Page 18 of Ghost Among Lies

"There are better ways to get a man's attention."

"And I assure you, I had every intention of simply talking, but you attacked, and I felt the need to defend myself."

Her matter-of-fact tone pissed me off. She was blaming me. The victim here.

"You broke into my house while I was sleeping. What did you expect me to do? Welcome you with open arms?"

"Sarcastic. I like this guy." The woman standing next to Sloane, with black hair and bright red streaks running throughout, slapped my ex in the arm with a chuckle.

"Well, thank you. I'm sorry we haven't formally met. I'm Hayes, and you are?"

"Nyx. You've already met Anita. That's her boy toy, Beckett. The one hiding behind us is Lilith, and I don't think you need an introduction to Sloane." She pointed to each person respectively.

"You're right. Sloane and I know each other intimately."

Maybe intimately was the wrong word considering we never made it past second base. We both agreed that wouldn't happen until our wedding night.

"Right." Nyx dragged the word out. "But that's not why you're here."

"No, apparently, it's to talk." I turned my head to my ex and gave her my full attention. "I'm clearly not going anywhere anytime soon." I pulled on the restraints to prove my point. "So how about you tell me what you want to talk about so I can get back home and check on my business."

Sloane glared at me with her arms crossed over her chest. If I weren't tied down, I would mimic her stance just to screw with her. I didn't particularly like that she had me at a disadvantage, but it would seem that was a habit where we were concerned.

"Mason Dunkin."

I rolled my eyes. Not this again. "I already told you I didn't know the guy before he sat down across from me at the cafe."

"Well, I don't believe you. Hence the discussion again."

"I don't really care what you believe." I glanced around the room at the women, but it was the guy––Beckett I believe they said his name was––who piqued my interest. There was something about his demeanor that struck a chord with me. He reminded me a little too much of the law enforcement guys I've dealt with over the years. "But I am curious why you have such a hard-on for him. What did he do? Break one of your hearts?"

Clearly that was the wrong thing to say. Anita went from relaxed to “I'm going to rip your throat out” real fast. If it wasn't for the guy hooking her around the waist and dragging her ass out, I would likely be dead.

Sloane glowered at me. "That question didn't win you any favors."

"I can see that. How about this one instead? Why the fuck did you leave?" If I was going to be forced to stay here and deal with her, I might as well get the answers I wanted. My intention was to find her but she beat me to it.

"Everyone out!" Sloane didn't look away from me while she shouted.

I didn't break eye contact as the other two left. I didn't need to see them to know they followed the order. Their heavy footsteps were answer enough.

"So you can have an audience to question me about some guy I barely met, but this discussion requires privacy?"

"You don't get to turn this around on me."

"On the contrary. I told you the last time we spoke that you lost the right to question me. You want answers? Fine. But only after I get what I want first."

"The reason I left doesn't matter anymore."

"It sure as hell does to me. We had our future planned out. We were going to get married. Hell, you wore my damn ring on your finger. I went to bed one night thinking everything was fine, and then the next day after work, you didn't show as planned. I went crazy looking for you. Even tried your parents’ place, but they wouldn't let me past the gate. For two days, I was out of my mind with worry until one of your friends finally told me you left and were never coming back. So how about you explain to me what the fuck happened to change your mind so suddenly."

The pain in Sloane's eyes was the only indication what I said hurt her. But even that didn't last long. This new Sloane didn't wear her heart on her sleeve anymore. She locked that shit down. Either that or she didn't care about me anymore.

"Life happened. A big ole dose of reality slapped me in the face, and I did what I had to do to survive."

"And you didn't think to confide in me? I swore I would always be there for you, and you didn't give me the chance to do that. You took that choice away from me."

"Yeah, well, you weren't the only one who had choices taken from you." Anger simmered in her eyes, but it was the sadness in her voice that gave me pause.