Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(79)

Despite her best effort, she winced at that comment.

“I read a few interesting things about your boyfriend.”

Trihn glared at him. “I really don’t want to talk about this with you.”

“Do you honestly think that he isn’t sleeping with Chloe Avana?”

“You’re an *. That shit isn’t true.”

“Is that what he’s saying?” he asked, leaning against the counter and looking down at her.

She hadn’t realized he had gotten so close. He was practically hovering over her. She took a steady step backward.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“You can do better.”

She scoffed. “You don’t know anything.”

“Come on, Trihn. You and I both know that some new guy could never compare to me.”

Trihn snapped her eyes up to him. She couldn’t believe he’d had the gall to say that to her.

He’d teased her about Neal when they were together, but she had always extracted herself from the situation as soon as possible. And then she’d blocked the memory from her mind. This was different though. This was about Damon, and Preston hadn’t even f*cking met him!

“You’re right,” she said finally.

Preston smiled wide.

“Damon doesn’t compare to you. In fact, I’d never, ever want to put you two in the same category because Damon is twice the man you’ll ever be.”

Trihn pushed past Preston and went back into the dining room. “I’m leaving.”

“What?” Linh said.

That was shortly followed by Lydia’s, “You can’t leave yet! My dress!”

“You can tell that to your fiancé.” Trihn shook her head. “It was good to see you guys, but I have to go now.”

After she grabbed her bag, her mother tried to stop her at the door. “Trihn, please don’t go. What’s wrong with you?”

“No one here would even believe me. So, why should I bother?”

“We’ll listen. What is it?”

“Preston! God, can’t anyone else here see what he’s doing? He’s a lying, manipulative slimeball. He just came on to me in the kitchen when no one else was around so that there would be no witnesses.”

“Trihnity,” her mother admonished.

“Don’t even say it. Just don’t.” Trihn sighed. “I love you, Mom, but I’m not going to come back to New York again unless it’s to introduce you to Damon or for work. I just can’t handle this, and I don’t need the stress in my life.”

She hugged her mom and then hurried out of the house. It wasn’t until she had made it back to her hotel that she felt the weight lift off her chest. She was miserable about how Preston had acted, but in some way, it just proved what she’d already known. Preston was an *, and she couldn’t pretend otherwise for Lydia.

Trihn curled into bed and was falling asleep when her phone started ringing. She reached for it and saw Damon’s name on the screen.

“Hey,” she said with a sigh.

“Hey, love. Oh, how I have missed that voice.”

She laughed softly. “I miss you. How was the show?”

“Orlando was incredible, and now, we’re on our way to Atlanta. How was dinner with your parents?”

“Lydia and Preston showed up, and he was a total *.”

Damon was silent for a full minute.

“Are you still there?” she asked.

“Yeah, just reining in my anger.”

“Join the club.”

“Well, I have a long drive ahead of me,” he said into the phone.

She imagined him lying back on a bunk in a van driving them up the interstate toward Atlanta.

“Are you about to go to bed?” he asked.

She nodded. “Mmhmm.”

“Early flight, right?”

“Yeah.”

“All right. Just close your eyes, love, and forget all about what happened at your dinner. Just pretend I’m sitting in front of you, strumming on my acoustic guitar.”

And then he started singing. The words were slow and soft, almost like a lullaby. Before she knew it, she drifted off to the sound of his voice, which proved to be a much better ending to a tiring day.





“SHIT. FUCK. FUCK. FUCKING HELL!” Trihn jolted out of bed and started running around the hotel room like a maniac.

While falling asleep to Damon singing had been the most epic night, not setting her alarm and subsequently sleeping through her flight had not been as awesome.

She quickly stuffed everything back into her bag and was on her way to JFK within ten minutes. She was so late. There was absolutely no way she could make it now, but hopefully, the airline would take pity on her and let her board a later flight.

She jotted out a text to Damon while sitting impatiently in the backseat of a cab.

Missed my flight. Fuck.

That sucks. Are they going to let you switch flights?

I don’t know. I’ll have to see when I get there.

Come here instead.

To Atlanta?

Yeah. The show isn’t until later, and we don’t leave for Charlotte right away. You could stay the night. I’d pay for you to fly back to Vegas.