I remembered telling Ethan once that I wanted to learn piano because girls who played instruments had a certain charm. But he’d just shrugged and dampened my enthusiasm, calling piano “pretentious upper-class nonsense.” Yet he coaxed Dulce into competitions and said he wanted to see her shine on stage.
After reading their conversation, I marked the messages unread and went back to lie down, but sleep did not come. When dawn finally allowed me to drift off, I was jerked awake by a knock on the door.
There he was, standing and blinking resentment into the morning light.
“Babe, I slept on the floor all night. Why didn’t you look after me?” he demanded.
How was I supposed to “look after” him? Like a top-class free maid?
“Don’t call me that,” I said coldly. “I’m Jillian, not your babe.”
Jillian's POV
He was flirting with Dulce and already calling her “darling.” Then what did that make me, the official girlfriend? Nothing.
Whenever he called me “babe,” all I could think of was how he’d calculated me into his family as a free maid.
Seeing the dark circles under my eyes, Ethan hesitated, then offered an excuse. “Lost sleep again? It’s that damn client, wouldn’t stop pouring drinks on me.”