Tammy gasped and then shot Joy a scowl. “If he is, we all know who’s to blame.”
“Yeah,” spat Daniela, glowering at Joy. “It’s your fault for being so heavy on him all the time, following him around.”
Joy’s hands balled into fists. “I wasn’t being ‘heavy all the time’” – oh she was – “it’s not my fault if I’m the favourite and he likes having me around.”
None of this was unexpected. We’d been through something similar before when I almost added another consort. All of them suddenly became insecure and repeatedly asked what they had done wrong, if I was punishing them. Daniela became whiny. Tammy became full of questions. Joy became snappy and couldn’t let the issue go. Then they all turned on each other. With that in mind, I knew that this could go on all night long. Time to cut it short and rip the Band-Aid right off.
Before I could speak, Joy turned back to me and spoke, “Who’re you replacing us with?”#p#分页标题#e#
“I don’t need to explain myself to any of you. My decision has been made, that is all you need to know. You have a week to find alternative accommodation.”
Ignoring their noises of protest, I proceeded to leave the apartment. I might have let them keep it if it weren’t for the fact that it would look to others, more importantly to Sam, that I was still using them as consorts. I’d originally thought that since I’d had consorts so long it would be weird to suddenly have none. But it wasn’t.
As I reached the door, there was a tug on the back of my shirt. I pivoted sharply, ready to reprimand the tugger. I hadn’t expected to see the vision that was then in front of me.
Sam.
My initial reaction was to hitch in a breath and insert warmth into my expression. But then reality quickly kicked in. I sighed, irritated. “Joy, what’re you doing?”
“This is what you want, isn’t it,” she said bitterly.
“Joy, that’s -”
“I can give you that. You don’t need to make her your consort, you don’t need to do all this, I can give you that.”
“You have a week to get out,” I repeated.
Before I could open the door she threw herself in front of me, still physically a perfect imitation of Sam, leaning back against the door. Her hands grabbed my t-shirt. “Jared, listen to me. I can give you what you want. If this is what you want to see, who you want to see, then this is what I’ll do. And I’ll be better than she is. You’ll be able to see her in front of you like this but you won’t have to deal with all the shit she pulls. I won’t insist on being you’re only consort. I won’t talk down to you. I won’t disrespect you. I won’t fight you.”
I sighed. “I know. That’s why you’ll never be her.”
“So, what, you’re saying it’s not enough because you care about her?”
For a second my mind went blank, but then I deduced that of course I didn’t. I couldn’t. The only people I cared about were Evan and Antonio. I didn’t do feelings when it came to women. I’d already been over all this once in my head before; just because I wanted her as much as I did, it didn’t mean anything. It was just lust on a very grand scale. A very, very grand scale. That was all it could be.
I removed Joy’s hands from my shirt. “Have a bit of pride.” And then I left.
Chapter Twelve
(Sam)
At eight-thirty in the evening exactly there was a knock on my apartment door. Wow, Jared had actually used the door rather than just teleporting in. He was obviously on his best behaviour. Imagine that. Full points for his punctuality.
Our eyes raked over each other as I opened the door. God there was no denying how gorgeous he looked in his designer pale blue shirt and designer black trousers – such a simple combination and yet he looked edible. I suddenly felt underdressed even though I was wearing a blood-red cocktail dress that was so thin and clingy it was more like an extra layer of skin. Somehow, though, it didn’t look tarty or cheap. Fletcher had sorted my entire outfit. Three hours he had spent rallying around me asking me to try things on. Eventually he had settled on this dress, a pair of high-heeled strap-up red shoes, and a matching purse.
Jared did exactly what Fletcher said he would do. He flashed me the sexiest, hungriest smile and sucked in a breath. “I’m so torn right now.”
“Torn?”
“As much as I know how important it is to go to this gathering at Connelly’s, all I really want to do is push you back inside and ravish you. What to do...”#p#分页标题#e#