Chapter 58

Unfortunately for Kendall, life did come with karma.

And there were consequences for actions.

She woke up with a start, her body jolting in the bed as she cringed in pain.

The headache wasn’t as horrendous as it should’ve been, thanks to the water she didn’t know Tanner had slipped in during the evening.

Wincing, she squinted, looking around at the bright room she was in. When her vision focused, she recognized her hotel room and breathed a sigh of relief.

How had she gotten home last night? Had Tanner and the others brought her in? Sighing, she pushed the covers off and groggily got out of bed.

Kendall froze. Her face went blank as her mind gave her a stark reminder.

She gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. Lucien.

She’d been in his office last night! With a small squeak of horror, she started searching desperately for her phone. Had he brought her home last night? What happened? Oh, God, he must’ve witnessed her drunken antics. How humiliating.

Halfway through yanking up her duvet, she paused again and stared dazedly into space.

It all came crawling back in, making her go cold as the memories unravelled in her mind. No. Please, no.

She’d kissed Lucien.

No, he’d kissed her. They’d kissed! Again.

With a loud groan, she sank onto the bed and clutched her hair. She sat that way for a moment, the sunlight landing on her bowed head and highlighting the blonde roots peeking out of her scalp.

She was a mess. She’d made a fool of herself again, humiliating herself in front of Lucien Sinclair. She’d gotten drunk and reckless, and now she sat here, in last night’s clothes, hair a mess and body reeking of alcohol.

A wave of deep shame crashed over her, leaving her drenched in regret. Sighing, she raised her head and stood to continue the search for her phone.

She found it and sighed in annoyance. It was off. She plugged it into the charger and turned to head straight to the bathroom so she could clean herself up.

A white envelope caught her attention.

Kendall stopped, looking at the white rectangle on her coffee table. She walked over and picked it up, opening it.

It took her moments to slide the paper out and stretch it open for her to read. Her eyes went wide.

Air huffed out of her in pure shock as she read the contents of the paper.

He was firing her?!

But why?! It made no sense. What had she done that was so bad, he felt the need to fire her?! They’d both participated in the kiss. Sure, she’d…

Her eyes went wide as she remembered. Right. She’d challenged him and tested his patience until he’d finally snapped. She’d deliberately pushed for the kiss to happen.

And some kiss it was.

She stared into space as she remembered the heated moments. His hand in her hair, his tongue in her mouth. The sound of his soft grunts, his moans of satisfaction as he explored her mouth and tasted her lips. He’d lifted her by the waist and placed her on his table, spreading her legs around his hips so he could wrap her around him as he deepened their kiss.

Kendall hadn’t known a kiss could get so intense. No boy she’d ever kissed before had ever made her feel like she was at the edge of her sanity, barely holding on. But Lucien had done it, and now she knew that she’d been right.

Kissing him had ruined her for every other man.

And gotten her fired too, damn it.

She sighed, shoving a hand through her hair. This was no time to think of the infuriatingly sexy kiss from last night. She had to deal with the consequences. What would she do? This was another point on the scoreboard, in his favour. She’d been planning to quit anyway, but now she couldn’t even do that!

She huffed in frustration, going back to her phone.

She turned it on, planning to call him and demand some kind of explanation for this.

She regretted her actions from last night, but they were done, and one thing Kendall had learnt was to forget about the past and move on. So, she wouldn’t dwell on it. She’d just avoid repeating it from now on. She’d gone far enough, and things were getting too dangerous.

If Sabrina ever found out…

Her skin chilled at the thought. The same way she’d made Kendall just by being her friend, was the same way there would be nothing stopping Sabrina from breaking her.

“I don’t like this,” Justin grumbled, looking out of the windows of Lucien’s home office. “I’m only doing it because Christina has been very kind to me in the past. I’m not a criminal.”

He got nothing but silence in response and frowned, turning around to look at Lucien, who sat at his table.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Lucien looked at him. “What?”

“Normally, you’d snap something bitter like, ‘You’re not a criminal? And I am?’.”

Sighing, Lucien gave him a flat look. “That’s not what I sound like.”

“That’s exactly what you sound like to me.”

“Whatever, this isn’t a crime anyway.”

“What isn’t a crime?” Justin asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Hm? Whatever you said just now.”

“I knew it! You’re not listening! I said he’s going to be in Washington, D.C next weekend and it’s our only chance to get him alone!”

“Right! It’s that Convention thing? I’ll go.”

“He’ll run faster than a cheetah the moment he sees you.”

“Then you go, Justin.”

“Can’t, I’ve got a thing next weekend and I can’t cancel.”

Groaning, Lucien closed his eyes. “I’ll do it. I’ll get through to him.”

“You?” Walking over, Justin stopped at his table. “With your dark, foreboding eyes and scary voice? He’ll think you’re there to kill him.”

“Then what do you want me to do?!”

“Use another way to get what we want from him.”

“What way?”

Justin hesitated. He sighed. “I don’t want to do this. But the man has a weakness for women. Especially beautiful women.”

Lucien tilted his head, feeling the words hit a little too personally. Lately, it felt like those words applied to him. For one particular woman, specifically.

“What do you say?” Justin asked.

“What? Oh.” He shook his head. “No, it’s confidential. I’m not getting some woman all up in this only for her to sell the information somewhere. It’ll hurt Christina far more than it’ll help her.”

“We’ll make her sign an NDA.”

“There are ways around that.”

Justin sighed. “Okay, I didn’t want to say this… but I have to.” He cringed. “Let’s send Kendall.”

Lucien’s expression slowly melted, and he stared flatly at Justin. “Have you… lost your mind?”

“She’ll be safe! It’s an event, he won’t be able to hurt her! He won’t even know that we sent her, and we won’t send her alone. Go with her, but stay outside. James Bond style.”

“You’re lucky my gun’s not here. I’d like to show you James Bond style.”

“Think about it! Kendall knows the entire situation, and she’s smart. She’ll know exactly what kind of questions to ask, and he’ll think she’s just some pretty, empty-headed girl. We get confidentiality and the answers to all our questions. We can even use her to get him to understand that we want him on our side without scaring him by sending you.”

Lucien sighed, looking away. “Forget it.”

“Lucien.”

“It’s not happening, Justin.”

“Why not? It’s perfect.”

“Kendall doesn’t work for me anymore.”

Justin blinked. “What? Why not?”

Lucien shrugged as casually as he could. “I fired her.”