tears. Crying right now would not help, either. She knew that he would not believe they were sincere.
"And I'm supposed to believe that? Your parents knew who I was." Her breath caught in surprise at that bit of news. She did not know. Why didn’t they tell her? "So what were you going to do tonight? Were you going to tell me who you really were and fake innocence? Or were you just going to wait until I saw you at work then spring it on me all of a sudden? Were you going to tell me tonight that you loved me so that I would believe your story?"
"No, Ben. I didn't know who you were. I swear." Her voice came out quietly, but at least it was calm and did not reveal the turmoil of her emotions. The look on his face told her that he did not believe a word she said, and she realized that fighting further would be useless. She wasn’t who he thought, and he wasn't who she thought he was either. The fight left her when she accepted that he would never believe her capable of these things if he truly did care about her. This was just a vacation romance to him, nothing more, so why fight? Her vision became blurred, and she blinked back her tears.
The weight in her chest was almost unbearable. She was more upset about his not caring for her than she was at finding out who he really was. She had to get through this evening before he saw that she loved him and was destroyed by his rejection. She would get through it, she told herself. Straightening her spine, she blinked a few more times then turned around and faced him. "You don't believe me. I'm sorry for the confusion, Ben, but this, all of this, was not what you think." His expression remained the same. "Forget about the contract, Ben. I won't hold you to it. I don’t want to come and work for you, now."
Her softly spoken words finally got him to change his expression; only, this time to a sneer.
"Nice try, Jane. We have a contract, and if I cancel it now that we've had sex, you'll find yourself a lawyer and sue. It would get nasty. Then we would have to settle out of court, probably for a few million, making you a rich woman. It would be almost worth it to pay you off. But I refuse to give you the satisfaction. No, I'm afraid that we are stuck with each other for at least the trial period. Just stay away from me, and I'll stay away from you. Now get your things and get out of my room. I'm going back to the party." He moved to the door and looked at her one more time. When she said nothing, he walked out.
As soon as the door closed, the pain in Anne's chest overwhelmed her. She could no longer stand and sat down on the floor, leaning her back against the balcony door. The tears began silently spilling over her lashes and running down her cheeks. She hiccupped and it turned into a sob that rocked through her until she was sobbing openly. She wrapped her arms around her legs and pressed her forehead against her knees, her body shaking with each sob. It seemed like hours that she cried, but it was only minutes before she went in search of a tissue to blow her nose. Then she took the necklace off and set it by his laptop before going into the bedroom to pick up every one of her things. She looked around to make sure that she left no trace of herself behind and opened the balcony door to go down the fire escape. She did not know how she made it to her parent's house without crying again because as soon as the front door closed, the tears began again and lasted for most of the night.
Chapter 16
Ben woke up the next morning with a raging hangover. The one and only time he had a hangover in college, he swore to never drink to excess again. But last night he returned to the party and went up to the open bar first thing. He stayed there for the rest of the party hoping the alcohol would help him forget. But no amount of alcohol was able to drown out the pain in his chest or his feelings