I lied again, because I had no intention of leaving this bathroom ever again.
“Let me know when you’re ready. The car will take you back to the city.”
“This is royalty,” I could hear Christopher’s damnable echo in my head. “They give you all the rules in the car on the way over there. Get just one thing wrong and the whole interview is over.”
There I sat, in the forbidden bowels of the castle, after nearly destroying the Duke’s receiving room and throwing up right in his face.
I suppose you could say I got a few things wrong.
So that was it. My time with the Duke of Mayhem was over. I wiped away more damnable tears as I pulled myself from the cold marble floor. I washed my face, smoothed my hair and straightened my spine.
Christopher = 1.
Me = 0.
Fuck a fuckety fuck.
Chapter Three
After the limo dropped me off at the office of Headliner Pulse, and after a humiliating conversation with Lydia, I collected my purse and headed back to my apartment for a sick day. By the time I crawled into my bed, I wasn’t sure which was kicking my ass more, food poisoning or soul-crushing, career-killing humiliation.
Fern interceded, calling in the Big Guns.
“Sweet Pea?”
I opened my eyes in the darkened room, surprised I had slept so late. But I was dog tired after the day I had. “Hey, Mom,” I said, before folding into a big hug.
“I heard you had a rough day,” she crooned as she rocked me.
“That’s an understatement,” I sniffed. God, I was an emotional mess.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” she suggested. “It’ll make you feel better.”
“No, it won’t,” I pouted.
She shrugged. “Well, it’ll make me feel better and I did just drive all this way.”
I chuckled. She smiled.
“There’s my girl. Any day you can find a laugh is a pretty good day, right?” She scooted up onto the pillow and cradled me like she always did when we were small. Even at twenty-nine, I couldn’t hate it. I had always felt safe there.
So, I recanted my sad story. She routinely checked my head for fever when I told her how sick I got and how unrelenting it was. I still didn’t feel a hundred percent, but that was probably due to everything else. Plus, I hadn’t kept anything on my stomach all day. Even water.
After my tale was done, Mom slid out of bed. “I’m gonna go fix you something to eat.”
“I can’t eat, Mom,” I said, my tummy tender at the thought.
“You can and you will. Trust your mother,” she said with a wink.
It was hard to say no to Sunny McPhee when she did that.
I grabbed my phone for a social media check while she was gone. My stomach sank when I saw the ad for The Duke’s upcoming concert tour. It kicked off in NYC within a few weeks and it was all anyone could talk about. But it was the last thing I wanted to hear. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him. The echo of his voice was so strong it still lingered in my ear. I kept reliving that horrible moment when I nearly puked right in his handsome face.
I think maybe I dreamt that I had.
Either that or I really did and blocked it out. Who’s to say? Apparently, the food poisoning had gone to my brain.
Mom brought in the breakfast tray with some hot tea and some small, bite-sized snacks. “Try this,” she said as she put the tray over my lap.
“What is ‘this’?” I asked.
“Protein bites made with crushed almonds, cashews and dried cherries, dusted with cocoa powder. It’ll help you keep your strength up.”
I arched an eyebrow. “And you just whipped these up?”
She laughed. “No. Your chicken soup is on the stove. I made a ton of these for the kids’ snacks and happened to have some leftover.”
“Lemme guess. The kids didn’t like the healthy stuff you tried to sneak into their snack time so you’re pawning them off on Fern and me.”
“I also brought five bags of seaweed chips.” I gagged a little. “And about three types of hummus. So much hummus. But I figure it’s something you can snack on whenever you can’t eat a full meal.”
“How long do you think I’ll be sick?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Last time I had food poisoning, it lasted for four days.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t imagine feeling this bad for four days. “I’m sure I’ll be fine tomorrow. I’m feeling better