Grounded (Up in the Air, #3)(97)

She shrugged. “I wasted a lot of my prime years—“

“On a delusion,” I interrupted her, unable to stop myself.

She looked ready to spit. “Revenge. I did it for revenge. It was that simple. And it felt good.”

She was so smug when she said it, as though she’d accomplished something great, that I just snapped. “Well, it didn’t work. He’s still standing. Now get a f*cking life.” I was moving to her as I spoke. She and Jolene had caught me off guard when they’d cornered me before, and gotten the better of me in a physical altercation, but I’d been through hell and back, and I had no doubt in my mind that I could take the spoiled bitch.

I grabbed her by the hair before she saw my intent, and she barely even struggled as I dragged her across the room and into a stall. I dunked her head into the toilet while she pulled at my wrist, being very careful not to get my own hand wet. I held her there for one, two, three, four, five seconds before pulling her up and yanking her back out of the stall. I pushed her away from me, still only touching her hair.

She turned to me, looking shocked and scared and furious. “What the f*ck is wrong with you?”

I smiled at her, showing a lot of teeth. “Revenge. I did it for revenge. It was that simple, and it felt good,” I said, quoting her own ridiculous words back to her.

“I’ll have you arrested! I’ll-I’ll sue you!” she sputtered.

I laughed. The bitch was an amateur. “You got rid of your only witness so that you could have it out with me. There’s not a mark on you, and do you really think that my bodyguard is going to act as an eyewitness against me? I’d suggest you leave as quickly and quietly as you can, so that I’m not tempted to do it again. This was a waste of your time and mine. So go, and get yourself a f*cking life.”

She gave me one more hate-filled glare before she ran out of there like the place was on fire.

I glanced at Blake. She was smirking. It made me laugh again. “You think she’ll leave me alone now?” I asked her, wanting her professional opinion.

She nodded. “Walking through that ball looking like that is probably the most humiliating thing that princess has ever had to go through, so I’m going to say yeah, she’s most likely out of your hair now.”

I nodded. “Good deal. That was the point. Enjoying myself was just a bonus.”

Blake stifled a laugh.

I was still washing my hands, wanting to get all of the Jules off, when Lana and a frantic James burst through the door. I just raised a brow at them.

“Are you okay? What happened?” James asked, so obviously worried.

“We saw Jules tearing through the hallway, her hair wet, and her makeup a mess,” Lana added, studying me carefully.

I shrugged. “She stole that video from Jolene, and put it on the internet. She came here to tell me that. I didn’t take it well.”

James shot Blake a questioning glance, approaching me. “What happened?”

“I dunked her face in the toilet. She left. I don’t think she’ll bother me again.”

He reached me, running a hand over my hair with a soft touch. His brow furrowed for a moment as he processed that. He blinked a few times, then threw his head back and laughed.





[page]CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Mr. Wretched





James hadn’t wanted me to, but just a few days after I’d returned to Vegas, I went back to my old house to collect some things. Most of it would be packed away and moved to the bigger house, but I’d wanted to go through things myself before I let strangers tackle the project.

I shared a car with Stephan and Javier, who were giving Stephan’s house similar treatment. Having Stephan nearby for the excursion had gone a long way towards easing Control Freak Cavendish’s mind about the whole thing. Not that he could have stopped me, though he didn’t have to leave work to escort me once he realized that Stephan was going. I didn’t know what he thought that Stephan could do that my escort of armed guards couldn’t, but that was just the way it was. The two men had bonded on a fundamental level that even I didn’t fully understand. I could only be grateful for it.

I had tags to mark where I wanted my things to be moved to, since much of the household goods would be going into storage, and some to charity. James obviously had all of his properties stocked to the nines.

I only had a few small boxes for packing right away, and they filled slowly with small keepsakes and photographs.

Blake hovered in the house near me, Paterson patrolling directly outside, with Henry patrolling the neighborhood. Williams had a family emergency in California, and so was taking some personal leave. They hadn’t been able to find him a replacement with just one day’s notice, which was one of the reasons James had been so nervous about letting me come back to the house without him, even in the middle of the day.

Their boss’s nervous reaction to this mundane outing seemed to have Blake on edge. I got nervous just looking at her. She kept pacing the house, looking out windows for no reason that I could see.

“Is everything okay?” I finally asked her.

She nodded, but her mouth was tight. “Yeah, just antsy today, I guess. I don’t see Paterson out there, but that’s normal. It’s not even time for him to check in yet. I don’t know what my problem is.”