dark, relentless eyes I wouldn’t allow myself to show the weakness they accused me of.
Nix’s smooth, solid façade cracked at my words, anger flashed in his expression and I felt his grip tighten against the chair all the way down to my toes.
“No, Ivy,” he barked out at me. “I make the world go round. Me! And it would behoove you not to forget that.” He reigned in his temper and smoothed out his features and it was like a tornado had been destroying the room around me and then suddenly sucked through a window. The calm after the storm was as eerie and deadly as the storm itself and I shuddered despite my resolve not to show fear. “Eva, call a cab for Ivy. I want her out of my sight for now.”
With that last command he turned his back on me and stalked from the room. The entire room stayed still even with his absence until Eva finally reached for her cell phone and followed his orders. I had been banished for the rest of the evening. And even though a pit of absolute terror started to grow in my stomach and spread roots to my heart and lungs, I was thankful to be excused from this gathering. If I continued to misbehave like this I knew I would have to face discipline, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I just didn’t want to know what that meant for me.
Chapter Thirty-Two
This time the ride to visit Honor was more tense than normal. My mother hadn’t talked to me since last night at Sloane’s, except to tell me when she was leaving for Honor’s. She hadn’t left it an option to decline, but I didn’t plan on it anyways.
We pulled up to Honor’s and went through the same routine as always. She walked with me to the front door and raised her hand to knock, except at the last minute she pulled back.
“Ivy, I’m not mad at you for last night,” she allowed calmly. “Regardless of how you feel right now, you need to know that I am not your enemy. I am your ally. I have your best interest in mind. If you don’t want to go to Nix, I’m trying to understand that, but then you and I need to work together. Alright?”
I thought over her words for a moment, not really accepting them, but knowing I needed to appear to. She was right in that if worse came to worst she was my only supporter in staying away from Nix.
“Alright, mom,” I conceded. “I’m sorry for my behavior last night and recently. I just, what happened with Sam scared me. And I’m over it now, I really am,” I lied, “But I guess I’m a little…. I don’t know, like gun shy or something. Ok? I’ll try to be better though, I promise.”
“Oh sweetheart, I understand,” she cooed and then drew me into a stiff hug before I could wiggle away from her. “I know you’ll try harder. I know you won’t embarrass me again.”
She gave me an air kiss while I kind of stood there stunned. Eventually she let go of me and turned her attention back to the door. She pressed the doorbell with a long French nail and then waited tranquilly for Smith or one of his assistants to open the door.
It was the assistant this week, a twenty-something woman probably straight out of MBA school. They all clamored to work with Smith, to learn from the master of business. But Smith would only let women work for him. Not because he was some pervy womanizer, but solely to protect his life and Honor. He would never trust a man in his house.
The assistant didn’t say anything to us, just moved out of the way and allowed us to enter. She silently turned on her one inch practical pump and led the way down the hall. Smith’s assistants were generally all the same. Not that he had a type, but mainly because he required a dress code. Hair pulled back tight, pant suit or skirt suit and low heels. They all looked like uniformed flight attendants from the fifties, but I kept my opinion to myself.
In the sitting room, we were alone for a few minutes. My mother made herself at home, flinging herself onto one of the couches and crossing her legs impatiently. I paced around the room nervously. I felt itchy in my skin after the makeup session with my mom outside and