“Yes, ma’am. I understand. No, ma’am. I won’t let anyone in or out of the suite until you arrive. No.” He sighed again. “I knew, but I didn’t agree with it. This was just supposed to be another job for me and Lyla…”
“Lyla, too?” I clenched my eyes closed, my heart taking another direct hit.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll take care of her.” Braxton continued to speak to Momma.
I felt a gentle arm come around my shoulders, and all I wanted was to curl into a ball and let Nevaeh hold me until my mom got there. But I couldn’t let myself fall apart.
“I’m going to take a shower,” I announced as I opened my eyes. I suddenly felt dirty, tainted.
“Mia,” Braxton started, but I held up my hands and shook my head.
r /> “Save it. I don’t want to hear your version of the truth any longer. Knowing what I know now, I don’t trust you to be honest anyway.”
Chapter 15
Mia
My phone was going off when I walked out of the en suite with my hair dripping and a towel wrapped around my body. Glancing at where I’d tossed both Braxton’s and my phone on my way to the shower, I saw it was my dad.
Angrily, I turned away from the sight of the picture of the two of us on the beach in front of my parents’ house back in Malibu. The man I thought could do no wrong had betrayed me in a way I never thought he was capable of.
I still didn’t know the details, but there was no other explanation for why Barrick would be with him and my uncles when they shouldn’t have even known I was dating the heir apparent to the most successful security firm in the country.
Feeling exhausted, I fell back onto the bed, not caring that my hair was still soaked and would get the bed wet. Glaring up at the ceiling, I went back through every interaction I’d ever had with Braxton and Lyla, not allowing myself to even think about Barrick. I wasn’t sure I could handle that just yet.
Nothing they’d ever said or done even hinted that they weren’t anything but my friends. Or maybe I’d just been too blind to what real friendship looked like because all I had was Jordan to compare it to.
Gasping, I sat up and reached for my phone. Ignoring the texts already on the screen, I unlocked it and pulled up Jordan’s name, then hit connect.
“Sup, buttercup,” he greeted with a drunken laugh.
“Are you seriously drunk again?” I demanded, annoyed. Ever since he’d started becoming more active in his fraternity, he’d been drinking more and more. I knew it was because he was so bored, but I was beginning to worry about him.
“Getting there,” he agreed with a laugh, but when a sob escaped me, he sobered instantly. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been stupid,” I confessed, knowing he wouldn’t judge me.
“I don’t believe that. Tell me what happened, and we can figure this out. I’m sure whatever it is, I can help you fix it.”
Rubbing at the throb that was starting to echo in my skull, I told him what little I knew. “I don’t know what to think right now. Momma’s on her way, and she’s pissed. I’m pissed too, but… But my heart hurts s-so m-much, Jordan.”
“Do you want me to come out there?” he asked quietly. That quietness told me plenty. He was angry, but he didn’t want to scare me.
“N-no. You have too much going on with school and everything.” I scrubbed at my eyes. I figured after all the crying I’d done in the shower, I wouldn’t have any tears left, but they wouldn’t freaking stop. “Momma is on her way. I…I just…”
“Mia, I’m here for you whenever you need me. You’re my best friend. That doesn’t stop just because there’s an entire country separating us.”
“I-I know. And the same goes if you need me,” I promised him. “Are…you doing okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” But his sigh told me differently.
“Jor, you’ve been drinking so much lately. Every time I’ve called, you’ve been drunk. You’re drunk now.”
“Actually, I’m thinking of dropping out of college and going to Italy for a while,” he confessed, and I could almost picture a weight lifting from his shoulders. “After this semester, I’m going to tell my parents I want to take a little time off.”
“Is it that bad?”
“It’s not that it’s bad. It’s just not for me right now. I want to work, find out what I’m really good at, and then go from there. This taking classes just to be taking them with no real path in sight isn’t what I want.”