Page 27
The silence is deafening as we all stare at him, stunned. I can’t believe he just said that shit. Inviting him along might have been a massive mistake.
Logan’s face turns crimson, his lips tightening into a thin line as he glares at Salem.
“You fucked my uncle?”
Taylor slowly climbs off Salem, who lifts her chin defiantly. “Yeah, so what? I fucked Taylor and Christian, too, before we got together.”
Logan’s expression twists into something I’ve never seen before—pure rage. “But neither of them is my fucking uncle!”
His voice ricochets through the room, making all of us flinch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry in all the years I’ve known him.
He rips the sheets off, jumps to his feet, and storms toward the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. We all stand there quietly for a moment, glancing at each other with wide eyes.
Then I notice Salem’s jaw quiver. She lets out a slight, shaky sniffle before grabbing her bag off the floor. As she strides toward the door, she smacks Devon clean across the face without so much as a word.
The slap cracks like a gunshot. Devon’s head snaps to the side, brown hair falling over the reddening mark on his cheek. His jaw tightens as he watches her leave, and for a moment, I think I see shame flicker in his honey-gold eyes.
But it’s gone in an instant as he scoffs. “I’ll go talk to my nephew.”
He pulls on a pair of Logan’s jeans from the floor before heading to the bathroom, and I sigh heavily.
“I’ll go talk to Salem.”
She’s in the shower when I head back into our room, the bathroom door slightly cracked. I tug off my shirt, ready to join her but freeze when I realize I’m not alone.
Matty followed me in.
He stands there, rooted to the spot, his gaze dropping to my crotch before slowly dragging up my body. His eyes linger on my arms, on the freshly fading burns, and I instinctively fold them to hide myself. He’s seen the scars plenty of times, but that was… before. Back when things between us weren’t so complicated.
Who am I kidding? They were always complicated.
“Are you fucking her too?” he asks, his voice uneven, rough like gravel, and the words hit me like a sucker punch. My chest pinches so hard I can barely breathe.
“No offense, Matthew,” I reply coldly, “but who I fuck isn’t any of your business. Not anymore.”
His sunny blue eyes snap to mine, wide with surprise, but I can’t hold his gaze. I’m already moving, slipping into the bathroom and closing the door behind me.
The sight of him—the way he looks at me, the ghost of what we used to be—makes me ache. I can’t do this. I can hardly stand being in the same room with him, knowing everything we had and everything I lost.
The sound of soft sobs rises above the hiss of running water, and my chest clenches harder as I slide the shower door open to step inside.
Salem sits on the floor, knees pulled up to her chest, as the water pours down over her, soaking her tangled red hair. She looks a mess.
Grabbing the tiny bottle of hotel shampoo, I scoot in behind her, encasing her thighs with my own as I press my chest to her back.
“Wanna talk about it?” Pulling wet strands out of her face, I lather up my hands and wash her hair, starting from the ends.
She shrugs a shoulder, wiping her nose on the back of her arm. “What is there to say? I…I fucked up.” A sob makes her pause. “I don’t even remember it. Any of it.”
“Maybe that’s not such a bad thing,” I mutter bitterly, massaging her scalp and fighting my own memories. How I wish I had the blissfulness of ignorance.
She sniffles, her voice trembling. “I’d always dreamed about what our first time would be like. I wanted to make it special for him. God, I’m so stupid.”
“You’re not stupid. Gross and romantic, but not stupid.”
“It was just different with him, you know?” She huffs a wet laugh. “Every guy I’ve ever been with is a manwhore. Logan was…he was supposed to be mine.”
Finishing with the shampoo, I gently push her forward to rinse it out. “But you broke up with him, though?”
