Page 45 of Wild Heart

But whenever I was talking to anyone—whether Jules, Rhea, Ivy, Skye, or Evelyn—I could feel his penetrating stare on me. And in one or two instances, out of the corner of my eye, I witnessed him shaking his head, whether with disappointment, disgust, or a combination of the two, I didn’t know.

And that was all I needed.

I might have come back to Landing because it was the best place for me to be, but I had to find a way to move on from Tate. I needed to start building a life here that didn’t involve dreams about my future with him.

I was going to be on my own, and I had to face reality.

There might have been a time when Tate had been attracted to me, when there was still a reason to have hope. But that was gone. Now, the only thing he felt for me was disdain.

And I had nobody but myself to blame.

12

AVA

The shrill soundof a bell forced my eyes open.

For a moment, I attempted to work out if I’d made that up while I was sleeping or if I’d really heard it. When several knocks on the door followed, I got my answer.

Someone was here.

Exhausted, I tossed the thick, soft, and luxurious blankets back from my body so I could drag myself across the room and to the door. On my way, yawning as I ran my fingers through my hair, I stumbled over a pair of shoes I hadn’t realized were in the middle of the floor.

When I made it to the door, I looked through the peephole and felt a touch of relief that I wouldn’t be answering the door to someone who’d never seen me looking worse than I was sure I did now.

Once I opened the door, the scent of coffee was the first thing that hit me. It helped to reduce some of the fogginess I felt.

“You look like shit.”

My shoulders sagged further. “I feel like it.”

“Well, I brought you room service, so hopefully that’ll help.” Ivy stepped forward, pushing the room service cart into the suite and right past me.

I closed the door and followed her into the living room. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost eleven. Did I wake you?”

Eleven o’clock.

That meant I’d gotten somewhere around six hours of sleep, perhaps a bit more or less. I couldn’t be sure. All I knew was that the last time I’d looked at my phone to check the time, it was four in the morning. I didn’t know exactly how long it had been after that when I finally fell asleep.

“Yeah. I… It took me a while to drift off.”

Something that looked a lot like fear seeped into Ivy’s expression. Whatever was bothering her, she didn’t say. Instead, she motioned for me to sit down as she uncovered everything she’d brought me for breakfast. Or I guess it was now considered brunch. “I wanted you to have some variety, but I picked out all of your favorites.”

She hadn’t been exaggerating.

The spread consisted of more food than I’d likely eat all day, especially considering that my stomach had been in knots since before I’d even arrived at Malcolm’s and Evelyn’s estate last night.

“Thanks, Ivy.”

I sat down, reached for the coffee, and inhaled. Anything to help wake myself up so I could focus on anything other than Tate and the words he’d said to me.

After setting my mug down and unrolling the napkin to free the utensils and drape the cloth over my lap, I speared a piece of fruit, lifted it toward my mouth, and asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“I am. But I’m taking a break now, because I wanted to talk to you privately. We didn’t have a whole lot of opportunity to do that last night.”

So much for not wanting to think about Tate. If that was Ivy’s intention—which, if I was honest, I already knew when I opened the door to her—I’d have no option but to think about Tate and how devastated I was.