Page 111 of Total Exposure

“What’s that?” Lucinda asks.

I glance at Jordan as I pull the ribbon apart, tear the paper off, and hold our book in my hands.

“The end,” I say. “This is the end I was waiting for.”

I grab the other gift, walk out of the house, get back into the still-waiting car, and give the driver my address. I don’t open the book. I sit quietly as I’m taken back to my home. And when I walk through the front door of my building, I stare straight at the concierge and say, “Hello,” as I pass. “I’m going to need you to let me in my apartment. I seem to have left my purse behind.”

He stares at me, then offers up a quick, “Hello, Miss Rolaine. I’m glad to see you again,” as he pats his jacket for a key card and follows me to the elevator.

“It’s good to be home,” I say, as the elevator door opens and we get inside together, the unopened present in one hand, the book in the other. And when the doors open, and when I’m let in, and the door is closed behind me, I walk to the couch, set the unopened gift down, and collapse into the cushions with the book in my hand.

If I read it, it’s going to be end of everything.

It’s going to be the end of us.

I open the book and turn to the page where we left off.

Chapter Forty-Four - Ixion

I was done. I enjoyed sex with Augustine, but it wasn’t the sex that made me love her. I didn’t need her body, just her mind. Likewise with Jordan. I wasn’t in love with him. He’s a good-looking man and we had some fun, but I’m not interested in being in a relationship with a man.

Besides, they didn’t really need me. They fucked, and most of the time I just watched. Sat in the chair across the room, stroking myself as they went at it. And even that wasn’t necessary.

I wasn’t necessary.

Except it turns out I actually was.

I was the glue that held them together. I was the necessary part that made their machine run. Augustine loved me the way I loved her. We were friends first. Business partners second. Lovers came a very distant third in our relationship.

Jordan is smart. He understands people. Most of the time better than they understand themselves.

He had that advantage over us, I guess. He knew us better than we knew ourselves.

When he came up with his plan, he knew she was longing for Alexander again. He knew I was done. He knew it was already over.

But he also knew she loved me. Not him, but me. Not Alexander, but me. I was the glue that kept her and Jordan together.

Alexander was the one who kept them apart.

Jordan told me… wouldn’t I like just one shot at her alone? And he asked her, wouldn’t she like me, with her and only her? Just one night, just Ixion and Augustine? One night to do whatever we wanted. Whatever our hearts told us to do?

I was going to say no. I didn’t expect her to say yes.

But she did.

Chapter Forty-Five - Evangeline

It ends there?

No, that can’t be the end! That’s not a fucking ending! What the hell, Ix?

I stand up and the last package rolls on the couch cushion. It’s too small to be another notebook, but I pull on the gold ribbon and tear at the black paper anyway, eager and hopeful that I will find the answers I was looking for.

It’s… a phone. My phone with a new touchscreen. And there’s a voicemail alert blinking at me.

Ixion’s voice is clear and calm when I press play.

“Hey,” he says. “Bet you’re wondering what the fuck, right? What happened next?” He sighs. Silence for several seconds as he works through whatever’s on his mind. “Me too,” he finally says. “I think about it constantly now. I know what happened. I know what he did. I know what he didn’t do. I know that most of what came next was just… bad luck.”