Crave (Billionaire Bachelors Club #1)(49)

Yet again, I f**ked it up royally. I didn’t even mean to.

“There’s nothing to misunderstand. You said it yourself, Archer. I. Don’t. Count.” She takes a step toward me, throwing her hands out and shoving my chest so hard I have no choice but to take a staggering step backward. “I can’t believe you. After everything I said earlier. After everything you said, then you deny what’s happened between us to Matt like I don’t matter. What an idiot I am to think we could actually have something together.”

I’m losing her. Fuck, I can’t lose her. Not like this. “Come on baby, let’s talk about this somewhere else.” If only I could get her alone, I could make this right. She needs to listen to me. Not in front of Matt and whoever else is nearby, listening in. Matt’s watching us like we’ve both lost our minds and a few guests are lingering, trying to catch bits of our heated conversation, no doubt.

Shit. I’m not just losing the only woman who’s ever really mattered to me all in a matter of minutes, I’m also making an ass of myself during Crave’s opening night.

Feeling helpless, I try to grab her, but she yanks her arm out of my grip, her eyes wild and full of angry fire. “Please, Ivy. I need to explain everything to you. Privately.”

“I don’t want to hear your explanations. They’re worthless. Absolutely worthless. Just like whatever happened between us the last few weeks is worth nothing. I should’ve known it was all an illusion. That you would dismiss me so easily to Matt, I just . . . I can’t do this, Archer.” She walks away, holding her head high, but I can see the wobble in her step. I hurt her so badly, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to recover from this.

I wonder if she’ll be able to recover from this. That she would jump to the conclusion that I don’t care about her hurts too. After everything we’ve shared, she wouldn’t even f**king listen to me.

It makes no sense.

“Well, you sure went and f**ked that all up,” Matt mutters as soon as she’s gone.

“Shut up,” I mumble. I can’t just leave to go after her and it’s killing me. This is my damn party. I have to be here to greet everyone and it’s only started.

But I want to chase after her and explain. I need to explain. That she heard me say that . . . breaks my f**king heart for her.

“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth? I knew you were lying anyway,” Matt says.

“So why did you keep on asking then?”

“Because I wanted to hear you admit it. I have to say, it made me happy for you, man, seeing you when you first walked in with Ivy. Your entire face lit up when you were staring at her, and she looked at you like you hung the damn moon.” Matt shook his head. “Leave it to you to say something so stupid, you f**k up a good thing with two simple words.”

Yeah. Leave it to me to f**k it all up with two words. Just Ivy.

The woman I’m in love with.

Just Ivy.

The woman I hurt.

The woman I failed.

Chapter Fifteen

Ivy

Two weeks later.

“WE’RE STILL ON for lunch, right?”

Sighing, I check my schedule and see that my lunch hour is completely free. How unfortunate. I’ve become so unsocial it’s painful. “I don’t know if I’m up to it, Wendy,” I start, but she cuts me off with an irritated snort.

“Screw that business, girlfriend. I’m taking you out to lunch whether you like it or not. We’re going to that sushi place you love, we’re going to order not one but two of our favorite rolls and then we’re going to devour them until we feel like we’re going to burst. What do you say?”

Sounds like a nightmare. But I can’t say that to Wendy. She’s my best friend and she’s only trying to cheer me up after that fiasco of a so-called relationship with Archer. “Fine. Want me to meet you there?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. Say around twelve-thirty?”

“That should work.” Luckily enough, Sharon doesn’t mind if my lunch hour is flexible, as long as she can get a hold of me whenever she needs me. The more I’ve worked with her, the more I enjoy it.

She didn’t ask questions about the Archer experience either. I forwarded her pictures for my online portfolio, she expressed her pleasure with the interior design I came up with, and that was that. Nothing else was said.

Just the way I prefer it. Talking about Archer—heck, even thinking his name—hurt too much.

“See you then.” Wendy pauses, and I clutch the phone tight, scared of what she might say. “Chin up, okay hon? Don’t let this get you down. He’s just a man, after all.”

“Right, just a man,” I say weakly, wondering if she realizes she’s mirroring the same hurtful thing he said about me.

Just Ivy . . . she doesn’t count.

If he walked into the room right now, I’d probably slug him in that too-pretty face of his. Let’s see if he would refer to me as just Ivy then.

God, I miss him. I want him back—I’m in love with him. But I can’t forgive him for saying what he did to Matt. Doesn’t help that I spoke to my brother, and he told me some story Archer had spun to him as well. Denying that we were together, swearing up and down nothing was going on between us. Something about a picture Gage saw online of the two of us together, smiling at each other like we’re in love.