HIS DOE, HIS DAMNATION (An Erotic Billionaire Romance) novel Chapter 114

Meadow’s POV:

‘Don’t be a little bitch. Come on, just call me back.’

I stared down at the phone in my hand, reading the text my sister had sent about a minute ago over and over again.

I was about to turn the phone over and ignore it when another one came in.

‘Or at least pick up the phone. Did your husband ask you not to? You don’t have to listen to him, you know. I miss you.’

My jaw tightened. Leave it to Juniper to insult me, try to manipulate me, and tell me she misses me in the same fucking text.

The phone buzzed in my hand again.

It had been buzzing incessantly for the past few days. Juniper had been trying to reach me, leaving me uncountable missed calls daily. I didn’t pick the phone, of course. And I even resorted to blocking her, but before I could say ‘Jack‘, she was trying with another number again. I knew she would do that, but for a moment, I’d just hoped that maybe she had changed a bit.

And obviously, she hadn’t.

“Meadow, are you there?” a voice cut through the speaker of my laptop.

Crap. I’d forgotten that I was in class.

I quickly hit ‘unmute.’ “Um, yes, professor,” I answered, feeling flustered. At the far right corner of the screen, my new friend, Lana, was biting her lip to conceal her smile. Everyone else stared at me awkwardly. “Sorry, I’m just a little distracted today.”

Professor Kate Wellsbury scrunched up her nose, pushing her glasses up her face. She was… a little bit strict, and by the purse of her lips, I could tell that she was annoyed I wasn’t paying attention.

“Um, what was the question?” I asked.

“Would you like to take a break from this class, Meadow? Since you’re… distracted.” Her voice was casual, but it still had a stern edge to it.

I opened my mouth, about to say yes, but then my phone buzzed again and I immediately looked down at my phone to see another text from my sister.

‘CALL ME NOW!’

My gaze shifted to my laptop and Kate’s brow was arched at me. I cleared my throat. “Uh, actually… why don’t you guys go on and I’ll get notes from Lana later?”

“Great,” Kate droned. “Goodbye, Meadow.”

When the zoom call ended, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Running my hand through my hair, I tapped on Juniper’s name, my thumb hovering over the call button.

Deep down, I knew that there was nothing important she wanted to tell me. Or if there was, it had to be about our father. I had no idea if he had tried to contact her the way he did me, and I didn’t even want to know. I wanted nothing to do with them.

So, even though my fingers itched to click that call button, I forced myself to push the phone aside and make my way out of the living room entirely.

I went up the stairs and–as I normally did to free up my mind–went to swim in the indoor pool.

I didn’t want to think too much about it, but the more I tried not to, the more I felt this magnetic pull to just do as my sister asked. It was terrible, the way I was attached to her, but even more terrible was the guilt that always tugged at my chest whenever it happened.

“Fuck, no…” I whispered under my breath, slicking my wet hair back as I came up for air.

If I called her, then nothing would stop me from going to meet her to find out what on earth she wants from me.

I got out of the pool, not feeling even a little bit relieved. The urge to call her back had only spiked. What if something really was wrong?

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