his anger are gone. “The bathroom is all yours. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I hope you like Italian. I got us reservations at a new place that just opened a few blocks from the venue.”

Now it’s Hallie’s turn to wish they could just stay home tonight. “You sure we need to go?”

Troy reaches out to smack her on her bare ass playfully. “Oh no you don’t. No backing out now. We’re going, young lady. Get in there and get ready.”

Despite him telling her to leave, he is still hugging her close. Their eyes meet and she loves to see his grin as she replies playfully. “Yes, sir.”

Hallie is just finishing freshening up her makeup and brushing her teeth in Troy’s bathroom when she hears a phone ringing. Glancing to the counter, she sees Troy had left his phone in there after talking to his boss. She’s about to call out to him to come retrieve the call when she glances down and sees the incoming call is from a Victoria.

Even as she feels her heart lurch with insecurity, she tells herself she’s being silly. Victoria could be anyone. She could be someone he works with. She could be the next-door neighbor telling him his car alarm is going off. She could be… his other lover.

Hallie isn’t proud of herself when she accepts the call. She hesitantly holds his phone to her ear but doesn’t say anything. Several long seconds go by before she hears a sultry voice talking. “Troy? Are you there? It’s about time you finally answered your phone. I’ve been trying to reach you for days.” Silence. Hallie’s heart is racing. “Troy, honey?”

“Sorry, but this is Hallie.” She hates how small her voice sounds.

There’s a long pause. “Oh. I must have the wrong phone number.”

“No. Troy is… he’s in the other room. Can I take a message?”

“A message? Who is this again?” The woman’s voice on the other end of the line sounds so confident. Hallie wishes she felt the same.

“Hallie.”

Another long pause. “Well, Hallie. I had hoped to talk with Troy directly, but you can pass on a message. Tell him I heard the good news that he and his team are going to be moving back to DC next week. Be a peach and let him know I’ll be anxiously awaiting his return, will you do that for me?”

Hallie’s heart is beating so hard she can hear the roar of blood rushing in her ears. She actually feels faint and has to take a seat on the edge of the tub. She takes several deep breaths trying to stave off the sudden urge to throw up.

“Hallie? Can you be a dear and pass that message along?”

“But, he just moved to Colorado. He wants to be here.” She hates the quaver in her voice. She sounds like a little kid.

“Well, you obviously don’t know Troy very well then, do you? He’s very ambitious and he’s learned that he needs to be back in DC if he intends to get the promotion he is after. Not to mention, do you really think a man like Troy will ever be happy playing house in the country when he can have an exciting life here in the heart of things? Tell him I understand him wanting to stay there to wrap things up cleanly in Colorado before he heads back here, but I expect things back to normal next week. Have a nice night.” The call is dead.

Hallie’s heart is breaking. She’d expect to be treated like this by Eddie the Asshole, but not Troy. Her mind reels. How could he be planning to move back to DC and not tell her? He’d made her believe he wanted to live in Eagle’s Pass. She replays Victoria’s words over and over in her head until it starts to make sense. He is going along with Hallie tonight without saying anything so he doesn’t ruin their last night together, but then he was going to drop the bomb tomorrow after he gets one more night of her in his bed.

She’d thought Troy Jackson was different, but he is worse than any of the other pricks that had fucked with her in the past. An anger like Hallie has never felt before bubbles up and takes hold. How dare he tell her he loves her? He’s used her and now he’s about to just throw her away.

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