Chapter 21
twenty-one
. . .
HONOR
I tipped my head back, stretching out on the sun lounger with a deep, shaky sigh. The hot sun beat down on me, my puffy eyes hidden behind giant sunglasses.
I’d managed to keep it together long enough to organize a new room for myself at the front desk last night after they’d told me there wasn’t another seat available on a flight off the island for two days.
But the moment I’d stepped inside my new room and the door had shut behind me, I’d fallen apart.
It wasn’t just the humiliation of Blake’s family knowing I’d been lying to them this whole time, or having my job exposed in front of everyone—although that did play a huge part. It was the way Blake had looked at me after seeing me talking to Corey.
The anger in his eyes, the disgust.
It was a level of judgment I was all too used to.
It was the same way my father had looked at me when he found out about the business I’d started from my college dorm room with nothing but a hack job website and an email address. He hadn’t cared that I’d created it from nothing and built my own empire before I’d even graduated. He hadn’t wanted to listen when I told him that it had nothing to do with sex work, that the women I hired were companions, not escorts. I’d never be able to forget the anger in my father’s eyes when he’d called me a glorified prostitute and told me to get out.
A version of that same anger had existed in Blake when he’d confronted me about Corey. And that same judgment was there when he’d exposed me to his family.
I was an idiot for letting myself fall like this.
I never should have gotten involved with a client. I never should have crossed a line I swore I never would again, despite the intense attraction I had to Blake. Even if it was more intense than anything I’d ever felt in my entire life.
Those eyes when he studied me, those hands as they caressed my body, his stern confidence. I’d been drawn in by it all, and I’d let myself believe that I could trust him.
I’d been so wrong.
The waitress appeared, placing a frozen strawberry daiquiri the size of my head on the table beside me. I scooped it up before she’d even walked away, gulping down a third of it.
“That’ll make it worse, not better,” Spencer said, flopping down on the lounger beside me.
Shit.
I’d chosen to lay out at the resort’s most secluded pool, picking a lounger surrounded by lush trees, half hidden from the main area. I’d been hoping to avoid Blake and his friends until I could get on a flight home.
I sucked down another gulp. “Can’t hurt.”
Spencer turned to watch the waves rolling against the sand. “Nice day. Going to be a nice night for a wedding.”
I sighed, placing the daiquiri back on the table. “What are you doing here, Spence? Don’t you have groomsman duties to worry about?”
The wedding was in five hours, surely he had some place else he needed to be.
He glanced at me, before turning back to the ocean. “I wanted to make sure you’re okay. Blake can be a real fuck-stick sometimes, especially when it comes to feelings.” He turned to me again. “He’s not too good at managing them, ol’ Blakey.”
My mouth hitched at the corner ever so slightly at the ridiculous nickname and Spencer turned back to the ocean as he spoke.
“He shouldn’t have done what he did, revealing your business like that in front of everyone.” He squinted into the distance. “I know he regrets it.”
I tipped my head back against the lounger. “Regrets don’t mean much at this point.”
He rolled his head to look at me again. “Can I ask you something?”
I glanced his way, but didn't answer.
“It’s a favor.”
I stared back at him but, again, didn’t say anything.
“I’m in need of a date. Come to the wedding with me?”
I let out a humorless laugh. “Let me guess, next you’re going to offer to pay me?”
He pulled a face. “Hell no. I’m asking you to come as my friend. We’d have fun together.”
I let out a tired smile. “You think we’re friends?”
He looked at me like I was mad. “Fuck yeah. You’re the most entertaining woman any of those losers have ever brought around, with the exception of our gorgeous Kelly, of course. She’s an angel in human form.”
I nodded in agreement, sad I wouldn’t get to see Kelly in her wedding dress.
Spencer went on. “Normally they turn up with precious little snowflakes more interested in them for their money or how they look in the passenger seat of a Ferrari. Especially Reyna. We could all see through her, but Blake was blinded by her.”
I frowned. “Blake has a Ferrari?”
“Hud, actually.”
Raising my eyebrows, I nodded in appreciation.
Good for him. Clearly that little tech start-up wasn’t so little.
“So, what do you say? Come to the wedding with me? I promise to protect you from your former fake boyfriend.”
I shook my head. “Sounds like a truly terrible idea.”
He reached out to squeeze my arm. “Nobody cares about what Blake said. Nobody is judging you.”
Those words clanged through me.
Judging you .
It was a sweet attempt from Spencer, but there was no way I believed him. Why wouldn’t they be judging me? I’d lied to them for two weeks. I’d pretended to be someone I wasn’t while getting close to them. My own father had judged me and had found me unworthy.
“I appreciate you coming to find me and saying nice things, but I can’t go to the wedding with you, Spence.”
He nodded, resigned, and pushed to his feet.
“There’s still a couple of hours until everything kicks off. If you change your mind, come find me.”
I gave him a tight smile. “I won't, but thank you. I mean it.”
He wandered back up the path to the main pool deck, and I picked up my daiquiri.
There was no way in hell I was going to change my mind.