Chapter 18

Miles' POV

I pulled the sedan door shut behind me with a weary sigh, miles of turmoil still roiling in my mind's wake.

The crisp night air did little to settle my temperament - if anything, it only sharpened the disquieting thoughts needling me.

Hailey was... an anomaly.

I CAN say she's better than Lindsey!!

No ... Noo... don't think of that BITCH!

An enigma that shouldn't have existed to upend all my carefully cultivated expectations.

With each subsequent "audition" I'd subjected her to, the impudent waif only deepened the offenses against my jaded sensibilities.

Scorning every opportunity to wither and crumple under the harsh brilliance of my discerning cruelties.

Instead, she hemorrhaged transcendent talent from every pore.

Mastering the most abstruse avant-garde abstractions and caustic modern atrocities with ease. Yet still retaining that gossamer comedic touch and gift for evoking rapturous, silvery f