Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,64

end of the room. Standing near the large fireplace. They all looked at me. None of them made a face or gestured toward me.

It was kind of cold.

Again, that was a good thing.

They all had their desires for me. Which I didn’t quite understand.

Just like with the dresses, they probably wanted me to choose.

And just like with the dresses, I was going to make the choice I wanted. Which was the one that would piss them off and hurt them.

I went back to the bed and got my phone and sent a text to Gia.

Please tell me you can talk.

I inched toward the window and thought about opening it and going to sit on the ledge.

Down on the ground, there were several workers rushing around.

The same tent was in place but the workers were taking everything out of the tent.

I figured that was to make it look completely different. Because the rich and powerful could never experience the same thing twice. It all had to be new, different, bigger, better.

We were all just chasing a high.

Noah, Easton, and Xavier rode the high that they believed I had no memory of them. They rode the high of trying to get with me. I rode the high of revenge. Everyone else at this mansion rode the high of deals, backstabbing one another, and having affairs.

Face it, we were all terrible people.

I felt like I could cry.

That’s when Gia called me.

“Do I even want to know how it’s going?”

I shut the bathroom door and locked it.

It still smelled like Xavier’s soap.

“It’s crazy,” I said. “I just have to get through tonight.”

“Get through?” Gia asked. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s just a lot to take in at once up here,” I said. “I think I have enough of what I need here. It’s intense.”

“I’m sure it is,” she said. “Are you okay?”

“I will be,” I said. “I can’t wait for them to see the dress. That’s going to throw them off for good.”

“Do you need me to come up there?” Gia asked with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” I said. “Come on up. You can probably run up here. You’ll be here in like an hour. Speedy.”

“If you stick with running, you’ll get there too,” she said.

“I don’t know about that,” I said. “Thanks for calling me.”

“Of course. I’ve been waiting to hear from you.”

“Are you bored without me around?” I asked.

Gia laughed. “No, not at all. I have tons of best friends who are faking having amnesia while they all but fool around with the three guys that tried to kill them. I mean, that’s totally normal.”

“When you put it like that, it makes me sound like I’m some crazy bitch,” I said.

“Well, you are, Winter,” Gia said. “That’s my favorite part about you. You make me feel normal, and that’s saying something.”

“Ohmygod,” I said with a laugh. “I’m hanging up now.”

“Unpack your common sense,” Gia said.

“Love you too,” I said.

“Goodbye,” she said in a singing voice.

I hung up the call and looked at myself in the mirror.

Unpacking my common sense.

Did that include almost sleeping with Noah this morning? Or having Easton cruising into second base last night like it was nothing? Or eye humping Xavier as he stood in a towel?

“Winter, what the hell are you really doing here?” I asked the reflection in the mirror.

I shook my head.

Maybe I just didn’t know.

Chapter 22

crazy

By the time I ate and was settled from the morning, it was time to start getting ready. The ball - if that’s what it was really called - started around six. Everyone had to make their way to under and around the tent. All sides were opened for this event, giving everyone a chance to stay under the tent or walk the vast property.

This was the serious part.

Where people made deals. Secured affairs.

Or in my case, figured out the final pieces to an epic revenge.

There was a knock at the door and when Noah opened it, a man in a tuxedo pushed a silver cart into the room.

He left and Noah smiled at me.

“What?” I asked.

“A little bit of food to pick at while you get ready,” he said. “We’re going to leave.”

“Leave?” I asked.

“We have to get ready too,” Noah said. “I mean, I’m fine with staying and watching you get dressed.”

“Right,” I said. “You better go then.”

Easton walked by me with a cigarette dangling between his lips.

It was unlit.

“We going?” he asked.

“I’m ready,” Noah said.

Easton looked at me and winked.

Xavier was the last to walk to the door.

All