Page 54 of All Mine
A chill ran down my spine, and I hugged her tighter. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know how I let myself get caught up with someone like that. But, it didn’t happen all at once, ya know. It was subtler than that— a suggestion that I put on makeup or wear something nicer or sexier. Then, it was too sexy, and I looked like a whore. I never could get it right.”
My blood pressure kicked up a notch, my post-orgasm exhaustion gone. How dare some jackass do these things to her. If I ever came across this guy, I’d punch him in the face.
“I got you now,” I whispered. “I’ll never treat you that way.”
Twenty
Camden
When Lauren left my room at two forty-five in the morning, I didn’t want her to drive across town alone. She laughed me off, telling me I was ridiculous. Nothing happens in this town, but my stomach quivered watching from the window as her car pulled away.
However, when I arrived at the bakery after seven, she was all smiles behind the counter. Despite her lack of sleep, everything appeared fine. But then I spotted Eden with Adrian, Jonah, and Sloane, and recalling the goon incident, I revised my opinion that nothing happened here. Regardless of my lack of comfort on the hide-a-bed, perhaps me staying here would be the safer option for Lauren. Why had my brain gone down this rabbit hole?
Bethany waited on me, and I played it cool, not asking for Lauren. We may have pulled off the unthinkable by spending the night together, twice, without the entire town finding out.
Adrian waved me over.
“It’s a full table,” I said.
“Nonsense,” Sloane said. With her hair pulled back and clipped behind her ears, I had the sense of déjà vu. Where did I know her from?
“Pull a chair up to the end of the table,” Adrian said.
I grabbed a vacant chair and sat at the end of the table with my black coffee and egg soufflé. A pastry and latte every morning would give me a paunch. I had to stop.
“So… how are you?” Sloane asked.
“I’m fine. What about you?” I sipped my coffee.
“You’re just fine. That’s it?” Sloane snapped.
What the hell did I miss? I looked up from my food, and the whole table stared at me. There are no secrets in this town.
“Do I assume everyone knows?”
“You didn’t exactly hide it,” Adrian said. “Your car was in my parking lot all night the other night.”
“Wait, no, her car was in the hotel parking lot last night,” Jonah said.
“Was it two nights in a row?” Eden asked.
“You guys need to mind your business. We’re both consenting adults,” I declared. The temperature of the room had risen several degrees, but I refused to adjust and let my nerves show.
“Don’t screw over my friend,” Sloane said and polished off her éclair.
I needed to get them off my back. “I will not screw her over. In fact, she’s the one protesting my company and fighting me tooth and nail over the sale.”
“And yet you still sleep with her,” Adrian quipped.
“We reached a truce,” I said.
Everyone at the table laughed.
“You believe that?” Jonah asked.
“She’s still going to try to stop the sale. But she agreed to quit trying to put me out of business.” I sipped my coffee.