Elizabeth

And not once did Phillip even care to look my way.

I was on my own, bleeding in the ocean waters with a shark circling me.

“I lied,” Sam said.

“You’ll have to specify, because I’m pretty sure you spouted a great deal of them,” I said.

“I’m not Phillip’s friend. I think the word he uses for me is ‘nemesis,’ but that seems a little outdated.”

“Then what word would you use?”

“I prefer the term ‘snake.’”

I felt the blood drain from my face as Sam leaned into my ear.

“I would do anything to fuck Phillip Chambers over. He’s a selfish, self-righteous man who doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself. Something you’re apparently just figuring out. At least I’ll treat you with the respect you deserve while you’re writhing underneath me. Fucking you would be a great pleasure to my already wonderful evening.”

I wanted to smack him. I wanted to toss my wine at him. I wanted to smash him over the head with my plate and walk away from the table. But I knew every action I pulled in front of all these people would reflect back onto Phillip, which meant I had to mind my manners. Sam pulled back with the most disgusting grin on his face before I felt his hand against my thigh. I knocked him away, swatting at him underneath the table. I guarded myself all night. I scooted my chair closer to Phillip and tried to get his attention long enough to tell him what was going on. But conversation after conversation pulled him in, and he didn’t care about me. Didn’t care about what was happening.

Didn’t care about the little whore at his side.

“I’m heading to the restroom, then we’re going back to the hotel room,” Phillip said.

“I’ll wait for you out in the hallway,” I said.

“You can head to the car if you want.”

“I’d rather wait for you, if that’s fine.”

I was relieved when he told me it was time to go. I got up with him and forced my arm around his, even though he still tried to pull away from me. Whatever the hell his issue was, he needed to stomach it until we could get away from Sam. He had been eyeing me all night, and I was pretty sure he knew about us. About me. About who I was. And men like Sam thought they could take advantage of women like myself simply because of our profession. I clung to Phillip until we got to the restrooms; then he pulled away from me and shot me a look, one of confusion and slight annoyance.

No. I didn’t have a future with someone like Phillip. I couldn’t.

I paced the hallway outside of the restrooms, playing with the beds of my nails. It was a terrible habit Rhonda constantly got on to me about, which was why I had a strict cuticle-care routine. But in my anxiety-filled state, I dug into them. Ripped up skin and played with my perfectly manicured nails like I hadn’t played with them in years.

Then, I felt a strong hand wrap around my arm.

“There you are.”

I yelped as my body got yanked into the shadows of a dark alcove at the end of the hallway. I pressed my hands into the chest of the form in front of me, but I knew who it was. His hands groped me, clung to my ass, and forced me closer to him. I dug my elbows into his arms to try and get his grip away from my body as my hands fisted his tuxedo.

“Let me go,” I said.

“I couldn’t let something like you slip through my fingers so easily, Elizabeth. Especially when Phillip neglects you the way he does. Come on. Drop the act. Let me show you how a real man treats his woman,” Sam said.

“I said, let me go!”

“Elizabeth?”

I whipped my head around as Sam tightened his grip on me. He pulled my body closer, and I felt his nasty pelvis press against mine. Phillip came around the corner before his sight landed on the two of us, and I watched anger bubble in his gaze. I pushed myself away from Sam, and he finally relented, letting me go as I stumbled in my heels. I caught myself with my hand on the opposite wall before I looked up, figuring I’d see Phillip standing toe-to-toe with Sam.

But instead, his attention was locked on me.

He was infuriated, and it looked like he was infuriated with me.

Chapter 21

Phillip

I sat in the car, completely dumbfounded as to what I had witnessed. Elizabeth—the woman that had seduced every part of me—wrapped up in the arms of the man that had robbed me. The man that had almost ruined me. A man I had considered my best friend until he pulled the rug out from underneath me like the asshole he was.