❦ Kate ❦

I took a sip of my gin and tonic and tried to focus on what Hal was saying. It was too loud in the bar but that was not the reason why I wasn't able to concentrate. My mind was on the man I had seen earlier that day. If he was the same man, which I was damn sure about, then what was he doing here? Even as I asked myself that question I already knew the answer to that. He was following Jason. The attack in Bali was not a random incident. Someone was after him.

Before coming to the club, I had called Jason and told him about what I saw. He told me not to worry and that he was looking into it.

Hal picked me up tonight and on the way here I got the feeling that a car was following us. A black Bentley was trailing behind a couple of cars, every time I checked from the side view mirror. I didn't tell Hal because I had a feeling my mind was playing a trick on me.

"Is everything okay with Peter now?" I snapped out of my thought in time to hear Hal's question.

"I don't know. He calls me every night but he says he still isn't ready to see me."

"So nothing happened between you and Jason after that?" Hal asked taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. I had a feeling he already knew the answer to that.

I told him all about the last time in Jason's suite. "I'm actually glad he didn't kiss me. I should be thanking him for preventing me from making a mistake again."

Hal was silent for a moment. "Do you have feelings for him?"

"I don't know what I feel anymore." I said helplessly.

"I think you should follow your heart."

"At this point my heart is more confused than my head. I'm definitely attracted to Jason and it's been driving me crazy. I can't stop thinking about him." I groaned and leaned against Hal, putting my head on his shoulder. "I'm not me anymore, Hal."

"What about Peter? Do you still love him?" Hal put his arm around me, giving me a squeeze.

"That's the problem. I'm not sure anymore. If I truly loved him I wouldn't be thinking of Jason this way. What should I do?"

"I think you should take a break. A break from everything and go somewhere and figure out what you want. Talk to Peter and tell him that you need time."

"What if he doesn't agree to it?" I asked easing away from Hal and taking a sip of my drink.

"Darling, this is your life. Don't let anyone hold you back. I know you planned your future with Peter but things don't always work out the way we hope. May be Jason came into your life for a reason."

"To disrupt my life and turn me into a woman with no morals?"

Hal chuckled. "Not exactly what I had in mind. Promise me you will talk to Peter tonight."

I nodded. "I will. I haven't even told him that I'm going to Palm Beach with Jason. We are probably going to have another fight tonight."

"Shots for everyone!" Andy announced coming up behind us and placing a tray of shot glasses on the table. Hal let out a cheer and reached for one.

"Oh, I'm not so sure." I protested. "I have to get up at 6 tomorrow morning."

"Just one shot." Andy gave me a lopsided smile and took a glass and handed it to me.

"Well, alright." I said trying to get in the spirit of things. "Let's do this."

We clinked glasses and downed our drinks. I screwed my eyes as the tequila scorched my throat. "God, that felt good."

"Alcohol therapy is always good. One more?" Hal was thrusting another glass into my hand.

I knew I shouldn't have any more if I wanted to fully function the next morning but I shrugged. "Why not?"

After knocking back the shot, Hal got up. "You guys coming?"

"Hell yeah." Andy grabbed my hand and we ran on to the dance floor.

It looked like things were getting pretty serious between Hal and Andy. Ever since they met on the cruise, they had been seeing each other. And it was just a great turn of luck that Andy also lived in LA.

"I'm going to call it a night." I told Hal some time later.

He looked crest fallen. "It's only 11. We are not letting you go, are we babe?" He addressed the last part to Andy. Andy shook his head vehemently.

I grinned kissing him on the cheek. "I need to make a move really."

"Alright, Let me call a cab for you."

"That's okay, I'm sure I can hail one. It's not that late anyway and surprisingly I'm not even drunk." I insisted before kissing Andy good-bye.

When I walked out of the club, several people were outside enjoying the chilly night and grabbing a quick smoke. My eyes scanned the street for a passing cab and as I did I saw a Bentley in the parking lot.

All my senses went on alert as I realized it was the same unmarked car that followed us here. A man was in the driver's seat and talking to another man who was standing next to the car, his back to me.

Suddenly the man in the car looked right at me and his expression told me what I needed to know. I was right. He was following me. I suddenly felt a trickle of fear run through my spine. I knew I should get away from there but the fear had me frozen to the stop.

Before I could do anything, the man who had his back to me turned around.

The fear evaporated to be replaced by shock. "Jason?"

Jason said something to the other man and then walked to me.

"Are you having me followed?" I hissed when he came near.

He laid a hand on my shoulder. "Let me explain."

I shook his hand off angrily. "What the hell, Jason? Do you know how terrified I was?"

He had the nerve to grin. "Let me give you a ride home. I'll explain on the way."

"Don't touch me." I glowered at him as he reached out to take my hand. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Just tell me why you are having me followed."

He gave an impatient sigh. "God, I've never met a woman as stubborn as you."

"You may have women falling over your feet in order to please you but I'm not one of them." I snapped crossing my arms across my chest.

He took a step towards me. "Guess I'll just have to carry you to my car then."

"You wouldn't dare." I lifted my chin in defiance.

"Don't test me, Kate."

The look on his face told me that he wouldn't think twice about tossing me over his shoulder. "You're such a.......bully." I finished lamely unable to come up with something better.

He smirked in victory as I let him usher me to his car. It was a dark red Porsche 918 Spyder and despite how angry I was, I couldn't help getting impressed. I wondered if he had a car for each day of the week because never once had I seen him in the same car twice.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye as he pulled out of the parking lot. He was wearing a dark v neck t-shirt that enhanced his biceps and black jeans. His hair fell over his forehead and my fingers itched to brush them away. Whoa! I shook my head to clear it.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was having Alex follow you. He is one of the men in my security team." Jason explained. He told me about the note he had received and how he believed the attack in Bali was not just a random one. "You saw that guy today and I think it's safe to say someone is following me."

I was silent taking in everything he said.

"And whoever he is, he knows you. You told me he recognized you today. That's why I hired Alex."

My hands were folded in my lap and he reached out covered it with his hand. "You don't have anything to worry about. Alex will keep an eye on you at all times. Nothing's going to happen to you."

He squeezed my hand reassuringly and I nodded weakly as the magnitude of the problem struck me. Someone was after Jason and now I was in possible danger too. Could things be any worse than this?

"What about you?" I was worried and scared for him.

"I have the best security team in the world by my side." He gave me smile and entwined his fingers with mine. I looked at our joined hands. The simple touch comforted me so I didn't pull away.

He pulled in front of my building, climbed out and went around the car to hold the passenger side door open for me. As I stepped out of the car I noticed the Bentleyacross the street. "Is he going to be following me wherever I go?" Even though I knew it was for my safety, I couldn't help being annoyed.

"Just until we find out who is behind all this." Jason took my elbow and walked me to the entrance. "I noticed you don't have a car of your own." He said suddenly.

"Yeah, my car broke down a couple of months ago and the cost of fixing it was equivalent to buying a new car so I sold it to a second-hand dealer."

"Okay. Alex is going to be your driver from now on. He'll take you anywhere you want."

I was rummaging through my bag for the apartment key when he said this. I narrowed my eyes at him. " No."

His jaw hardened. "Can you, for once, do exactly as I say without being stubborn? I don't want you going anywhere alone until I get this sorted out."

God, he was so bossy.

"I can take care of myself, Jason." Yeah right, you can barely keep your personal life together. A voice inside my head scoffed. I ignored it. " I don't need a driver."

"You got dragged into this mess because of me. I feel responsible for you. Just help me keep you safe."

I sighed giving in. I didn't want him to worry. "Fine."

He smiled and I felt my stomach flutter in answer. That damn smile should be outlawed.

After he left, I walked inside and called Peter. I told him that I was going to Palm Beach with Jason in the morning. Even though I was confused about our relationship, he was still my fiancé and he had the right to know.

"No. I won't give you permission to go." Peter said with an edge to his voice.

Permission? What was he talking about?

"I don't understand. You asked me to take this project and this is part of the job. As the interior designer, I have to go over the paintings and choose what I want." I explained patiently.

"I'm sure he has pictures of them. Can't you look at them and choose?"

"I need to check them personally."

I pressed the bridge of my nose trying to not get angry. It wasn't Peter's fault that he was being this way. I was to blame. But that didn't mean he had to make it difficult for me to do my job.

"The bastard just wants to get into your pants. That's the only reason he even offered you the project. He could have hired the best interior designing firm in the world but instead he chose you."

"You don't think I can do this?"

He gave a humorless laugh. "Come on Kate. So you have a BA in interior designing but that doesn't mean you can pull off such a huge job. Be realistic."

His words were like a slap on my face. I knew I didn't have the experience but that didn't mean I couldn't do this. I expected him to support me and encourage me. He was supposed to be the person I turn to when I was having doubts but here he was now telling me that I didn't have what it took to pull it off.

"You don't have to be cruel, Peter." My voice was shaky despite how much I tried to not show how his words hurt me.

"I'm not going to sugar coat my words and tell you what you want to hear." He exhaled loudly. "I obviously made a bad call in asking you to take the project. I want you to quit tomorrow."

"What?" I couldn't believe what he was saying. "I can't do that."

"Why not? I made you start working for that bastard and now I'm asking you to quit."

"I signed the contract and I'm not going to walk away now." I snapped, my temper flaring.

"You're going to do as I say." Peter sounded equally angry.

"Since when did this relationship start being about what you want?" I tried to keep myself calm but it was hard.

"Since you stabbed me in the back and cheated on me." He was almost yelling now.

"I made a mistake, Peter. Are you going to keep throwing that in my face all the time?"

"Who said cheating is a mistake? It's a choice. You made a choice and now I'm trying to move past that. If you loved me like you say, you wouldn't even have thought of another man like that."

All my anger vanished as his words struck me. He was right. Whatever happened with Jason was because I made a choice. Jason didn't force me.

"I-I think we should take a break." I blurted out finally.

"What?" Peter sounded incredulous.

"We both need time to figure what we want from this relationship." I tried to explain but he cut me off.

"You're having doubts. Why are you hesitating to admit that you have developed feelings for that son of a bitch?"

"I don't know okay. I don't know what I feel anymore. I just want to get away from all this and figure out what I want." My head was ready to explode and I closed my eyes tightly.

"This is for both of us." I said softly. "I'm sorry for doing this to us."

"You know what's funny? Despite all you have done, I still fucking love you." His voice was angry. "But don't expect me to wait around forever. I'm giving you a week to come to your senses, Kate."

Before giving me a chance to reply he hung up. I threw my phone on to the bed and sat there clutching my head in my hands. Just a month ago I was happily planning my wedding and my life was perfect. But here I was now, feeling empty, confused and alone.

My phone buzzed and I checked it. It was a message from Hal checking if I reached home safely. I typed out a reply and sent it before climbing into bed. I lay in there thinking about the mess my life had become. I felt emotionally done and mentally drained but I couldn't fall asleep.