face emotionless—in the same dress I celebrated my birthday in last night.
I text him, letting him know I had to check out of the room, but the messages come back undeliverable. We’ve never texted before although I’ve had his number since he arrived, a safety precaution demanded by Blackbridge’s contract with my parents. I want to convince myself it was entered incorrectly, but my head knows the truth.
Tonight is the only special night.
Those words eat at my soul, and I should’ve known then what to expect, but the night was amazing. He said sweet things, praised me, made me feel like the only woman on the planet.
And yet, he vanished before I could even open my eyes.
My throat is thick, making it hard to swallow as the cab driver pulls up to the gate of our house. His truck isn’t parked to the side, but it’s not unheard of for him to use one of the spots in the garage. The limo outside tells me that my parents are still home. Charles hates random vehicles parked outside, so his truck has to be stashed away.
Either that, or he’s avoiding me after such a magical night. As I pass cash to the cab driver and step out into the mid-morning sun, I pray he isn’t here. Facing him after his disappearing act in front of my parents would be brutal, trying to keep my mouth clamped closed, unable to hiss all the things I plan to tell him. No, him coming back after they leave again is best.
Tears threaten as I climb the steps to go inside, but I straighten my spine as my hand turns the knob to enter. Planning on going straight to my room, I freeze in the foyer, my eyes darting between my mother and a stoic man I’ve never seen before in my life.
His eyes dart toward me, but then he looks to my mother for guidance.
“Who are you?” I snap, those emotions I’ve been trying to keep a handle on floating to the surface at an alarming rate.
He doesn’t answer me, can’t be bothered to even look back in my direction.
“Mother, what’s going on?”
“Reginald is your new security detail. He’s married, so flashing him isn’t going to work.”
That’s all she says before she walks away, disappearing down the hall as if she can’t be bothered to waste another breath on me.
With tears burning my eyes, I focus on Reginald. If I thought Flynn was tight-lipped and unyielding, he’s nothing compared to this guy. Serious eyes stay focused across the room as I take him in fully. Gray is sprinkled at his temples, but it’s not a clear indication of his age because his skin is smooth around his eyes and mouth, probably from never smiling or enjoying himself.
“Who are you?”
“Reginald,” he answers, eyes not looking in my direction.
“And who do you work for?”
“Security Plus.”
That explains more than he can possibly realize.
Flynn is gone. Blackbridge is no longer the agency working for my family.
He just walked away.
After spending the night with me, holding me, and whispering beautiful things, he’s just gone.
Racing through the house as if I don’t know what I’m going to find, I throw open the door to the garage, the motion-activated lights revealing an unfamiliar car—more than likely Reginald’s—in the last spot of the huge room.
My shoulders slump, all conditioning and training to school my emotions gone as I make my way back into the house. I walk past Flynn’s replacement, eyes straight ahead and ascend the stairs.
Tears are falling, rolling hotly down my cheeks by the time I make it to my bedroom door. The sobbing comes the second I fall onto my comforter. The numbness fades away after a few seconds, unleashing a torrent of pain.
Used.
Something I never thought I’d feel where he was concerned.
He knows how people treat me. I’ve whispered the confessions more than once, confessed how disposable I feel with my own parents, with the people I can’t really call my friends.
He was well aware of all those things, and he still walked out without looking back. It feels like a great big fuck you, a middle finger and the last word to an argument I didn’t even know we were having, punishment for all the times I snuck out and challenged him.
What I thought was the beginning of something amazing was just his final kiss my ass.
Tears fall, my makeup from last night staining my stark white sheets.
I don’t know how long I let the pain dig