I head back to my table, where I see the texts from Allie start flooding in.
Allie:
Oh shit…
Allie:
Okay look, let’s not jump to conclusions. I’m on a date right now, but I’ll leave as soon as I can. Just try to get home, and we can rehash everything together.
Mom is sympathetic when I lie and tell her I’ve been throwing up. I didn’t drive tonight, so I call a rideshare and head home to an empty apartment. Allie isn’t back yet, so I wash my face and climb into my cold bed alone. I should wait for her to get home, but I honestly don’t feel like talking about it. Regardless of her advice, I am absolutely jumping to conclusions. Like taking a running jump off a one-hundred-foot cliff into the river of conclusion itself. The last thing I remember is seeing a text from Ledger, but I don’t open it. I turn my phone off and let sleep carry me away.
Chapter twenty-seven
It’s almost midnight when I pull up to Sloane’s apartment complex. I look down at the picture on my phone that had me prematurely leaving New York as if it’s somehow changed since I got off my jet. It’s still the same stupid picture of Sloane wrapped in that fucker Dean’s arms with her mom’s same stupid caption:We’ve been watching this beautiful couple for three years now. Can’t wait to see more.
On my way back to my hotel after dinner, I tried calling Sloane, but she didn’t answer. In fact, I haven’t heard from her since last night. My heart rate spiked with fear before I could pull up her apartment’s security footage. Thankfully, I could see that she was safe, lying in her bed reading. Her parents left earlier, so I knew that wasn’t the issue anymore, and I could see she was in her apartment alone. I started digging for any clue as to why she would be ignoring my calls whenthe picturepopped up on her social media. That’s when I lost all rationality and arranged for my jet to leave immediately.
I grip my phone with almost enough force to break it as I march up to her apartment and start banging on the door. In my rush to get here, I forgot my key.
“Sloane!” Nothing. “Sloane, you either open this door right fucking now or I’m kicking it in.”
Before I know it, the door swings open and my perfect girl is staring up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers while wearing my goddamn T-shirt.
We stand there staring into each other's eyes, and as I rake mine down her body, I notice her nipples pebbling under her shirt. All of my anger is pushed aside by how much I need this woman.
I wrap one hand around her neck while the other finds her waist in a bruising grip. I walk her back into the apartment, never breaking eye contact, and lock the door behind us before leaning down to kiss her.
Her back is against the wall, and my hand trails up her thigh to see if she’s wearing anything under that shirt, when she suddenly shoves me away.
“Stop it, Ledger! You don’t get to storm in here and touch me like nothing is wrong.”
I give her some space, but I still have a hold of her. “Oh no? And who gets to do that now? Dean?” I say, gripping her hips to emphasize his name.
“No? Why would you say that?” The look of confusion in her eyes is genuine enough, but something is going on here, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.
“I don’t know, maybe this?” I pull my phone out of my pocket and show her the picture her mother posted a few hours ago. “What the fuck is going on here, Sloane?”
I don’t know exactly how I expect her to react to my dramatic show of evidence, but pulling out her phone with a photo of her own is definitely not it. “I don’t know,Ledger.What the fuck is this?”
She always throws me off when that sweet mouth of hers talks like that, so it takes me a moment to realize what I’m looking at. “That would be yours truly greeting the mayor of New York’swife. The same mayor who finally signed off on our new club, by the way.”
The fire leaves her eyes as her whole demeanor changes. “Oh, I didn’t…I’m sorry.”
“Now your turn, what is this about?” I ask, holding up my phone again.
She looks between me and the picture several times before hanging her head. “I saw that picture of you last night and thought the worst. Dean came to our table, apologizing for everything. We talked for a little while, and when he eventually asked me to dance, the only thing I could think about was how you were probably dancing with one of those gorgeous women.”
Gorgeous women?
Sloane places her hands tenderly on my shoulders and looks into my eyes. “It didn’t last a minute, though. Everything about it was wrong. I left him on the dance floor, told my mom I had been throwing up, and got a ride home. I’m so sorry, Ledger, I…”
“Baby, stop.” I take her face in my hands and kiss the top of her head before resting my forehead against hers. “I’m not thrilled about what happened, but I understand firsthand how irrational things like that can make someone. I mean, I’mhere right now instead of in my hotel bed because of a stupid picture. You’ve got my entire heart, Sloane, and I think I have yours as well. At some point, we’re going to have to start trusting each other with them.”
“It’s hard for me…”
I scoop her up in my arms and carry her to the couch. “I know, sweet girl, I know.”
She squeals as I drop her onto the couch, her shirt riding up in the process. To my dismay, she is, in fact, wearing panties.She’s on her period. Of course she’s wearing panties.The thought comes barreling through my mind like a train. “You know, I haven’t had anything to eat in hours,” I say, shimmying the pink cotton panties down her thighs, and she moans. “And it just so happens that my favorite meal is sitting right in front of me.”
