Page 10 of Behind the Scenes

So instead, once I knew the type of pleasure you could get from someone, I focused on that instead.

But just because I was positive this wasn’t in the cards for me didn’t mean I needed to be a salty bitch about it.

The wedding was also where I happened to meet her mother. I was taken with her immediately. Her warmth. The way she cared about everyone around her.

At first, it made my heart hurt. It was hard not to compare her actions against my own mother’s. But the logical side of my brain took over almost immediately and stuffed those silly little emotions back into a small box.

Where they belonged.

“Hospital food is so bland,” she said with a sheepish grin and leaned into Lillian as the girl wrapped her arms around her with a smile. As much as she chided my actions, she just wanted to see her mother happy.

“Not for long,” I commented as I stood. I had already stayed in the hospital for far too long. “Three more days until you’re discharged, right? Though hopefully this time you’ll stay away from ladders, hm?”

I almost had a heart attack when I heard the woman had been hospitalized due to a hip fracture. Just like Sloan, in the short time I had known her, she made a lasting impression on me, and I was ready to help wherever needed.

“Promise.” She sent me a smile. “Good luck on your trial. Not that you’ll need it.”

I sent her a wink and said my goodbyes to the other two in the room.

As soon as I stepped out of the hospital, my phone rang.

Ana.

I answered without hesitation.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“I need you back here ASAP… We have an issue.”

And just like that, my good mood had been replaced by a sinking feeling.

What now?

laura

. . .

Igripped the unfinished report on Harley Hart in my hands, rage taking over me. It was eating at my insides. Like a virus multiplying over and over again until there was not an ounce of calmness left in my body.

How dare she? How dare anyone?

“I swear I tried to stop them, but there were just so many?—”

I burst through my office, already fuming, but even Ana’s panicked call wasn’t enough to prepare me for the sight.

Every surface was covered.

From the floor to my desk to even the free spaces in my bookshelf, all of it was covered with the same blue roses Harley’s assistant had brought earlier. The normal mahogany and white of the room were splashed in blue.

I couldn’t help but groan when I noticed they even put tiny vases on my windowsill.

This is too much.

I couldn’t even walk to my desk. They just placed them on the floor and created a sea of petals. No reprieve in sight.

They are everywhere.

That was the point.