Claim Me(130)

“It’s okay,” he says with a flicker of a smile that takes the edge off the flatness of his words. “Really.” He takes a sip of champagne, adds some bacon to the plate, then slides it in front of me. “Well?”

I take the fork he offers, sample a small bite, and moan with pleasure. “This is amazing. What’s in it?”

“Lobster.”

“You just happen to have lobster in your fridge?”

“Sure,” he says, deadpan. “Don’t you?”

“Not hardly. Apparently the cars, hotels, jets, and chocolate factories aren’t the only perks of being filthy rich.”

He laughs and I dig into my breakfast while Damien stands at the stove keeping a close eye on his own meal. I’m surprised when my cell phone rings until I see that Damien has plugged it into a charger and left it on the breakfast bar. I consider letting it roll to voice mail, because I am not interested in having the real world intrude. But it’s Jamie, so I answer.

“Holy f*cking crap,” she says, not bothering with the traditional “hello.” “Douglas just came over to tell me that you’re all over the Internet,” she says. “Like I didn’t already know. Douglas!” she adds, as if that is the worst affront of all.

I want to tell Jamie that if she’s so irritated by our one-night stand of a next-door neighbor, then she shouldn’t have slept with Douglas in the first place. But I stay silent. We’ve been over all that before.

“So it’s really everywhere?” I ask. “I haven’t wanted to look.”

“Sorry,” she says, her voice thick with sympathy. “Your mom even called me.”

“You?”

“Lucky me, huh? She said she was too upset to talk with you yet, but that she—oh, f*ck, Nikki. What the hell do you care what she thinks?”

“I know what she thinks,” I say. “That I’m a disappointment. That I’ve ruined the family name. That she didn’t raise a whore.”

I can tell from Jamie’s silence that I’m right. Damien is watching me carefully. He doesn’t come to my side, though. I have a feeling he’s afraid I’ll shatter.

I won’t. Just thinking about my mother—about the fact that she cares more about what the tabloid press says than about what really happened—pisses me off and makes me strong. Well, stronger, anyway.

“So it’s all over everywhere?”

“Yeah,” Jamie says. “They don’t waste any time. The tabloids, social media, even the legitimate news, too. You get a million dollars from a guy like Damien for posing nude and even CNN is going to be reporting it. I mean, talk about the ratings.”

“Jamie.”

“Sorry! Sorry! So, are you okay? I mean, what are you going to do?”

“I’m okay,” I say. My cheeks heat as I glance at Damien and think about exactly how I went from being a complete wreck to feeling relatively normal. “For now, anyway.” I haven’t turned on the television. I haven’t even checked my email. Considering what might be in my inbox from my mother, I’m certain I don’t want to.

I catch Damien’s eye and I know he’s wondering the same thing that I am—will I still be fine once I step back into the world?

“You’re staying in today, right?” she asks.

“I can’t. I have to go to work.”

Damien shakes his head. “Take the day off. Bruce will understand.”

“I heard that,” Jamie says. “Listen to Damien. He’s smart. And you need to call Bruce before you go to the office, anyway. He called here looking for you.”