“Because I asked her to come home with me and I offered to pay her? She is a hooker, right? Because I really wasn’t trying to offend her,” Cole said.
He was an asshole, but he was also my best friend. On top of that, Cole was brutally honest. He wouldn’t steal a date from me, not a real date I’d gotten to first. But someone who was for hire, who I wasn’t planning on fucking because I wanted to keep my boundaries intact?
He’d do it just so he could tell me everything I was missing.
“I’m not sure why she’s upset. Maybe because I told you she was an escort,” I mumbled.
“Well, she’s right about that,” Cole said loftily. “You probably shouldn’t have said anything. She was pretending to be your girlfriend and doing a pretty good job of it. You threw her under the bus with that one.”
“Thanks a lot,” I mumbled.
“So she’s gone? Did you fire her? Or did she quit?” Cole asked.
“Neither,” I said.
“So why’d she go home? I thought she was with you for the next two weeks?”
I didn’t say anything for a moment. “I think she just needed to be alone.”
“You mean she quit,” he insisted.
I furrowed my brow. “Is that what it means?” I felt like a confused, hormonal teenager. I’d been horrible when I dropped her off, not saying a word about when I would call her. I thought she wanted to be away from me.
On top of that, I was upset for some damn reason. Upset that she was leaving, upset that I was going back to my apartment alone and that I was clearly no longer in control—if I had ever been in control since I’d picked her up this afternoon.
“Sounds like she quit to me,” Cole said. He waited a beat. “So if you two are done…can I have her number? There’s not a lot of action out here tonight.”
My jaw clenched again. “No, you cannot have her number,” I said hotly. “I’ll text you her service’s number—there’s a girl there you might like. Jenny. She’s Audrey’s friend. Go get an escort of your own.” Leave mine alone, I thought.
“I know you like this girl,” Cole said. It sounded as though he was yawning. “You can try to hide it, but you suck at it.”
“Thanks,” I said tersely.
“You might want to call her,” he said. “If I want her number, other guys do, too.”
“Talk to you later,” I said.
“If you’re lucky,” Cole said and hung up.
I opened up Audrey’s contact information and stared at it for a minute. Then I took a deep breath and stared at it for a while longer.
“Mr. Preston?” Kai asked. We were still idling at the curb near her house.
“Just put it in park,” I snapped.
One hour later, I dialed.
She answered after the first ring.
“Audrey?”
“James?”
“I’m sorry to bother you. Are you still up?”
“I just answered my phone. What do you think?” she asked.
I sighed. “Would you consider coming back to the apartment with me tonight? My mother just called,” I lied. “We have an early breakfast.”
“Oh,” she said. “Sure.” She waited a beat. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
She was going to make me work for this, I could tell. “Of course that’s what I want.”
“Okay,” she said. She sounded cautiously optimistic. “I’ll just call a cab. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“No need,” I said smoothly. “I’m still parked on your street.”
She was quiet for a second. “Then I’ll be right down,” she said.
Five minutes later she slid into the car next to me. She was wearing fuzzy boots, pink sweatpants, and a T-shirt.
“I was in my pajamas,” she said apologetically.
“It’s okay. I want you to be comfortable,” I said.
She looked at me with raised eyebrows and said nothing.
We drove to the Stratum in silence. I couldn’t tell if it was awkward silence or not, but I felt relieved that she was back with me, which was stupid.
Kai let us out, and we went through the opulent lobby together in silence. She shuffled across the marble floor in her fuzzy boots, not looking at me. I hit the elevator button, and we rode to the top floor. I noticed, against my will, that she looked very cute in her pajamas.