Hooker(64)

‘Jade. My date. The one I came here with tonight.’

‘Oh, your whore. Nope. I haven’t seen her.’

Fucking bitch. She’s just jealous she’ll never have me. I hear her laughing as she walks away. I need to put a stop to her attending these events.

‘Jade!’ There’s still no response. I’m going in. Pushing open the door to the ladies’ room, I call out her name again. All the stalls appear to be empty. Where could she be? Turning on my heel, I head back out. I can see from here she hasn’t returned to the table. I search the room. When I can’t see her, I head towards the exit.

‘Is everything okay, Mr Weston?’ the doorman asks as I approach the front of the hotel.

‘Did you see the woman I came here with leave? She was wearing a green dress.’

‘I remember her, yes. She left a few minutes ago. She looked distressed. I hope everything is okay.’

The only words that register are ‘she looked distressed’. Fucking hell. I need to find her.

‘Was she alone?’

‘Yes, I believe she was. She asked where she could get a taxi. I had reception order one for her. You may find her waiting out front.’ I don’t even wait to hear if he has anything else to say—I’m out the door in a flash and running towards the street. It’s not safe for her to be out here alone.

‘Jade! Jade!’ I call. I get a few strange looks from people milling outside the hotel, but I don’t give a shit. All I care about is finding Jade and making sure she’s okay. My head swings from left to right as I frantically search the surrounding area. ‘Jade!’ Christ. Where the fuck did she go?

My hands are trembling as I reach inside the breast pocket of my tux to retrieve my phone. I need to call her and find out what the fuck’s going on. Maybe she’s tried to contact me. My heart drops when I realise I don’t have her number. I only have the number of the phone I gave her, but she didn’t bring that one to my house. Shit!

Searching through my contacts, I find Rupert’s number. It’s too late to call, so I text him on the off chance he’s still awake.

Hi Rupert, it’s Brock. Do you have Jade’s phone number?

I head towards the valet to collect my car—I can’t stay here when she’s out there all alone, anything could happen—but I only make it a few step before I see her. She’s leaning against the wall of the hotel. Her arms are wrapped protectively around her body, but her eyes are on me. She doesn’t look impressed. She looks downright pissed.

‘Jade,’ I breathe in relief as I approach her.

I’m taken aback when she pushes off the wall and starts walking in the other direction.

‘Jade, wait up.’ I’ll admit I’m perplexed by the way she’s acting. She’s never acted this cold towards me. She seemed fine when I left her sitting at the table earlier. This is exactly why I don’t get involved with women. They’re so fucking unpredictable.

I break into a jog and catch up to her in no time. Reaching out, I attempt to halt her. She abruptly swings around. Anger is rolling off her, but it’s the sadness I see in her beautiful green eyes that tugs at my heart.

‘Don’t touch me,’ she spits, ripping her arm from my grip.

‘What’s your fucking problem?’ I ask.

‘Just leave me alone.’

I don’t think so, sweetheart. Reaching for her arm again, I gently but forcefully guide her around the side of the building. This time she doesn’t put up a fight. The second I back her into the wall, I use my arms to cage her in. I’m not letting her go until she tells me what’s wrong. She better not say ‘nothing’, or I’ll lose my shit.

She bows her head when I move my face within inches of hers.

‘Look at me,’ I demand.

‘No.’ She crosses her arms over her chest. It only manages to push her perky tits up further. I can’t let that distract me, I need to know what the hell is going on. Why am I finding her attitude a complete turn on? Is there something wrong with me? To my dismay, it only proves yet again that this woman owns my balls. If anyone else acted this way towards me, I wouldn’t care. I’d walk away without a backwards glance, wishing them a nice life in the process. Fuck me, why can’t I do that now? She has me tied up in fucking knots. ‘Goddamn it, Jade,’ I say, trying to calm my voice. Using my finger I tilt her face up to meet mine. ‘Talk to me.’

Her determined gaze locks with mine. She’s so stubborn. I’ve never seen this side of her before. I’m usually a good judge of character but maybe I’ve been wrong about her. Then, in an instant, her beautiful green eyes well with tears and I know I haven’t been mistaken—she is the sweet person I believe her to be. She’s just hurt or angry and I have no idea why. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what the hell is wrong.