Meadow’s POV:
All afternoon and even into the evening, I couldn’t get Yvonne’s words out of my mind. The moment I got home, I decided to distract myself with some school preparations. I connected with another girl who was also going to attend the online sses and we went back and forth with discussions.
But still, Yvonne and ric lingered in my mind.
This shouldn’t have been affecting me this much, but I was tired of ignoring and denying the fact that I was deeply affected by my husband. And that I wanted him to be mine and mine alone.
Not Yvonne’s. Or rissa’s.
Just… mine.
I couldn’t question him about his time spent with rissa in Vegas, because I wasn’t supposed to know that. I wasn’t supposed to know rissa the way I did, so it would just be suspicious to him.
All I could do was act out.
Which was why I was asking Mel for ric’s phone number.
She looked at me like I had just said something crazy–which I had. Because how on earth did I not have
ric’s phone number?
“You don’t have your own husband’s contact?” She teased. “This has to be the first I’ve ever heard of it.”
I shrugged. “Well, I’ve never really felt like I needed it.” Except yesterday when I wanted to go see my sick best friend and I couldn’t call my husband to dismiss his bodyguards.
My cheeks still burned with humiliation whenever I thought about it.
She handed me her phone and stood back while I typed the numbers into my own phone. “By the way.
Cami hasn’t been here in a while. Is she okay?”
Mel grinned. “Perfect. She’s been so bookedtely, I’m even starting to get worried that she doesn’t have time for herself.” She paused, tilting her head. “Although, now that I think of it, Mr. Ashford must’ve had something to do with that.”
I slid her phone across the counter to her. Why do you think he had something to do with it?” I asked, brows drawing together in confusion.
Mel heaved a sigh. “He’s offered to get a studio for her before, you know, so she can have her clientse in and she won’t have to be on the move all the time, but Cami, stubborn as she is, adamantly refused his
help.”
I let out a chuckle as Mel shook her head. “Though, I don’t me her. Mr. Ashford has done <i>so </i>much for us already, and I fear she feels like she owes him. But so do I.”
My shoulders fell. Mel had said this a few weeks back when I first moved in here. It still wasn’t in my ce to ask what he did, but the curiosity nagged me.
Melughed lightly. “But when he sets his mind to something, he’s going <i>to </i><i>do </i>it, one way or another. And he may have held off on the studio, but something tells me he’s the reason Cami’s so busy–and loving it.”
“That’s…nice.” Something tugged at my heart strings and I looked away, blinking. I was still mad at him,
but now I just… I wanted to fall into his arms.
“Are you alright, honey?”
I exhaled sharply before looking back at Mel. There was so much concern and worry in her eyes, and no
one had ever looked at me the way she did right now. With so muchpassion.
Not even my own mother.
I smiled, nodding even though my throat felt thick. “Yeah. I’m just… gosh, my period must be really close.”
Melughed and I joined in.
“Well,” Mel sighed. “There’s lots of food for whenever you’re ready to have dinner, okay? I’m going to take
off now.”
The moment Mel was gone, I took a deep breath. And another. And another.
And then the words rang in my head again: ‘We were together in Vegas.‘
My stomach twisted in annoyance. There it was. I needed to be less teary and more angry if I was going
to pull this off. So, weing that voice in my head was the one thing that kept me furious as I picked up
my phone and went up the stairs to my room.
This morning, I found the two cameras that ric had nted in my room, and now as I entered, I
wondered if he was watching me or if he was just focused on work. I wondered how many times he had
checked to see if I was in here. Wondered how many times he had seen me naked.
Heat rushed down to the bottom of my stomach and I cleared my throat, heading into the closet.
I hadn’t worn any of the lingerie sets that were in here, but I was about to. I ended up selecting a pink set- one that I knew he would like because pink was an innocent color. And then I changed out of my clothes, took a warm shower before finally disappearing into the closet again, where I took my time to dry my hair, apply lotion and scented oils.
And then I put on the lingerie set, and I picked up the note from before, slipping it into the bra again before I’d forget.
Then I stood in front of the mirror with my phone, and I took the most nude, sexiest photos I had ever taken. Pink tinted my cheeks from how fucking good I actually looked.
And when I was done, I sent just one of them to
ric, apanied by the text:
‘Ready for my next lesson.‘
As soon as I sent the text, I dropped the phone on the bed like it was on fire. My pulse thudded in my ears.
I had never ever done something like that before. That was a fucking risky text, and I had no idea how he
was going to react to it.
But then, I remembered the cameras, and my breath hitched. If ric noticed that I was nervous, that
would elicit a different reaction from him–maybe.
But wasn’t that what I wanted? For him to keep seeing me as the innocent, vulnerable girl he thought I
was?
I waited for a full minute before picking my phone from the bed. He hadn’t replied yet. Maybe he was
busy<b>? </b>Maybe he was in a meeting…
But he couldn’t be in a meeting. It was alreadyte, almost 8pm. And right as I was about to drop the
phone again, it buzzed in my hand.
Only, it wasn’t a text.
ric. Was. Calling. Me.
Mt heart flew to my throat, my breath hitching as I swiped right to answer and raised the phone to my
ear.
And when ric spoke, all the reasons I was mad at him just… floated away.
“Distracting me while I’m at work?” he asked. His voice was deep and smooth as butter as it sounded through the speaker. A dark chuckle rumbled in his throat. “How very naughty of you, Doe.”
5
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