Willow turned back to the moanaholic, calling out, “Excuse me?”
Startled, the woman glanced at her just as the door opened again and another person came out. Someone who looked painfully familiar, his dark hair bed-mussed—
NO. No, please God, no, it can’t be, no, no, no.
No sound came out of Willow’s mouth, but it was almost as if her cry of denial had become audible at the strength of her pain. The man’s head snapped up, his gaze going straight to her.
It became useless to deny the truth then.
Stavros.
She waited for him to say something – anything – and she would take it as truth. She just didn’t want to believe what she was seeing.
Please, Stavros—
Across the hall, Stavros stiffened, as if their hearts were connected, and he heard the way she was begging him silently to prove her every thought wrong.
He started to move.
She held her breath.
Please, Stavros—
But instead of heading towards her, Stavros faced the other woman again. She watched him reach for her, watched his long elegant fingers wrap around another woman’s wrist and she remembered the times it was her he was holding, it was her he was pulling into his room—
The door slammed shut, leaving Willow alone in her pain.
Behind her, she heard Serenity say awkwardly, “I didn’t know how to tell you about it, Ms. Somerset.”
“I understand. It’s not your fault.” She couldn’t make herself look at the other girl. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for the tour.” She started walking as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn’t want another person to witness her falling apart.
Her hands shook as she pressed the card key against the detector and when it beeped, she hurried inside, taking extra care not to make any sound as she closed the door—
And that was when she heard it.
Moans.
God, such long, drawn-out moans…
She slid down to the floor and pressed her hands to her ears, but it wasn’t enough. She fumbled for her earbuds, pain making her clumsy. It took forever to get everything connected, and then finally, the music started to fill her ears. It granted her escape from the sounds, but not from the thoughts—
Stavros was fucking another woman in the room next to her.
Another woman running her hands on the body that should have been hers alone, another woman’s mouth on his, another woman’s body taking his length inside her—
Willow wanted to go crazy at the thought of it.
Something terribly, stupidly masochistic inside of her made Willow crawl towards the wall their rooms shared. Trembling, she reached out to touch it—
The thin layer of concrete underneath her palm jumped, the impact of someone slamming against the wall.
She tore her hand away with a soundless cry.
No, no, no, please God, please make me forget.
She found herself curling up on the floor, trying her best to control her sobs. She tried to block out all the images her imaginative mind conjured, but they persisted, tormenting her with visions of Stavros and the other woman fucking each other’s brains out.
She knew…she knew she couldn’t blame Stavros for it. She had hurt him, made him believe she had betrayed him. She knew that this pain was nothing compared to how she had thrown Stavros’ feelings back in his face because at least she knew the truth, while he truly believed she had only used him.
She knew all that, but even so, the knowledge did nothing to ease the pain. She sobbed and sobbed. It was the only thing she could do.
We’re quits, Stavros.
She curled into a ball, pain transforming her world into a blur of tears.
But please don’t do this again.
Please.
Chapter Four
A knock sounded on Stavros’ door at four in the morning, waking Ingrid up. The space next to her in bed was empty, but she could hear the shower running from the en-suite bathroom. When the knock continued, Ingrid forced herself to get up. It could be important, something that could make Stavros Manolis happy with her.
Wrapping the covers around her body, she moved towards the door. “Coming.” Opening it, she found herself staring at a little blonde cow with two cups of Starbucks coffee in her hands.
Although Ingrid immediately recognized her as the woman from yesterday, she pretended not to, asking brightly, “Is that for us?”
Willow knew a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would suffice, but she just couldn’t make herself speak or even think. Stupid. She was so, so stupid. Those were the only words that existed in her mind right now. Just because the room had finally become silent didn’t mean he was already alone. God, she was so stupid.
In front of her, Stavros’ companion for the night was smiling, as if she drew pleasure from the fact that she had rendered Willow temporarily dumbstruck. Like any broken-hearted ex-lover, the first thing she had done last night was to stalk this woman on the Internet. She had found out that the woman’s name was Ingrid Mendel, an heiress to a billion-dollar chemical company and Stavros’ regular arm candy whenever he was in the country.