I nodded and thanked her again for having me before following Ash up the stairs. Both of our bags were in the guest bedroom, but before I could ask, he said, “I’m gonna sleep on the couch in the game room but keep my stuff in here. You can shower first, okay?”
“You don’t have to do that, Ash. I can sleep out there,” I offered, opening my bag to get my pajamas and toiletries out.
“Scarlett, don’t…” He grabbed my shoulders and made me look him in the face. “You’re sleeping in here. I want you as comfortable as possible so you can get some rest. Now go take a shower. Everything you need is in the cabinet in the bathroom.”
Standing there, staring into his captivating eyes, a wave of desire passed over me. Desire for him to hold me, kiss me, tell me everything was going to be okay. I was pretty sure he felt something too but all of a sudden, he spun me around to face the door and said, “You. Shower. Now.”
I took a quick shower and got dressed for bed so that Ash could do the same. I made my way back to the guest room and slipped into the cool, crisp sheets. The last thing I remembered before passing out was the opening and closing of the bathroom door.
At some point in the middle of the night, I woke myself up crying from an awful nightmare where Evie kept appearing and telling me she knew what I had done. Within seconds, the door opened and Ash came directly to the bed. Without waiting for me to say anything, he lay down in the bed and scooped me into his arms.
“It’s okay, Butterfly. I’m here. It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered into my hair as he rubbed my back.
After a few minutes, I had calmed down and my breathing had returned to normal. “Sorry,” I said softly.
“Stop. Don’t apologize. You haven’t done anything.”
I didn’t say anything for a few minutes, thinking about how wrong he was. I figured there was never going to be a good time to tell him, so as we lay there in the dark, I blurted out, “I had sex with Max.”
MASON
The morning after we had been offered the spot on the tour, I was on cloud nine. Things could not be going better for Jobu’s Rum and I was headed west to see my Angel. Our sexy conversations on Skype were no longer helping with the distance, it was just making me want her more and become more frustrated.
I expected her to still be asleep when I got to the apartment a little before ten since she had been out late the night before. Quietly letting myself in, I planned on joining her in the bed, but as soon as I walked through the door, something felt off. Looking around the living room and kitchen, everything looked normal so I continued back to the bedroom.
The sight of the empty bed made my stomach drop, and I hoped that she had just stayed out with Mina because she had drank too much. I walked to the closet to take my shoes off before calling her when I noticed that all of her clothes were gone.
“FUUUCCCKKKK!!!” I screamed at the empty rods. What the fuck had happened? I immediately grabbed my phone and dialed her number. Not surprising, her voicemail picked up before it ever rang.
“Scarlett?!? Where are you? What happened? Call me back now!” I screamed before hanging up.
I waited about thirty seconds before calling her back and getting the same result. She obviously didn’t have her phone on and I was about to lose my mind. My thoughts were racing. It just didn’t add up. I needed to talk to someone that could give me some kind of answers so I called Mina.
“Hello?” she answered, obviously still asleep.
“Is Scarlett with you? What happened? Why did she take her things?” I peppered the questions at her.
“No, Scarlett is not with me, and what do you mean she took her things?” Her voice filled with concern.
“I don’t know! I just got home, and she’s not here and neither are her clothes! What the fuck happened last night, Mina?!?”
“I don’t know, Rat, and don’t yell at me! She was fine the last time I saw her. We went to Empty’s at the end of the night, and Max was making sure she got home okay. I haven’t talked to her since, but now I’m up and worried.”
“Fucking shit! I am so pissed off! I’m gonna try and call Max; you keep trying Scarlett and let me know if you get a hold of her.”
I hung up the phone and dialed Max’s number. He didn’t answer and I assumed he was probably passed out from the bachelor party festivities. However, I really fucking needed to talk to him. I headed out the door to my bike, I was going to get some answers and fix whatever had happened with Scarlett.
Several hours later I was about to lose my mind. I still hadn’t heard from Scarlett, Max was M.I.A., and I had a sinking feeling that the two were related. I was sitting on my couch staring at a blank television screen, contemplating every possible explanation for her leaving, when Mina called.
“Hello?” I answered eagerly, hoping she had heard something. “Have you talked to her?”
“Not exactly,” she responded.
“What do you mean?”
“Look Rat, I’m just gonna be honest with you. I don’t know what happened, I haven’t talked to her, but Ash called to let me know that he had her. He said she’s pretty messed up.”
“You’re fucking kidding me! Please tell me you’re kidding me!” Why in the hell was she with him? This was so much worse than I had originally thought. What had happened? Fury pumped through my veins; I was going to kill that fucker. “I’m going to get her!” I was already up grabbing my key before I even had the sentence out.
“I’m not kidding and you can’t go get her. They’re not here.”