Declan eyes me. “Fine. We’ll swing by on the way.”
He grins. “Now come have a fucking drink while we wait for John and the van.”
I step from the truck in slow motion, like I’m watching my actions from outside my own body. The light starts to break across the harbor, the sun chasing away the creeping chill of the New England night.
Except I can’t shake it.
I’m still cold.
Because something tells me, I’m about to make the biggest mistake of me life, again.
And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ivy
It’s lighter out the second time I wake up, this time in an empty bed.
Silas’s bed, where I spent the night.
For a moment, there’s that initial hit of panic at having stayed here. The “now what” and “what does this mean” questions coming roaring up from inside.
But only for a second this time. This time, I breathe, I exhale, and then I smile as I sink back into his bed, and I’m not scared anymore.
This is freeing.
This is home.
I sink my face into his pillow, inhaling his scent and wrapping myself in it as I burrow under the sheets. This is exactly where I belong.
Of course, it would be better if Silas himself were back here in this bed with me. I reach over and check my phone, grumping at the lack of messages or calls from him. I have no idea what time he left after getting the phone-call from Declan’s wife, but the sun is certainly a little brighter out now.
And I miss him.
The phone buzzes in my hand, startling me, and for a second my heart jumps thinking it’s him before I look at it.
It’s Lori.
Wonderful.
I squeeze my eyes shut for a second, centering myself and getting myself ready for this conversation before I finally answer.
“Hi, Lor-”
“You left the event?!”
Lori’s voice is tight and shrill.
I shake my head, frowning. “Lori, I left because of Blaine.”
“Ivy, for Christ’s sake, I thought we understood each other!”
“He’s fucking Ainsley, Lori. He’s been cheating on me with my damn assistant!”
Lori sighs exasperatedly into the phone. “Ivy, I don’t honestly care who Blaine sleeps with. Or you, for that matter, so long as you do what you’re supposed to do when it matters.”
“Lori-”
“No, Ivy, you listen. Image is important, and I thought you grasped that. This event was important, and you left a lot of important people in the lurch last night with your little disappearing act.”
I scowl into the phone, the anger rising up. “Do you even care that Blaine wasn’t honoring his side of the contract?”
“He was there, Ivy! As I said, I do not care whom either of you sleeps with! I don’t care if you hate each other, so long as you smile for the fucking cameras, engage the audiences, and play the damn roles you’re supposed to play! That’s it!”
I swear under my breath. “This is insane.”
“No,” Lori says sharply. She sighs. “Actually, Ivy, this is breach of contract.”
I freeze.
“Excuse me?”
“Ivy, I thought I was clear about your terms with us, and what was expected of you last night.”
“But Blaine-”
“I do not care, Ivy. I apologize if that sounds cold, but that’s the way this works. You are a product, and we sell you. That’s what this relationship is, and I thought it was fairly mutually generous until you pulled this stunt.”
I grit my teeth. “Fine, we’ll do some damage control. Look, are the vendors and brand reps still in town?”
I can’t believe I’m actuality doing this.
“I’ll come into the city right now. We can set up some brunch meetings, play it off like I was feeling ill last night and still-”
“No, Ivy,” Lori says quietly and firmly. “I told you to go to that gala last night. I told you it was important.”
“Lori, will you just listen to-”
“This is going to have big consequences, Ivy,” she says icily.
I narrow my eyes, sitting up in the bed.
“And just what does that mean?”
She sighs. “It means, Ivy, that you might want to get a lawyer.”
I freeze, my stomach sinking in my gut.
“What?”
Lori sighs again. “I’m sorry it’s come to this, but a breach of contract is a breach of contract.”