Page 20 of Wild (Chicago Underground 4)
I nestled among the pillows there, hoping that whatever girls Philip had brought in to replace me hadn’t found this spot. The thought of another person’s left-behind hair and skin and fluids on the pillows, of touching those things, was enough to mar the experience—almost. At least until I let out a breath and looked up at the sky.
At first I had thought it was stupid to build an observatory in the heart of Chicago, where only a few stars ever pierced the blanket of smog and bright city lights. But one night, after leaving Philip’s bed, I had slunk up here like a dog hiding away to lick her wounds.
The small windowed room gave me space to fall apart. The endless black expanse above let me do it in privacy.
I still smarted where Philip’s hands had smacked me, where his cock had branded me. Small acts, almost innocent compared to what I had done in the past, but it felt all new to me now. All dirty and so wrong, when it was with anyone but Luke.
And Luke. Oh, Luke. I had called Philip perverted, which was accurate enough, considering. But here I had access to a face chiseled from marble, and I wanted the one studded with stubble. Here I lay swathed in silks, wishing they were coarse blue cotton sheets instead.
Why did he have to turn on me so quickly, after what I had done for him? I supposed that
showing up so late, frantic and with a black eye, it was conceivable that I had just committed murder.
Although, after the messages he’d left me, I believed he didn’t mean for us to be hurt. A small comfort, when he might have gotten us killed. He trusted the system too much. He thought his precious fucking colleagues would exonerate me if I was innocent.
Maybe that was the problem. I didn’t just want him to believe in me. I wanted him to think the worst and protect me anyway.
Chapter Ten
A quiet drizzle pattered the windows above me in a gentle morning song. I wandered back to the guest rooms. Ella’s room was empty. I checked my assigned room in case she’d come to wait there. Empty as well, but there was a tray with still-warm coffee sitting beside the bed on a side table.
The closet door lay open, revealing a few of my clothes. Damn, and my favorite pair of jeans. Philip must have held them back when he sent the rest of my stuff. Figured, the sadist.
I checked my clutch, which was now minus my phone. Since the cash was intact, that meant Ella hadn’t found my stash. So who had taken my phone? Maybe Philip. More likely it was Adrian, acting on his orders. It could have felt violating, to have so little left and then have it taken. But a sense of melancholy still muted my emotions, and I embraced it.
Get dressed. Wash up.
I went through the motions, almost able to pretend I was still Philip’s mistress, that I’d never left this unexpected haven. That I wasn’t now responsible for a hurt young woman whose life was in danger.
At least until I heard Philip bellow my name from below. After a small moment of regret for my undeserved peaceful morning, I started down the stairs.
Ella ran smack into me at the bottom, full of indignant sniffles. “Fucking bastard. I hate him!”
My melancholy was over—interrupted, at least. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything! I was nice. Like you told me to be!”
Nice? Her idea of nice was probably bank robbery.
I pushed past her and found Philip behind his desk, scowling at some papers he held.
He looked up. “Keep her away from me, or you won’t like what happens.”
“What did you do?”
His frown deepened. “Why do you assume I did something?”
I answered him by sinking into one of the armchairs by the cold fireplace and leaning my head back on the plush leather.
He sighed. “She came on to me.”
“On to you,” I said dumbly. She freaked out when a guy looked at her wrong. She had been nervous as hell about Philip. “You’re mistaken.”
His look was droll. “I realize your own opinion of my allure may be low, considering I paid for your attentions, but I assure you, I know when I’m getting hit on. Particularly when the girl in question strips in my office.”
My mouth fell open. Philip was a handsome man, but this was ridiculous. “She doesn’t even like men. She hates them. She hates you.”
“She does now, because I told her to stop embarrassing herself. It had the intended effect.”
