I PAID THE DRIVER AND climbed from the cab feeling as though fire was on my back. It was such a stupid thing to be mad about, but his naming the restaurant after the name that made me feel like nothing was even worse than a slap in the face.
Not only had he put me up in the condo Pretty Woman style, paying for everything and keeping me well cared for as I was tucked away and waiting for him to come and use my body, but now, he had gone as far as to name a restaurant Jessica’s. As if the name was something to be proud of.
It wasn’t.
It was an insult. I was good enough to be his Jessica, but that was it. I was no better than the other women he’d written off so easily when he was bored with them.
A man with a tray of champagne stopped to offer me a glass and I almost took it. But then I remembered the baby growing inside me, and I quickly turned it down.
“Turning down champagne?” Sebastian’s whisper shifted the hair on the back of my neck. “But you love the feel of it on your tongue so much. The bubbles dancing around your mouth. You should enjoy a glass or two. Enjoy the night.”
I turned on him, my arousal from his soft whispers against my neck only fueling my anger.
“Jessica’s? Really, Sebastian?”
He grinned down at me. “It’s a beautiful name.”
“It’s an insult,” I snapped.
His eyes narrowed, and his brows pulled down in confusion. “An insult? How so?”
“I can’t believe you’re asking me that!”
The groups nearby turned our way, their eyes crawling over me and leaving me feeling exposed.
Sebastian looped my arm through his with a forced smile and attempted to move us out of the view of others. I wasn’t having it. I yanked my hand free from his arm and started across the room to a secluded alcove close to what I was sure was the kitchen.
I didn’t look back to see if he was following me, but I felt him there, casually walking across the room and drawing the eye of every female in the building. I couldn’t deny it. Sebastian looked amazing in his perfectly cut signature black suit, but I couldn’t think about that.
I wanted him to know how angry I was that he’d name the restaurant Jessica’s, and when I was done with that, I’d do it. I’d tell him about the baby, and then I’d leave him behind. The chips could fall where they may. If he wanted to try for custody once the baby was born, so be it. I’d fight until I couldn’t fight anymore.
Once we were secluded, I turned on him.
“You’re an asshole!” I hissed.
My hormones were a mess. My body strung tight. I was done rolling over for this man. I was done … period.
“Yes, but you’ve always known that. Haven’t you?” He moved closer, his front brushing my front until my back was against the exposed whitewashed brick. “You knew I was an asshole when you moved in with me. You knew I was an asshole when you told me you loved me—when you let me inside your sweet body—you always knew. Still, you stayed. You let me fuck you senseless. What exactly does that say about you, Jessica?”
I lost it at that.
Quicker than I knew I could move, I slapped him. His face shifted from the force of my palm and then he turned on me. I pulled my hand away quickly, the soft skin of my palm stinging from the blow.
He was angry. I’d seen this side of Sebastian. All flaring nostrils and narrowed eyes. After two years with a man, you tended to see all sides of him. Usually, this was foreplay for us, but I wasn’t sure I could move past the fact that he’d just called me Jessica. It hurt so badly that it suddenly felt like I was going to be sick.
I swallowed against the bile that threatened the oncoming sickness and closed my eyes against his furious expression.
“You know what …” I started. “I can’t do this anymore.”
I moved to leave, but he stopped me with a hand against the brick beside my head.
“You just hit me,” he muttered.
“I did. And now, I’m leaving.”
“So you expect to hit me and just walk away?”
“That’s exactly what I expect to do. You don’t want me here any more than I want to be here. You’ve hurt me in all ways possible. Naming this place Jessica’s and then proceeding to call me by that name was just the nail in the coffin.”
This was it.
I could do it.
I could tell him about the baby.
I was going to say it and leave. But then my plans were shattered after he opened his mouth, his words the final blow to my carefully laid resolve.
“You should be proud to be my Jessica. It’s a title most women I know would die for.”
I opened my mouth to say something about the baby—maybe a good sarcastic dig that would hurt him as badly as he was hurting me—but the words died on my tongue.
“Every woman but me. I don’t want the title, and I no longer want you.”
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew I had to make them true. I couldn’t do this with him anymore. I needed to move on—for my baby and for me.
“Liar. I know how badly you want me. I know you lay in your bed at night and touch yourself while you think about me. Your fingers lost in your sweet pussy and your mouth gaped open in pleasure. You love making yourself come and you love doing it with my name on your lips.”
“I hate you,” I growled as I tried yet again to move away from him.
Again, he stopped me.
“You hate me? Is that why you use me to get off? Squirming in bed in your pretty little tank tops and my boxer shorts. I always loved you in my clothes. It’s fucking sexy.”
And then everything stopped.
How could he have known such things in such perfect detail?
I’d been wearing Sebastian’s clothes since I moved into the condo. It was stupid, but it made me feel closer to him. As if his cotton boxers touching me in my secret places was the same as he himself touching me.
“Have you been watching me?” I hissed. “You bastard! Are there cameras?”
He didn’t respond.
Instead, he smiled down at me in his signature sexy smirk.
“Enjoy the rest of your night, Jessica. I recommend the lobster. It’s delicious.”
And then he was walking away from me, leaving me breathless and alone in the empty space while the diners on the other side of the wall enjoyed themselves.
I gathered myself and caught my breath. Once I felt like I could walk again, I left the space and headed for the front door. I wanted out. I needed to get away.
I was almost out the door when a young gentleman stopped me. It took me a second to figure out why he looked familiar. He was Sebastian’s lawyer. I’d met him a handful of times.
“Ms. Harris, before you go, is there any way I could have you sign some things?”
“What kinds of things?”
“Well, as you know, half of Jessica’s is yours. I need to finalize that and file the paperwork.”
I closed my eyes against the memories of our night in this very building. Sebastian had prepared a delicious dinner and then confessed his love for me in the form of a new business.
Lies.
It was all lies.
“No, thank you,” I said, turning to leave once again.
“Ms. Harris, I don’t think you should give up this opportunity. I’m sure, just like Clive’s, Jessica’s is going to be an amazing place that will bring in immense revenue. You don’t want to miss out on half of that.”
I did.
I wanted no part of it, but then I suddenly remembered I was pregnant. And all my doubts came rushing back to me. Not only my doubts, but also the worry that Sebastian might try to take custody of my baby once it was born. Half of the money from Jessica’s could help me stop that.
“All I have to do is sign and half of everything is mine?”
“Yes, ma’am. If you could just sign here and here, everything will be finalized.”
Plucking the pen from his fingers, I didn’t hesitate. I signed my name and finalized the paperwork. Half of Jessica’s was mine. I felt as though I’d somehow accomplished something, as if I’d secured myself somehow, no matter how much I hated the name and its meaning.
Also, if the restaurant were half mine, then I’d treat it as such. Jessica was my name after all, right? Which meant I was rightfully half owner of the beautiful business Sebastian had built and I’d roll up my sleeves and get to work as soon as possible.
I wasn’t about to get paid from a business where I didn’t work. I didn’t want anything handed to me. Not to mention, working with juvenile delinquents wasn’t ideal being as I was pregnant. I’d work at the restaurant for as long as I could, and then once I had the baby, I could go back to making a difference.
Sebastian would hate me working at Jessica’s, which of course meant I had no other choice. He’d angered me to no end. It was time he knew what it felt like to be played.