Page 90 of Silver Fire

“Screw you, Derek!” Sophie yelled back. “You almost fooled me, you’ll always be a manwhore! It’s encoded in your damned DNA!” She jabbed the call button repeatedly. “Where’s the damned elevator?”

When he got near them, he tried to reach for her, but Beth beaned him with her purse.

“Don’t you fucking touch her, you filthy bastard! And to think I was on your side!” Beth shouted acidly.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Derek muttered, still absorbing what was happening and what had happened.

“What’s wrong, Lockwood was you got hammered and went home with that skank,” Beth spat in disgust.

“Sophie, please listen to me.” He was going to beg. But fuck, his mind was blank, and he couldn’t explain how he had gotten from A to B, and the evidence was so damning. Derek felt naked fear rising from his throat. He tried to reach for Sophie again.

Taggart blocked him and shoved him against the wall.

“Damn you, Taggart!” Derek swore as he tried to push back, but his limbs felt rubbery.

Taggart kept him pinned against the wall until the elevator opened. Sophie couldn’t wait to scramble in fast enough.

“Angel, please don’t go. We can discuss this—”

“I’m done. We’re over,” Sophie cut him off, her voice flat and rife with finality.

“Sophie,” Derek choked in defeat as her beautiful gray eyes, brimming now with contempt, disappeared from his view when the elevator doors slid shut.

He stood in front of the elevators for a while before staggering back to his condo. The door was wide open with Layla standing uncertainly in the middle of the living room.

“Get out, Layla.”

“Derek—”

“Get out! Before I throw you out!” Derek roared.

Layla did not need to be told again. She quickly disappeared from the condo.

Derek pulled out his phone from his tuxedo jacket’s inside pocket. He laughed bitterly when he saw Sophie’s text messages. His chest was caving in. How could he fix this? He couldn’t lose her.He couldn’t fucking lose her.

He called Jack.

“Derek? Where did you go? Your limo driver—”

“I fucked up.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know man. I fucked up.”

“Where are you?”

“Condo.”

“I’ll send your driver home. Maia and I will be there in fifteen.”

Derek sank to the floor and buried his face in his hands. He had never felt more defeated in his life.

14

Sophie staredat the blur of buildings as their car traveled back to AGS. Derek wouldn’t stop calling her phone, so she turned it off. He started calling Beth and Taggart too. Her friend turned her phone off while Taggart had his switched to silent. After her emotional breakdown by the elevators, she had nothing more to give. She was tapped out. The events of the past two weeks had finally caught up with her. She realized it had been Derek all along pulling her through. Now that he had betrayed her in the most painful way, she was left with nothing. She was exhausted. She just wanted to curl up, close her eyes and not wake up until fate dealt her a kinder hand.

“You OK, baby girl?” Beth asked as she reached out to stroke her cheek.