The Alpha Ceo's Escort Girl

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Chapter 2 02 The Night I Tried to Forget 2

Lyra

The room seemed to tilt, although I had not touched any alcohol then. “You’re done with me because I caught you cheating?” I asked. Tristan rubbed the back of his neck, looking more inconvenienced than guilty.

“This was going to end sooner or later. You knew my family would never accept you. I tried to make it work, but we live in different worlds.”

Different worlds. That was the polite expression wealthy wolves used when they wanted to say someone had been born beneath them. Chloe gave a small laugh from the bed. “You’re a dreamer, Lyra,” she told me. “That’s your problem. You thought because Tristan took you to a few dinners, you suddenly belonged in his world. You will never attract another man of his calibre. A Zeta without money, influence or even a recognisable surname should have known better than to get comfortable.”

I wanted to hurt her. My wolf certainly did. She pushed against my skin, wounded and restless, demanding that I wipe the smugness from Chloe’s face. But attacking the daughter of a prominent Gamma family inside Tristan Hale’s home would only give them another reason to look down upon me. Chloe would become the victim. I would become the unstable Zeta who forgot her place. So I swallowed the anger until it tasted bitter and looked at the man I had loved.

“What about my things?” I asked.

“I’ll have them sent to Sienna’s home,” Tristan answered.

Sienna’s home.

He did not even want me returning to his residence to collect them myself. I had nodded because I no longer trusted myself to speak. Then I turned around and walked out of the bedroom with my back straight. I made it down the stairs, through the front door and halfway to the pavement before the tears finally fell.

Now I sat in Eclipse and wondered how one person could use another for eighteen months, then discard them as if none of it had mattered. The worst part was knowing that most of Greyhaven would support Tristan. If anyone heard what happened, the story would not be that he had betrayed me. It would be that Tristan Hale had finally corrected the mistake of dating a Zeta and returned to a woman from his own social class.

I lifted my wine and drank. I did not want another man of Tristan’s calibre. Chloe could keep the wealth, the family organisation and the polished lies. If men of his calibre cheated without remorse and treated women like temporary entertainment, then I would happily spend the rest of my life surrounded by men of considerably lower calibre.

“Stop staring into that glass as if you’re planning to drown yourself in it,” Sienna told me.

I looked at the beautiful woman sitting beside me. Did I mention that my best friend was an escort? No? Well, now you know. Sienna Draven was a Gamma from the Draven Rogue House, one of the wealthiest and most feared rogue families connected to Greyhaven’s underworld. Her father, Roman Draven, had enough influence to make prominent wolves lower their voices when his name came up. The Dravens had money, connections and a long list of businesses no responsible government officer had ever managed to investigate properly.

Their money was dirty, but it spent just as easily as clean money. Sienna did not work as an escort because she needed it. She had more money than most people would earn in several lifetimes. She did it because she enjoyed the excitement, the freedom and the control. She chose her clients, set her own rules and left whenever she became bored.

No one shamed her twice. Most sensible people knew better than to insult a daughter of the Draven Rogue House. The few who forgot usually remembered once Roman Draven’s men visited them.

“I’m not trying to drown myself,” I replied. “The glass isn’t deep enough.”

Sienna’s lips twitched. “That is the first almost-joke you’ve made since we got here. We’re making progress.”

“I’m glad my emotional collapse is meeting your schedule.”

“I cleared my schedule for your emotional collapse,” she corrected. “That is friendship.”

She lifted her glass towards me, and I reluctantly touched mine against it. Sienna was wearing a black dress that hugged every curve of her body and made several men across the club forget the women sitting beside them. Her dark hair fell over one shoulder, and her confidence drew attention even before anyone caught her Gamma scent or recognised her surname.

Beside her, I felt painfully ordinary. My dress was blue and simple. It was one of the nicest things I owned, but inside Eclipse, it probably qualified as casual wear. I had nearly refused to come after Sienna arrived at the house we shared, took one look at my swollen eyes and announced that I needed alcohol, loud music and exposure to better-looking men. I had told her I did not want another man. She had replied that looking did not require commitment. That was Sienna’s philosophy about most things.

“Committed relationships are boring and a waste of time,” she declared now, taking a sip of her wine. “You only have to look at how things ended with Tristan.”

“Thank you. I was in danger of forgetting for almost four seconds.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes. I should become an escort, avoid love and collect expensive jewellery from emotionally unavailable businessmen.”

“You are not becoming an escort,” Sienna replied firmly. “You become attached to people who remember your birthday. You would be terrible at it.”

I gave her a wounded look. “You make that sound like a flaw.”

“It is in my profession.”

Despite myself, I laughed. The sound was small and did not last, but Sienna’s expression softened when she heard it.

She could be blunt and horribly insensitive. She could also be the first person to appear whenever my life fell apart. She never asked whether the problem was convenient. She simply arrived, insulted whoever hurt me and stood between me and the rest of the world until I could stand on my own.

When I called her from the pavement outside Tristan’s residence, she did not tell me she was busy. She drove across Greyhaven, helped me into her car and listened while I cried hard enough to ruin the front of her dress. Then she promised to have Tristan’s car dismantled and sold for parts. I had managed to talk her out of it. Mostly.

“You deserve better than him,” Sienna told me.

“I thought he was better.”

“That was before we discovered he shares a bed and probably a brain cell with Chloe Mercer.”

I stared at the wine in my glass. “I feel stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Lyra.”

“I trusted him.”

“That makes him dishonest. It doesn’t make you stupid.”

“I defended him to you. Every time you told me something felt wrong, I said you didn’t understand him.”

Sienna leaned closer. “I did not understand him. I still don’t. Any man who has you and chooses Chloe needs medical attention.”

“You are obligated to say that because you’re my friend.”

“No. As your friend, I’m obligated to help you hide the body. Compliments are optional.”

I smiled again, but the tight lump in my chest remained. The alcohol softened its edges without making it disappear. I emptied my glass. Sienna watched me reach for the bottle and refill it.

“You might want to slow down,” she advised.

“I’m not the one on a date. I have no one to impress.”

“You still need to remain conscious.”

“Why?”

“Because carrying you is inconvenient in heels.”

“I can cry tomorrow,” I muttered. “Tonight, I drink. Tomorrow, when I’m alone and there’s no one left to hide the tears from, I can fall apart properly.”

Sienna’s hand covered mine briefly. “You don’t have to hide them from me.”

That almost undid me. I pulled my hand away only so I could raise the glass to my lips. The Pinot was sweet enough to make drinking it far too easy. I knew I should slow down. I had never been particularly good at handling alcohol, but caution felt like a problem for tomorrow’s Lyra.

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