Chapter 13
Better Than Hers
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Charles stood before me, his breath slightly uneven, his expression dark with a confusion he had no patience for.
I looked at him and suddenly felt exhausted.
Deeply.
Completely.
The kind of exhaustion sleep could not fix.
Still, I smiled in the same businesslike way I always had.
“Dakota doesn’t seem to handle alcohol well,” I said. “If she drinks on your behalf in the future, it may cause trouble.”
Charles frowned.
“Why would she drink on my behalf?”
His tone was impatient.
Almost offended.
Then he added, “Aren’t you still here?”
For a moment, I simply looked at him.
He still thought I was not leaving.
Or perhaps he thought leaving was only a mood.
A small rebellion.
Something he could correct with enough p
