What We Do in the Night (Day to Night #1) - Stylo Fantome Page 0,107
the night before? The one who'd held her on a table top while she'd cried for him? For their relationship? The one who'd promised to be with her?
Oh, hell, no. Today is not the goddamn day.
With fresh tears in her eyes, Valentine stomped down the hallway, completely prepared to tell Mr. Ari Sharapov exactly what she thought of him. And then when he came home later that night, she'd tell him again. Most likely with a swift kick to the balls. Then she'd make him drive her to the hospital, and he could spend the rest of the night being her errand boy in order to make up for his unbelievably rude -
“... whore.”
Valentine froze just outside his door. It hadn't shut all the way, and she could just barely peek inside. Ari was out of view, but she could see the back of some man's head. An older man, by the looks of it. And she could hear everything that was being said.
“I can just imagine how this will make poor Harper feel,” the older gentleman was saying.
“I don't really care, Harper isn't my concern anymore,” was Ari's response. Valentine narrowed her eyes.
Yeah, okay, but who's the whore?
“You giving me attitude, boy?”
“This conversation is a waste of time,” Ari replied. “Let's get down to business.”
“Seemed to me like you had some business out in the hallway.”
“Do we really need to talk about this?”
“I think we goddamn better,” the older man growled. He must have been Ari's father. “You've been avoiding me for weeks, barely pulling your weight around here. You haven't taken any steps to patch things up with Harper, even though I specifically told you to. And now I see you in the hall with some ... jesus, I don't even know what to call that woman.”
Valentine held her breath, waiting for Ari's response. Waiting for him to explain that she was important to him. That they were important to each other. That he cared about her, and that she cared about him, so his dad could just go fuck all the way off.
“She's just a whore,” Ari spit out.
Valentine stumbled away from the door, pressing a hand to her forehead. She felt like her heart had just gotten hit with a heavy piece of shrapnel. And Ari wasn't done firing yet.
“Alright? I don't know what she was doing here, she's just some girl I paid for a good time. Don't worry about her, she's not important.”
She was going to be sick. She was going to vomit on the stupid Italian marble under her feet. She pressed her hand against her mouth and she stumbled even farther away. She didn't want to hear anymore. Couldn't bear to hear another word.
She raced down the hallway, blind to everything around her. Before she realized it, she was scrambling onto a crowded elevator. The receptionist yelled after her, wanting to know what business she had at this law firm.
Business? Nope, no business at all. My business was long since paid for, the services have already been rendered, thank you very much.
Once she was outside, Valentine got on her bike and she pedaled as hard as she could, her forgotten helmet dangling from the handlebar, banging against her knee. She rode fast, not even sure which direction she was heading in, having no clue where to go. Or what to do. What was she going to do?
I placed all my hopes and dreams on one good night with him. I'm so fucking stupid.
Eventually, she turned her way towards home. Her real home. She left her bike on the ground inside the fence and she dragged her feet up the porch steps.
The inside was a mess. Dirty foot prints from the paramedics. A hole in the wall where something had crashed into it – a stretcher? There went her security deposit. And in her grandmother's room, all the bedding was on the floor, soaking in a puddle of urine. She stared down at it for a long time, then jumped with a start when her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen.
It's been a rough fucking day. Call me.
She laughed at Ari's text. Clamped a hand over her mouth. Then started laughing even harder. She laughed until tears were streaming down her face and she laughed while she threw her phone to the ground and she laughed as she jumped up and down on top of it.