“He’s definitely not worth it, but defending my honor is. He came over here, uninvited, just to start shit with you out of the fucking blue. I want to know why he did that and what he’s planning next. I’ll make sure he gets the message to stay the fuck away from you if he values his balls remaining attached to his body.”
Thomas stands and walks inside, leaving his friends behind beside the pool. Rod storms off after him with murderous intent in his every step. For a moment, I’m frozen in place and unsure of what I should do. While I don’t want Rod to fight him, I also don’t want Thomas starting anything else with me. With us.
“Kevin, I need your help with Rod.” After I fill him in on the situation, he jumps up and trots in the direction Rod went. Tracy and I are hot on Kevin’s heels.
When we walk through the sliding doors into the main hallway, the scene in front of me stops me in my tracks and steals the breath from my chest.
Rod has a buxom blonde backed up against the wall, his body leaning into hers. Her fingers on one hand grip the side of his shorts and the other hand is wrapped around the back of his neck. His lips are a breath away from hers. Her D cups spill over her bikini top. The tiny spaghetti straps are under tremendous strain from the weight of her breasts, the same ones scraping across Rod’s bare chest.
I’m close enough to hear what she’s saying to him, though she’s not trying to hide it, anyway.
“Rod, you’re so fucking sexy when you’re mad. What do you say we go back to my room and you can work off all that frustration with me? You know I can take excellent care of your every need, my lover.”
Bile rises from my stomach and burns my throat as tears sting my eyes. When a cross between a cough and a gag breaks free from my chest, Rod turns his attention to me and jumps back from his friend. He lifts his hands in the air in mock surrender and turns fully to face me.
“Fuck. Daisy, wait!”
Before he can spew his lies, I hold up my hand to stop him. “I don’t want to hear it, Rod. I stood up for you when Thomas tried to warn me about what you’ve been doing all along. You made me look like a fool. Don’t come near me again.”
The woman sneers at me, enjoying the pain she’s causing me and relishing being the winner in this tug-of-war over a man. With my head held high, I march toward the pair of losers and snatch her bikini top off her body as I swiftly walk past. It’s still in my hand when I turn the corner and head toward the bank of elevators, and her shrieks fill the hall behind me until the doors slide shut.
I barely make it to the room before the surge of tears flows over my cheeks. The hot and salty mixture leaves tracks over my face, but I don’t waste the energy it takes to wipe them away. I’m embarrassed, I’m irrationally hurt, and seeing those two just affirmed my secret fears.
There are no decent men out there. None I can trust with my heart or my body. None who will truly love me. I mean, Rod couldn’t even like me and not fuck around for a week and a half, tops. How can I ever hope to find true love when life keeps showing me it’s nothing more than an unattainable dream?
My intense reaction makes little sense. I’ve pushed him away and stressed nothing could happen between us. So why would I expect him not to seek company elsewhere? I told him to do just that two nights ago at dinner. So why am I reacting like a jilted lover all of a sudden?
I walk into the bathroom and splash cold water on my face. If a cold shower would work better to wake me up from my irrational reaction, I’d gladly take one. When I finish drying my face and calming my frayed nerves, there’s a knock at the door.
I know who it is without looking. I really don’t want to face him right now.
Then I remember what I did to the other woman in the hallway, and I groan in embarrassment. “What have I done?”
“Daisy, it’s me. Open the door. We need to talk.”
Shit.
“Daisy, I’m not leaving until we talk. If I have to sleep in the hallway propped up against your door all night, that’s what I’ll do. You have to open it sometime.” He bangs on the door again for extra measure.
Might as well get it over with.
When I jerk the door open, I find three long faces staring at me. I step back and motion for them to enter.
“This really isn’t necessary. You don’t owe me any explanations, Rod. You’re free to do whatever you want with whoever you want, whenever you want.”
“Then why do I feel sick to my stomach because you think I had anything to do with that woman? I swear on my life, I’ve never even met her before, much less laid a hand on her. I don’t know her name, or anything about her.”
“He’s telling the truth, Daisy. I hung around after you tore her bikini top off her to have a few words of my own with her. She finally admitted it was all a lie to get Rod away from you, and she paid that Thomas guy to help her.” Tracy wouldn’t lie to me, that much I know without a doubt.
“Why would she do that?”
“Rod owns his own highly successful company, and it’s well known in certain circles. She came up with a plan to entrap him and did her best to execute it. She just didn’t count on how forceful you can be when
