Page 136 of Nothing to Tell

“No, we hadn’t, haven’t, never will.Be careful.That doesn’t mean he’ll never drop you again.Learn from my mistakes, get out before he finds someone shiny new with breasts he hasn’t played with yet.”

She didn’t actually expect the woman to do that, but something had to be said.

“Don’t you care about him?”Charissa’s innocence was an act, had to be.“He cares about you.”

“As his girlfriend, you should be asking why.He didn’t care about me when he was cheating on me, but he cares now I have attractive people in my life?My life is none of his business.”

“He’s a caring person.”

Okay, it took all of her energy not to laugh in Charissa’s face.

“What is it you want from me, Charissa?”she asked.“My blessing?”She opened her arms as much as her wares would allow.“You have my blessing.Go forth and multiply.I couldn’t care less.”

“Why are you running away?”

Had Charissa completely forgotten their history.This was hardly the time to start confiding in each other.

“I’m not running away, I’m moving on… for now… for a while.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know.And, still, none of your business.”

“Bastian Hunt is—”

“Someone you don’t know in the slightest,” she said.“Don’t take everything Damon tells you as gospel truth.Think for yourself.I’m not with Damon.I’m not with Bastian.I don’t answer to either of them, and I don’t answer to you.”

“There’s no need to get defensive.”

“I will stop getting defensive when you get out of my way.”

Though she lingered, Charissa did step aside.About damn time.She wanted to be out of there before anyone else came in or the drama cranked up a notch.Leaving the family home was supposed to save her from conversations like this.

“You can’t run out on your family,” Charissa said after she passed.

She paused without turning around.“Watch me.”

This wasn’t a final goodbye, she wasn’t cutting herself off from them completely.She just needed some time.How much was anyone’s guess.

FORTY-SEVEN

TEXT THE NUMBER.

Easy as that.

She’d done it and as Roxie said, a car came to pick her up without delay.She should’ve called her friend to check it was still okay to descend on her.

If Roxie knew Bastian was back with his ex… Roxie said she’d never met Robyn, but that wouldn’t preclude her from feeling a loyalty to the partner of a man who’d known her partner a long time.

Time to second-guess herself passed in a wink.

Whoever was at the helm of this magically appearing car knew exactly which back gate to go to at the airport.He had the credentials, the know how, and before she could blink, she was ascending stairs onto a private jet.

Shit.This wasn’t one of the little shoehorn in planes, no, this thing had length, girth—

“Welcome aboard, Miss Scott.I’m Derek, I’ll be your pilot today.”

And the pilot knew her name.That was a first.Standing there, smiling, professional.This was kind of eerie, like an out of body thing.