“Stop this,” I demanded, but my voice came out weaker than intended. “I’m done with this game.”
“Who said it was a game, Ivy? Give me whatever I want. Please me whenever I want. You said you would do it.” He bent over me and propelled his hips forward to thrust himself inside me. A sharp breath broke out of me. “So, do it, Ivy. Be Lola. Give me what I want.”
Fuck him. I wasn’t Lola. He was out of his fucking mind, and I was about to shove him off me and tell him to get the fuck out until he said something I didn’t quite expect.
“I know what you’re after,” he growled in my ear, and my blood ran cold. “You want my money. You want her life. Well, you want it so bad,” he rumbled on my neck, “this is how you get it. No one said having me would be easy, babe.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The gala was over.
That high I’d had as I was getting ready for the night and as I’d fucked Corey in the supply closet? It was gone. Dust.
I hated him . . . well, I felt like I did the day after. My emotions were all over the place. I felt betrayed.
Corey reminded me of bad things that night. Reminded me of Xavier. Too handsy. Too aggressive. Too mean. He’d taken advantage of me, just like Xavier always had. He was drunk, yes, but he knew what he’d said to me. He remembered because after he finished, he left my room and didn’t show his face the next morning for breakfast.
I hated that I had to see him on the jet back to Florida, but it was much easier for me to keep a distance and look away. There was also tension between him and Lola. Noah and Olivia sensed it and pretended to sleep in their seats. I sat in my seat, staring out the window, tormented by his reckless behavior.
You don’t get it, Marriott. Corey was supposed to be a gentleman. He was supposed to be different, but he’d made me look at him a different way the night of the gala. My perfect night in my perfect dress was ruined because of his reckless, selfish actions. God, I was so sick of everyone being so damn selfish.
I purposely stayed away from Corey and Lola when we got back to Miami. I was grateful Lola was giving us the week off with pay to recover from the success of the gala.
I mean, who was I kidding? I’d said once before that all men were pigs, and I was right. I didn’t take Corey as the kind of man who choked women and then forced them to have sex with him.
Now I could see why Lola didn’t fuck him as often as he wanted—why she’d walked off with Eddie that night. Corey must have done this to her too.
Corey was an asshole who thought the world revolved around his dick. He needed to get himself under control . . . but I needed to work on forgiving him eventually because he was right about one thing. I did want his money and I did want a life like Lola’s.
I knew that without him, I wasn’t going to get any of it, and I’d worked so damn hard. I needed this. I deserved it. I’m not saying money was going to take care of all my problems, but it would be a start.
Forgiveness is such bullshit, though, Marriott.
The one who forgives first never really wins.
* * *
I was used to Lola sending me messages and asking me to meet her, but the text I received from her four days into my week-long break didn’t settle well with me.
WE NEED TO TALK. COME TO MY PLACE AT 6.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but something in my gut told me she knew about me and Corey. Had he told her about us? Did someone see us in the hallway? See me get in the car with him?
There were so many ways this could go, but for all I knew, she could just want to talk to me about the gala or Eddie since I saw the whole thing happen.
It wasn’t like Lola to demand me to come to her, though. She always asked if I had plans, to which I’d respond that I didn’t, and then she’d rope me in and tell me to meet her somewhere, along with a little incentive, like sharing a bottle of wine or going shopping for new shoes.
It was best to get it over with.
I drove to her house in a somber mood and parked in front of the mansion. The door wasn’t answered by Georgia this time, though. It was Corey.
I took a step back when I saw him. I wasn’t ready to forgive him yet.