Seventy-Seven
My voice didn’t even sound like mine, but I knew the question was. Jonas raked one hand haphazardly through his hair. “I’m sorry. That hadn’t been my intention. When I said what I did about your occupation, I hadn’t meant it-”
“That’s not what the hell I’m talking about.” I began to half pace in a straight line, never fully taking my eyes off him. “You gave her that job after sleeping with me, and you knew you’d give it to her all along. I believed you when you said you hadn’t slept with her or planned to, but-”
“Listen, Kenzie. I’ve never fucked her, nor do I intend to. Since we checked in, the only one I’ve been with is you. I-”
“Liar,” I spat out, then grabbed the nearby phone. Jonas would probably definitely think about bolting things like this down after I left, but it’d be too little, too late. I wanted to strangle him where he stood with the cord.
“I’m not lying,” he implored. “Now, please put the phone down so we can talk about this like adults and not like-”
“Like children? Teenagers? What we were the first time you hurt me?”
My mind had now gone back to the roof, and the pain I had felt then was only amplified by the existing kind I felt now. “How could you record me… Us… and show the entire school?”
His shoulders sagged slightly at my question, and he turned away from me so I couldn’t see his face. Was he smirking? Laughing? Upset? Angry? I realized it didn’t even fucking matter. Eventually, he did turn to me. “I’m sorry. That tape was never meant to be seen like that.”
I let out another sarcastic laugh. “Oh, so it was an oopsie?” I wasn’t buying that at all. He looked remorseful enough, or at least as much as he was capable of looking, but I also knew what a great actor he was. He had played me like a fiddle by making me believe he was truly interested in me. It’s all been part of his game. He never liked me and only spent time with me because of a bet. I was never the prize, but simply some irrelevant pawn in the sick and twisted games he played with his friends. “You made me trust you only so you could turn around and betray me.”
“I’m sorrier than you will ever know for what I did to you all those years ago. I thought we had put that in the past a few days ago, but now I see we-”
“Put it in the past? After what I lost, you expect me to see your fucking dimples and offer forgiveness?” Growing more agitated, my underlying condition didn’t help. I was so fearful of the manic part of my bipolar disease, and that only stressed me out more. “I lost the love and respect of my parents and siblings… I was labeled crazy and sent to a psychiatric ward for over a year. Instead of walking down the aisle and accepting my diploma, I was being poked and prodded, and force-fed medicine. I-”
“I’m so sorry. It was never supposed to go that far. I was supposed to have just recorded the two of us and that was it. Fuck, none of it matters now. What’s done is done.”
“What’s done is done?” I asked in disbelief. “I spent months in hell, but we’re supposed to let bygones be bygones? Fuck you, Jonas Courtland.” My anger had truly reached its boiling point and I threw the phone which just narrowly missed his head.
I was looking for something else to throw when he grabbed me and my bag, then dragged me to the door. I spun on him at that moment and smirked. “What’s ironic is that I was supposed to have been the one to have played you this time around. You might’ve succeeded in destroying me again, but you still lost because you didn’t know that there’d been another player all along.”
“You’re talking crazy,” he told me, then stopped when he realized what he said. I still grinned at him. He might think I was certifiable. I had earlier warned him of it, but he’d been played and had never even realized it.
“Am I?”
“What are you talking about? Who is this other player?” he asked, then shook his head. “On second thought, I don’t even want to know. Just leave and don’t come back here Kenzie.”
“Leeann has been fucking Oliver all week so that he would give her the nod when it came to the contract. I desperately needed this, but even I wouldn’t sink that low. You’ve been played because you’ve already eaten out of her hand and she didn’t even have to fuck you to do it.”
With that, I turned and walked out of his room. My limbs were weak, and I was shaking like a leaf, but I did manage to make it to the elevator. Descending to my floor, my thoughts spiraled to my bestie. Reece. Fuck, I had not only ruined everything in New York for myself, but I had for her, too.All content is © N0velDrama.Org.
I dropped my head back and allowed what I knew would be the first of many tears to fall from my eyes. This contest had been my last resort here in the city, and I had no idea where I would go next, or even what I would do. The elevator stopped and as I went to step out, a wave of nausea washed over me, and I tumbled forward.
My bag was still open so everything fell onto the carpet. I dropped to my knees and crawled around as I started to pick up the belongings from my bag. That was when I noticed the bottle of Lithium. I kept it out and scrambled back onto my feet. After staggering to my room, I got inside and managed to get my dosage down just as Reece walked into the room.
Jonas’s [POV]
Leeann DeSoto had been sleeping with Oliver? I still couldn’t believe it. And who was there to say it was true? Kenzie was upset I had chosen the more qualified chef over her. I could understand how it’d anger her, but I’d made no promises to her that she would emerge victorious.
I shook my head while closing the door, then looked at the broken lamp and phone in pieces on the floor. I’d have to have housekeeping clean that up, but first, I needed some fucking aspirin.
I walked over to the bed and noticed the pills laying on the table. I often left aspirin and water nearby since I’d checked in to this place.
Because I wasn’t out relieving my urges in other ways, I had reverted to drinking, which often left me slightly hungover in the morning. One of the few times I didn’t feel so damn wasted when I woke up was this morning because I had been in bed with Kenzie all night long.
I sat down on the bed and closed my eyes. She’d been so responsive to me, and none of the deep-seated hate she’d just shown had been present.
She’d been nothing like the innocent virgin she’d been back in high school. She was confident… sexy… and so damn unforgettable. Hell, I’d even broken my own cardinal rule, the one put in place after my first time with her.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered, then removed the top from the water bottle.
Picking up the pills, I popped them into my mouth, then chased them down with the water. Afterward, I dropped my head into my hands. They were slightly shaky, but they had been that way since she left. How in the hell could I have fucked everything up completely once again?
It was a question better left unanswered. After this, Kenzie would never speak to me again, much less fall victim to my charms. But why would I even want her? She was unstable. Her whole production this morning had likely been part of her gameplay and probably wasn’t even true.
If she hated me as she claimed, why would she have ever agreed to sleep with me, unless there was something in it for her? She was trying to put her own failed ploys onto Leeann because she knew the woman had secured the contract. That had to be it. Right?