“You know I’m right,” she gives me a measuring look. “Be careful Sophie, David is a dangerous man, he won’t hesitate to toss you away as soon he’s be done with you.”
“I don’t believe you.” I say with false bravado.
“Believe what you want.” She shakes her head “Who cares, just don’t get too comfortable in his life, you’ll be alone as soon as he gets tired of all that,” she gestures in the general direction of my body.
I search my head for a retort, but she has already swung out of the room.
It’s only after she has gone that I realize that my fists are clenched so tight, my nails are cutting into the skin of my palms. I don’t want to believe the things she’s said, but deep down, I know she’s telling the truth.
Chapter Seven
WHEN I LEAVE THE LADIES ROOM, all I want to do is find David and make him deny the things Carole said to me. He’s not in the ballroom, and the dining room is already empty. I go in the direction of a wide stairway that leads from the ballroom to a mezzanine floor, where there are some chairs and many French doors that lead to a long balcony.
David’s not anywhere on the mezzanine floor either, I’m about to turn back down the stairs when I decide to check outside.
The balcony runs along the whole length of the hotel and is filled with different species of potted plants. There are a few people close to the doors, mostly smoking and conversing. I decide to walk a little further, mainly because, there is a cool breeze coming from the sea.
I take only a few steps before I see them.
Carole has her hands on David arm, and she’s saying something to him, her expression full of passion. I freeze on the spot, unable to take my eyes off them.
I can only see David’s back, but he seems to be listening to her, whatever it is that she’s saying. Suddenly she pulls his face down and starts to kiss him.
I stand there waiting for him to push her away, but he doesn’t. When I can’t look anymore, I turn on my heel and rush back into the hotel. I hurry down the stairs, feeling an actual pain in my chest. It’s heavy and aching, and it’s spreading all over my body. I need to get away from here. Away from him.
At the lobby, I ask for a cab. It only takes a few minutes before one arrives. I look back only once to see if maybe David has noticed that I’m gone, but I suppose he’s too busy reconciling with his old love.
I can’t shake the image of them kissing from my head, in my mind it turns to something else, and I can almost see him making love to her. The thoughts fill me with a desperate sadness. I want to go back and pull her off him. I want to do many things, but I know there’s only one thing I should do.
When I get to the apartment, I find my bags, the one that came with me from Ashford. I pack my sketchpad, and my old clothes. I don’t want to take anything of his. I don’t want to take anything that will remind me of this life. I hear my phone ringing in my purse, but I ignore it, I’m not interested in whatever it is he has to say. I’m zipping the last bag closed when the door bursts open and David walks in.
He looks worried, but then he takes in the bags on the bed, the tears on my face, and his expression changes to steel. “What are you doing?” he asks slowly.
“What does it look like?” I retort without pausing.
“I left you for a few moments at a party, and now you’re leaving me?”
“You left me for far longer than a few minutes, to make out with your old girlfriend.” I throw the words at him, angry at the tears that are filling my eyes.
“So now you’re running off back to Ashford,” The hardness in his voice intensifies almost enough to scare me. He comes towards me. “Tell me, is it Eddie Newton who’s going to be picking up the pieces of your broken heart, or will it be somebody else?”
“What do you care?” I cry.
“For God’s sake Sophie!” the words are harsh.
I try to back away, but the bed is behind me, he is standing so close, I can’t see anything but his chest. “Let me go.” I whisper, “I don’t belong here, in this big apartment, or in your luxurious life, and we both know it.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” For a moment, I think there is a pleading note in his voice, but it must be my imagination because his expression remains like stone.
The truth is, if I knew how he felt about me, if I thought, even for one moment, that he cared about me, that I’m not just someone he likes to sleep with, I would never think of going anywhere.
I swallow. “David, do you love me?” I ask, looking up into his face. My voice is trembling, maybe because I already know what the answer is.
He looks irritated, “What has come over you?”
“Do you love me, David?” I ask again.
His face freezes again, and I know he has shut me out. “What do you want from me?” he says, turning away.