***
His View
I knew as soon as I opened the door that Lola was still upset. I hadn’t thought she was going to react so badly to Richard being married. Though, it made me admire and respect her more. Lola was the girl I didn’t think existed any more. She was the sort of girl I would want to meet if I believed in love.
“You okay?” I asked as I turned the light on and she sat up. Her face was red and blotchy and I could tell that she’d been crying. “What’s wrong?” I frowned as I walked over to her. “You’re not seriously crying because of Richard and Charlotte are you?”
“No. I’m not crying about that.” She gave me a look that was void of emotion and I froze in fear.
“Then what’s wrong?”
“You used to date, Violeta?” She spat out. “You used to take her to the club?”
“How do you know that?” I stepped forward.
“She sent me the vibrator you gave her.”
Fuck! I should have known Violeta would do something like that.
“Don’t you have anything to say?” She jumped up with her finger pointed at me. “How could you?”
“How could I?” I could feel my blood starting to boil. “I can do what I want. Yes, I used to f**k Violeta, what concern is it of yours? That was my past, Lola.” I knew I sounded angry, but I was filled with fear. Would Lola leave me now? The sudden emptiness that hit me at the thought scared me.
“I met her and she was rude to me and you never even told me.” She glared at me. “I thought I was—”
“You thought you were what?” I cut her off. “Haven’t I told you many times that this is not real? We’re not really engaged, Lola. I’m not your Prince Charming. We both know this is about our chemistry together. This is about the sex.” I said bluntly as I stuck the knife into her heart. I could see the pain in her eyes as I spoke, but I was doing this for her as well as myself. I didn’t want her to think I was someone I wasn’t. I couldn’t make her happy. I could never be the man she wanted me to be. I’d already brought her here under nefarious situations. If she knew everything, she would hate me. I knew I should tell her everything. I knew I owed her the truth. The complete and utter truth. But the fact of the matter was; I was scared. I didn’t want to lose her, not yet. Not now. I couldn’t let go of her. I knew that I was losing her with my words, but I didn’t know how to stop hurting her. I didn’t know how to warn her to stay away from me, without having her leave. I didn’t want her to leave. Not yet. I ignored the voice in my head that told me, not ever.
“I know we’re not engaged for real.” She retorted back at me angrily, the fire back in her eyes as she glared at me. I stared at her beautiful face and felt my heart crying out for her. I was so confused. I didn’t even know what I was thinking or feeling anymore.
“I’m sorry though.” I grabbed her hands. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I should have told you, but I wasn’t sure you would want to know about my past.”
“I don’t know that I would have wanted to know either, but Violeta made sure that I did.”
“I’ll speak to her tonight.” I frowned, angry that Violeta was playing her old games again. Yes, we’d been lovers and yes, I’d enjoyed being with her until I’d seen how manipulative she was.
“Tonight?”
“At the ball.”
“The ball?” She groaned. “Another one.”
“Yes, I thought you enjoyed it last night.”
“It was fine.” She frowned. “This is the last one though. I think we need to talk tomorrow. Like really talk. I think I’m ready to go home.”
“I see.” I turned away from her, pain searing my heart. This was it then. She was going to leave. “It is what it is. Tonight we’ll have one last night of fun and then tomorrow, tomorrow we can talk about you leaving.” The words sounded odd to my ears as I said them. I already knew that tonight was going to be explosive. I could feel it in my bones. I didn’t know what was going to go down and a part of me wondered if it was a good idea to go to the club again, but I dismissed my doubts. There was one room Lola hadn’t seen yet. One room that might make her change her mind and stay. It was risky, but I had to at least try to keep her here. The only problem was I no longer knew why I wanted her to stay. Was it to help me carry out my plan or was it because I was starting to fall for her?
Chapter Nine
The plane ride back to Delmar was quiet. I had nothing to say to Xavier and he didn’t bother trying to flirt with me. He was also smart enough to not bring up the vibrator again. I don’t think I would ever look at a vibrator again in the same way. I’d sure not be able to use one without thinking about him and Violeta. I was still so angry and hurt and I was mad at myself for going back to the club with him. The problem was that I didn’t want him to know just how hurt I was by his words. I didn’t want him to think that he’d devastated me as much as he had.
He was correct in what he’d said. He’d never led me to believe that this was more than sex. He’d let me know several times that he wasn’t interested in anything else. It was my own fault that I’d believed that we were developing a deeper relationship. He’d never led me to believe anything else. I’d come tonight because of pride. I came because I didn’t want him to know how hurt I was. Though I really just wanted to go home.
We disembarked the plane and walked to the limousine in silence and we drove up to Casper’s castle without looking at each other. I stepped out of the car and shivered in the cool night air as I stared up at the dark building in front of us.
“Are you going to ignore me all night?” Xavier’s voice was husky as we stood there.
“No.” I stared straight ahead and we started walking forward.
“There you are.” Casper and Violeta walked out of the castle with huge smiles.
“Good evening.” I smiled at them both. I was not going to let that bitch know that she had affected me in any way.
“Nice to see you again, Lola.” She smiled widely. “Been doing any trotting lately?”
“No.” I smiled back at her. “I wore my stallion out, so he needed a break.”
“Huh? What are you two talking about?” Xavier frowned and I shook my head and grabbed a hold of his hand.
“Nothing.” I pressed myself into him. “Let’s go and get a drink.”