These situations were the only ones where she obeyed. Any other time, I had a face full of attitude. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” I grabbed her wrist then pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. I had a lot of dirty things in mind for her. It would be a shame not to put that beautiful ass to good use. “See you in a few.” I turned my back on her and walked into my office. I didn’t have any such phone call to make. I just wanted to give her time to prepare for me. I intended to do something new with her, something she’d probably never experienced.
Hopefully, she would like it.
I sat at my desk and eyed the bottle of scotch sitting next to my laptop. I didn’t know how many glasses I’d had that day, but I was certain I was already over the limit. Cutting down would be a lot more difficult than I’d anticipated. It’d only been five minutes, and I was already struggling.
I really did have a drinking problem.
My cell phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen, expecting to see Ariel getting back to me with news about the shipment. I was supposed to call her back and never did. But she knew I was forgetful and busy.
But it was Josephine.
Why the fuck wouldn’t this bitch just disappear?
I didn’t need any more rumors about my love life. She humiliated me once, and I wouldn’t be dragged into scandal again. If people assumed I was contemplating taking her back, that would be even worse than when she left me to begin with.
That made me look like the biggest pussy in the world.
I didn’t believe in forgiveness.
Just ruthlessness.
I swiped my thumb across the screen and answered. I pressed the phone to my ear but didn’t say anything, too annoyed to actually form words with my mouth. I’d made it abundantly clear she didn’t have any chance with me, but apparently, that didn’t mean shit to her. “If you’re interested in ordering Highland Scotch for a party, you can always call Ariel. If you’re inviting me to a social event, invitations by mail are welcome. Any other inquiries are inappropriate, and frankly, annoying.” I was never this cold to her when we were together, not even when she pissed me off, but when she decided to be with someone else, I shut the door on her forever. It wasn’t about getting my heart broken. It was about the disloyalty.
I hated disloyalty.
She made a promise to me—and she fucking broke it.
Josephine breathed into the phone, obviously offended by my introduction. She didn’t have a backbone the way Ariel did. She was fragile. A few insults were enough to cripple her into sobs.
“Crewe, I just want to talk to you.”
“About what?” I asked coldly. “We aren’t friends, so I don’t see what there is to talk about.”
“I’m sorry to bother you…I really am.”
“No, you aren’t,” I snapped. “If so, you wouldn’t have dropped by yesterday. And you wouldn’t be calling me now.”
“It’s just…my father is in the hospital.”
I hadn’t heard the news. Maybe they were keeping it quiet. For just an instant, I felt sympathy. “I’m sorry to hear that, Josephine. Will he be alright?”
“He had a heart attack…” She cried into the phone. “The doctors say they think he’ll be okay, but he’s being observed overnight for a few more days. There’s a blockage in one of his carotid arteries. They need to operate.”
I didn’t remember my father very much. All I had were pictures of him. The only memories I had were ones I made up. When I saw a picture of us playing catch outside on the lawn, I pretended we were both baseball fans even though we never followed the international sport. “I’m sure he’ll be okay.” I had no idea if her father would be okay, but I wanted to say what she wanted to hear.
“I don’t know…I just came home to get some sleep. I’d been there for a few days.”
Except when she came to my home.
“I was hoping you could stop by…or I could go over there.”
The question made me angry, but I swallowed my rage out of respect for her situation. “Where’s Andrew?”
“He’s in Africa with UNICEF. He’ll be gone for another week. He said he couldn’t leave right now…”
Nothing would have stopped me from being by her side if we were still together. But that ship had sailed. “I can’t join you, Josephine. You know that.”
“Please…I don’t know what to do. I’m so scared, and I don’t want to be alone right now.”
No way in hell was I going over there. If someone saw me, it would look really bad. Not that I wanted to go over there anyway. “Josephine, I’m not your fiancé anymore. And I’m not your friend either. Let’s not forget how we got here. You left me for Andrew. You have to stand by your choice now.”
“I said I made a mistake. How many times do I have to repeat it?”
“You couldn’t repeat it enough times,” I said coldly. “But it wouldn’t change anything anyway.”
She cried quietly into the phone, trying to cover up the sound of her tears. “I know you still love me…”
“I really don’t.” Any love I had for her disappeared the day she betrayed me. I stopped respecting her. I stopped caring about her. It made me realize that everything meaningful we had never meant anything at all. Within the snap of a finger, I was over it.
And I never looked back.
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered.
“I don’t care,” I said coldly. “I’m sorry about your father. I truly am. I hope he has a speedy recovery and he’s back on his feet soon.”
“Crewe—”
“Please don’t call me again, Josephine.” I hung up before she could get another word in. Her problems weren’t my problems anymore. I wasn’t being stubborn, just authoritative. You couldn’t humiliate me in front of the whole world and come back to me when you needed something. I respected myself too much for that.
It took me a few seconds to remember what was waiting for me upstairs. I eyed the scotch and felt my restraint slip away. I snatched the bottle and poured another glass, forgetting what London asked me to do. I downed the amber liquid and felt the burn all the way down my throat.
But it didn’t burn as much as my anger.
7
London
I lay on the bed like he instructed, naked and flat on my belly. Taking orders from him was easy when it came to stuff like this. I wasn’t offended at being bossed around, not when he had that smoldering look in his eyes. Obeying was my best course of action—and the best way to get into his heart.
The best way for me to escape.
He walked into the room minutes later and shut the door behind him. His actions were loud, his heavy shoes hitting the floor heavily just before he dropped his jacket to the ground. He was announcing his presence as loudly as possible as he approached the bed.