[Bianca]
"Brianna, wait," Macy called out from behind me with a sigh, shattering my doubts.
Using my sister's name to keep up this farce came so naturally to my so called bestie. Her betrayal stung anew. Who wasn't going to fuck me over?
My guard went up. Even sexy Cole, despite being frank about his intentions for me, wasn't trustworthy.
"Let's have a word. Shall we, Miss Jones?" said Cole's suave voice.
I'd have stayed purely out of curiosity if I wasn't falling apart at the seams. Instead of continuing to make a fool of myself in front of Cole, I forced the door open and got ready to run.
"If I could just have a second more to talk to my client," Macy said politely, a hint of urgency in her voice betraying her distress.
Once again, instead of stopping me, Cole engineered the situation so that I could leave.
His gallantry pissed me off. In the end, was that all he wanted? For me to leave?
Did everyone get off on me not being present? Were their lives better when I was just barely in them? How else could I explain him stringing me along for two years?
On some level I registered I was projecting my feelings about my loved ones, scratch that, former loved ones, onto Cole. I just wasn't ready for him.
"Sit, Macy Keller, or the deal goes away entirely," Cole deadpanned, his voice dripping acid.
"It's Jones, Cole. She's the president of the company. Please don't make a scene," Olivia said with a pout.
"No Olive, it's Keller. She duped you, kiddo. The woman before us is just Merida Jones' assistant. The president of Star Agency clearly doesn't give enough fucks about this deal to come out here herself. Sit. Down. Miss Keller. Try the Risotto. It's better than the Salmon if you ask me," said Cole, his eyes returning to me.
My chest was tight. I was miserable anew and yet I couldn't help but smile. Macy blushed crimson. The look on her face was priceless. She went dead silent. Cole was clearly used to being surrounded by opportunists too. He did his homework. What would he do to Macy? Or when he found out the truth about me?
"Cole, I can explain," Olivia began, "Why would you lie?" she yelled at Macy with a pensive look on her face.
"Honestly, Olivia. Did you really think the president of a company would dump everything at the last second to party with you?" Cole chided his sister with an exasperated sigh.
One final glance at Cole. He gave me a nod and a mischievous grin, as though accepting my choice to depart. Grateful, I shot him a shaky smile and let go of the small sliver of desire to stay. Then I stepped out of the room. Soon I was lost in the crowd of drunk people still dancing the night away.
Once I finally made it off the roof, I decided to join a beach party. Lively celebs partied up a storm without a care in the world. This was just what I needed. To be alone in a crowd, sitting by the bonfire and drowning my sorrows in a Mai Tai I grabbed at the beach bar.
Just as I was settling in, I realized my mistake. Brianna Chase wasn't invisible. It hit me like a thunderbolt. For just a second, I forgot that my face would never allow me to nurse a broken heart in peace.
It was his fault that I let my guard down. Cole Hunter. These were dark days and yet he made it seem like anything was possible. Bejudgingly, I found myself missing a stranger. Not my ex fiancé, but a sexy, billionaire who had a dick three times bigger than Jason's. A dick I had in my hands tonight. The thought made my body heat up.
When I thought of Jason, I thought of lost years. Sadness. Responsibilities.
Cole made me feel young. Alive. Desirable. When was the last time a man looked at me with such brutal, unadulterated lust in his eyes?
"Nope. Not fucking a sexy billionaire who bangs supermodels and can probably go all night. Just drinking Mai Tais. Tomorrow I'm going home," I said with an exhausted sigh, already tired just thinking of the uphill battle ahead of me when I got back to LA.
There was nothing for it. I had to dust myself off and start sending out my résumé. Maybe if I explained myself to my law firm, they'd reconsider.
"It's going to be fine. Everything's under control," I tried to tell myself, but that only made me burst into tears.
I sobbed hard, hopelessness and melancholy surrounding me. Only now did I realize this wasn't a new development. I was engaged not three days ago and yet I had been lonely and unfulfilled for years.
"Totally fine," I said, chugging the Mai Tai in big gulps.
No, I did not miss the stares directed at me or the whispers about me as I strutted back to the beach bar to get a second drink. Being gawked at while I humiliated myself by sobbing like a child in front of the rich and famous was a price I was willing to pay. At least it got me away from Cole's overly eager sister and my traitorous best friend.
Two Mai Tais in, I was buzzed. My body might have left Cole Hunter behind, but my mind wouldn't. Everytime I thought of Jason fucking Brianna, images of Cole and I going at it in front of them overlapped with the memories. It was like a mental revenge fuck. The playboy billionaire was superior in every way. He railed my pussy from behind for hours until I was spent on his dick. Crying out for mercy. He just kept going.
"Did Jason ever make me beg for mercy? No sir, Mr. Cole Hunter, he did not," I slurred. "Lame loser."
The tears began anew. I didn't know if that last part was about Jason or me.
"Hey young man, one more," I called out to the bartender.
Young man? What the fuck? How old did I think I was anyway? I was in my damn twenties. Late twenties, but still.
"Drinks are on the house for sexy, young, supermodels," said Cole's voice from behind me.
Cole took a cocktail the bartender had just finished making for someone else out of the latter's hand without so much as a glance in his direction. My billionaire admirer placed the Sex On The Beach in front of me. Then he sat down next to me. I gulped, the fucked up sex fantasies flooding my head again as I took him in.
"We should talk about our little situation," Cole said more than asked, his voice soft as velvet. "Whatever the fuck this is, flirting, foreplay, I don't care. It's over. We're moving on tonight. Behind closed doors. No additional company."