Page 80 of Twisted Truth

“Did I do something wrong?” I snap, finally breaking the silence.

He looks up at me after a moment, his eyes pulling slowly away from whatever is so riveting on his phone. “What?”

“Did I do something wrong?” I repeat. “You’ve been nothing but rude and cold all night, and I have no idea why.”

He lets out a clipped breath, shutting his eyes for a moment. He reopens them. “No. You did nothing wrong.”

“So, you’ve just been an ass to me for no reason.”

“I made it clear from the beginning that I didn’t want any part of this.”

“So, you’re throwing a tantrum and taking out your frustration with the board on me. Nice.”

“I’m not throwing a fucking tantrum.”

I roll my eyes and look back out the window.

The car pulls into the underground garage of Asher’s building, and the minute it’s parked, I’m out my door. Andrew dashes, insisting he should get it for me, but I’m already standing. I thank him and walk to the elevator at a clipped pace. Asher hurries after me and makes it into the elevator with me just before the doors shut. I step to the farthest wall opposite him as he punches in the code to his penthouse.

“I’m not throwing a tantrum, Ella,” he growls this time. “And I’m not taking out my frustrations on you.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “I’m literally not going to waste my breath to try to prove to you otherwise. So, if you say so, yougo ahead and believe it, but don’t think I’m going to agree. You can live in your land of delusion by yourself.”

“Land of delusion? What the fuck, Ella?”

The elevator dings, and I rush past him into the foyer but stay back by the table while he punches in the second code to unlock the penthouse. I wait for him to step inside before entering. I don’t even want to be near him.

He tugs at my elbow as I pass.

“Answer me,” he hisses.

“Don’t. Touch. Me.”

His eyes flash in surprise, and he drops his hand. I yank my arm away from him and step back.

“Answer you, what? You didn’t ask me a question.”

“What did you mean by ‘land of delusion’?”

“Exactly what it sounds like! You can lie to yourself about why the fuck you’re acting the way you are, but don’t expect me to play along and pretend. You’ve been a rude asshole all night! And that’s after ignoring me all day. The last time I saw you before this evening was when I wasin bed with you,and all was well. But tonight, you’ve treated me like a piece of shit you can’t get off your shoe, and yet you want to pretend like you haven’t. I’m not going to just go along with it because your last name is Langford.”

I turn on my heel, cross the living and dining rooms, and march up the stairs. Asher calls my name twice, but I ignore him. As soon as I’m in my bedroom, I slam the door and lock it.

I strip off my shoes and dress, draping the garment over the chair in the corner of the room, and head into the bathroom to finish stripping. Then I throw my hair up into a bun, and grab my makeup remover, spreading the sludge of it over my face as I turn on the shower.

I let a few tears of shame and embarrassment fall as I shower, chastising myself. I can’t believe I spent the night with Asher like I did last night. I can’t believe I let my guard downwith a man I hardly knew and trusted that he wouldn’t treat me like a second-day whore afterward. I’m an idiot. I should have known better.

By the time my shower is done, I’ve cried my tears. I’ve finished berating myself. I step out, and as I get ready for bed, I remind myself that this is a job and nothing more. Last night was a terrible lapse of judgment.

And I will not let it happen again.

23

ASHER

Matthew shuts my office door with more force than necessary. I’ve had nothing but scathing texts from him for the last day. As he predicted, the headlines Sunday and this morning aren’t great. They all report a frosty relationship between Ella and me and question how there could be such trouble in paradise this early in a relationship. The fact that we didn’t stay for the party after the program, and the fact that we barely said a word to each other the whole night, was noticed by plenty of the party’s bystanders, many of whom were more than willing to comment on it for news outlets.

In some articles, I’m painted as the cad and scoundrel who can’t and won’t reform his ways, so it’s only natural that my relationships would last less than a month. But other articles tear into Ella, questioning her social status, her job, even her looks, and then drawing the conclusion that it’s obvious a simple marketing employee couldn’t hold the attention of Asher Langford for very long.