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Chapter Three
“I appreciate your concern Jase, but there were extreme extenuating circumstances here. I really think she deserves another chance…. Look at it this way, if she agrees, we’ll have something on the roster for Vanilla Night tonight…. Fine. I’ll do it.”
Diamond heard the voice through the pounding of her head, but she had no idea who it belonged to or what it meant. Where was she?
She squinted, opening her eyes as wide as she could bear to, and took in her surroundings. Everything was a blur but it seemed like she was safely in her suite. The question was, who was with her, and why?
Her head felt like it was stuck in a vise, and even though the lights were off and the shades drawn, the tiny bit of light that was sneaking through the slats was enough. She sat up in bed, eyes still shut, and groaned aloud.
Instantly, a heavy weight settled on the bed beside her. A hand took hers, and extended it in front of her, dropping three pills into her flattened palm. She presumed they were aspirin, though she heavily doubted that three would do the trick. She felt like death, and she really couldn’t remember why. Her stomach roiled against her, and she shoved herself off the bed as fast as she could, opening her eyes only enough to see a clear path to the bathroom.
As soon as her knees hit the cold tile in front of the toilet, her stomach roiled and emptied, and she was struck suddenly with déjà vu, a feeling that she had been in this position recently. The thought didn’t last long, as her body rebelled against her once more. With each sour purging of the vile poison, a niggling of a memory of the day before came with it, flashing like images on a movie screen. Her birthday, her father’s phone call, empty bottles, the newspaper article. Going downstairs to the club, more shots, dancing, sitting on Randy’s lap, twerking? Good lord, how much had she had to drink?
Evidently a lot. When her stomach settled, she collapsed against the cool tile, exhausted and no doubt, dehydrated. Diamond lay there spent for several minutes, until the sound of footsteps in the next room reminded her that she wasn’t alone. Pausing to listen, she willed the man to speak, in case she recognized his voice. No sounds came. She couldn’t for the life of her recall anything from the night before that would explain waking up with a man in her room. It didn’t feel like she had had sex, and she certainly wasn’t in the habit of random casual encounters. Then again, she wasn’t in the habit of a lot of things she had apparently done last night.
She stood, and moved to the sink, turning it on and cupping her hands under the running water before splashing some on her face. Her reflection in the mirror made her wince. If she had looked this bad last night—she had nothing to worry about—she wouldn’t have even had sex with herself. Maybe if she stayed in there long enough the mystery man will take a hint and leave. She had decided she didn’t even want to know who he was or why he was here. She just wanted to take a hot shower, try to look less like death than she did currently, and have him be gone when she finally re-emerged.
Having made a plan, she turned on the shower and stripped, letting the steaming hot water wash off the stress of the events of the last twenty-four hours. At least her birthday was over now. She had survived, even if just barely by the feel of things, and she didn’t have to deal with a day like this one for another 364 days.
She took her time in the shower, scrubbing the remnants off the night before scrupulously washing off every inch of her skin. Once out, she dried off and donned the hotel’s fluffy white robe. She blow-dried and curled her hair, did every step of her intense skin care regimen and took extra care getting her make-up perfect. The whole time she was as quiet as possible, listening for the telltale sound of a door opening and closing. She was applying a final coat of lip-gloss when she finally heard it. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, she quickly finished and swung the door wide open, blinking hard when a broad chest and massive shoulders sporting a hotel security shirt blocked her exit. Annoyed, she looked up and straight into the deep green eyes of Pax Donovan.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, glaring up at him angrily.
“I own half of this hotel.”
“I mean, what are you doing here, in my room? I don’t remember inviting you in.”
Pax crossed his arms across his chest and smirked. “You didn’t. But even if you had, I doubt you’d remember it.”
He had a point, and she knew it. Worse, he knew she knew it. She faltered for a half a second. “Well, even if I did, it’s my room, and I’m asking you to leave.”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said smugly, finally sidestepping to allow her to pass. “I’m here on official hotel business.”
Her eyes narrowed as she brushed past him to sit on her unmade bed. “What business?”
“I ordered breakfast.” He ignored her question, gesturing towards the silver room service cart near the door. “Are you hungry? Do you really want to have this discussion on an empty stomach?”
“I don’t want to have a discussion with you at all.” She stressed the last words, standing as she made a sweeping gesture of her own. Towards the door.
“Fine. Have it your way.” He turned and began walking away. His back was towards her and the next sentence was tossed out over his shoulder as he went. “You’re fired. Jason wants you out by three this afternoon. Hope you’ve got someplace to go.”
Her eyes widened in shock, and her heart raced at the thought of having to leave Aubergine. Of course she had a place to go, she was Diamond Barrett. But because she was Diamond Barrett, there was nowhere she wanted to go, especially not after yesterday’s headlines. “Wait! Stop! Please!”
Thankfully, Pax stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned, crossing his arms in front of him once more. She shivered involuntarily. He was an intimidating man.
“That’s why you came up here? To fire me? Couldn’t you just have sent up a note? Made a call?”
“I didn’t come up here to fire you. I’ve been here all night.”
“Oh.” She had been afraid of that. “You stayed up here all night just to fire me when I woke up?” Still suspicious, she glared at him from beneath knotted brows. “Or was there another reason?”
“There were a few reasons.”
“We didn’t… you didn’t…” She winced, not wanting to finish the thought out loud, but unable to stop herself from asking.
Now it was Pax’s turn to glare. “I would never take advantage of an inebriated woman, and you were more than inebriated last night, sweetheart. You were straight up plowed.”
“I had a bad day.”
