Savage Love

“Damn. You really do need some food,” Eris said. “What are you doing this weekend?”

“Napping. Sleeping. Maybe another nap. I changed my plans from living my life to sleeping with a full stomach of Thai. But I have to get this incessant voice out of my ear first.”

“Well, while that sounds absolutely wonderful, you already have plans,” Eris said.

“And what, pray tell, are those plans?”

“You’re going to the Hamptons this weekend.”

“Uh-huh. And who orchestrated this plan without telling me?” Kallie asked.

“I did when Jeremy called a few minutes ago.”

“Jeremy. The guy from the—damn, Eris. What’s it been? Like, two weeks?”

“A week and a half, I know. Crazy, right? Anyway, Jeremy has a house in the Hamptons and he’s invited me to come and stay with him for the weekend. I told him I’d only go if you came along with me, so he invited you.”

“Because he wants to get laid,” Kallie said. “And I don’t think a fun weekend consists of me lying in bed alone listening to your sexual circus next door.”

“One, your room would be on a completely different level from us. He has a house, Kallie. Not a hut. And second, you need to get out of the city. If you want to sleep and nap and gorge yourself on Thai food, at least do it in a quiet place that has, you know, legitimate food sources for you to eat.”

“The city has legitimate food sources.”

“Nothing that delivers is a legitimate food source, Kallie.”

“So my choices are staying in bed here and having people bring me food versus staying in the bed that’s not in my apartment and leaving to get my food.”

“Come on, Kallie. You’ve been through the wringer. And I admit, Ash is doing you a few favors in the media,” Eris said.

“Yeah, I’m aware,” Kallie said flatly.

“He’s partying and having fun and doing all this shit. It’s taking the heat off you. Get out of the city for the weekend, have a bit of fun yourself, and I bet by the time you get back the media won’t be focused on either of you.”

“Unless Ash goes streaking through the middle of the city.”

“In which case, they’ll think he needs to be committed and that will be the headline.”

“No, the headline would be ‘Gold Digger Drives Worthington Dingy.’”

“Hey. That’s not a bad one. You should pitch that somewhere,” Eris said.

“I hate you.”

“Come on, Kallie. I’m not going to beg you.”

“Good, because I’m not interested.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll beg you. Please, Kallie. Please, please, please, please, please...”

Kallie rolled her eyes and held her phone out from her ear. She knew her friend wouldn’t stop chanting that stupid phrase until she gave in. She could hang up the phone. But the last time she did that, Eris flooded both her voice mail inbox and her text messages with that one word.

But was a weekend in the Hamptons really so bad?

The idea of getting out of town sounded good to Kallie. Away from all of the things that reminded her of Ash. She was stifled by him. If she didn’t smell him walking into her office she saw his ghost looming in her apartment. And if she didn’t see him or smell him in those places, she was bombarded by him on her social media. She did have a clear schedule on Monday, so even if the weekend was a bust, she would have a day to recuperate. Going to the Hamptons gave her a chance to get away from everything and everyone in a city who had seemed to turn on her on a dime.

Maybe a trip was exactly what she needed to distract herself from her heartache.

“Please, please, please, please, please, please...”

But running away got her into this mess in the first place. To cope with what James had done, she ran to the island. Was it really wise to cope with what was happening with Ash by running away to somewhere else? What if she met someone again? What if the media followed her? The Hamptons were full of people just like Ash. Rich and snobbish and untrusting of anyone around them. She would be throwing herself to the pack of wolves James had struck up against her.