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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Jay walked in step with Manny after volunteering to help with the pet walking. He wrapped and unwrapped Furry Baby’s leash around his hand, annoyed that Manny loved to do this, and that this was the second walk of the day he’d had to do. Jay didnot loveto do this, and Ella still wasn’t home.
The sun was high overhead, reaching toward noon, and Manny was still chattering about all of the coverage that Eco-Ella had had. “It was on every single channel! And this morning, it was on every single blog. Every single website. Ella was trending. Did you see how beautiful she looked? And her speech,” he gushed.
Jay agreed for the thousandth time. Ella had been perfect. Everything about last night was a career culmination. Together, he and Ella had been waiting for this moment. It was everything they had dreamed about, and she had thrown herself into Bishop’s arms to celebrate—in the middle of the auditorium, surrounded by thousands of their peers, surrounded by media, surrounded by industry and publicists and reporters and journalists and bloggers. She’d embarrassed him.
His temples pounded. A headache he hadn’t been able to shake since that moment wanted to explode in his head. White rage colored Jay’s peripheral vision. Some moments in his game with Ella were about teaching her a lesson. Sometimes, his actions were simply about getting back together.
Right now? This was different.
Right now, he wanted to teach Bishop a lesson.
Bishop O’Kane was shit. He was nothing more than a guy hiding behind muscles and a gun.
Manny dropped down to give the dog a hug. “We are so lucky your mama is the most famous person in the world.”
“She isn’t the most famous person in the world, Manny. Give it some perspective.”
“Ha.” Manny laughed as if Jay was joking. “Can you believe that we are a part of the Eco-Ella team? I even called my mom.”
Speaking of parents, Jay still had to call Ella’s father. He hadn’t quite mapped out the right words to explain the Bishop problem. But he realized something as they were standing outside of her condo. He watched maintenance men clean up the mess that he’d paid some random kid on MonarchMoney to make last night, hoping to scare Ella into his arms. And he realized the games weren’t working anymore. The flowers, the scary pictures—none of it was working. And why would it when she had a bodyguard?
If Ella couldn’t be with Jay, then she shouldn’t be with anybody. Though she wasn’twithBishop. That asshole was just impeding their relationship.
Bishop.
Damn it, Jay was becoming as obsessed with Bishop as he was Ella.
“I’ll go upstairs with you,” Jay said. “Check on Little Kitty.”
“Oh, no way.” Manny shook his head, wagging his finger. “No can do, Jay. You know that.”
“Excuse me?”
“You know I can’t let anybody into her condo. I’ve never been able to let anybody into her condo.” Manny whistled through his teeth. “And Bishop? He would fire me.”
“Bishop cannot fire you.”
“Not only could Bishop fire me, I would let him. He’s crazy hot.” Manny faux-swooned. “Bonus points if he did it while growling.”
“Come the hell on. First, Bishop can’t fire you. Second, do not discuss how that man looks—”
Manny fanned himself. “Hot. H-O-T.”
“Enough, Manny.” Jay threw the leash at the dog walker and stormed around the corner as Manny’s confused questions fell on his back.
He pulled out his cell phone and hit redial again. And again. Now it just went straight to voice mail. Earlier, at least, his calls had rung through. “This is bullshit.”
Obviously, she was still with Bishop, because where else would she be? Jay knew all of her friends. She wasn’t with Tara. Where was she? Wouldn’t Tara tell him if Ella was with her?
He scrolled to Tara’s name and hit send. It rang twice before she picked up.
“What in God’s name do you need, Jay?” Tara snipped.
He balked, pulling the phone away, before coming back. “What do you mean?”
“You called Ella’s phone until it died. I would’ve put it on the charger except you kept calling, and it was driving me nutty.” Tara groaned. “If you actually needed something, you would’ve called me first. So what is it that you need?”