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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Liam
It’d been a while since I’d found myself wrapped around a girl I liked, clothes on, grinding on her like every moment might be my last. It’d been amazing. Or maybe that’s just how Ashlyn made me feel.
Regardless, after lying there for a bit, I’d gotten up to go. I couldn’t stay in my jeans another moment, and her tiny couch was all but destroyed from our activities. Even as I scooted her farther onto the cushions, her sleepy mumble made me grin.
She might look like an ice queen, but under that exterior, she was hot as hades and twice as willing to sin. Even now, I was tempted to just peel off my clothes and join her again.
Leaning over the coffee table, I snagged her cell phone. Ashlyn set alarms for everything, so I was sure she was someone who had a wakeup alarm in the mornings. Flipping open the app, I scrolled through the dozen options and selected two that seemed the most logical. On a whim, I changed the name of the alarms, smiling to myself.
God, I was turning into one of those whipped guys who stared into space thinking about cute things to do for their girlfriends. And suddenly that didn’t sound so bad. In fact, it sounded amazing.
Closing the app, I started to put it back on the table when something caught my eye. An appointment reminder for tomorrow.
“Dinner with Carter” it read in small letters. Beneath that was an address, which I recognized immediately. It was one of the fanciest restaurants in town, a French-style cuisine place I’d taken a long list of women to over the last several years. I pictured her there, which sent a twinge of unhappiness into my little bubble of joy.
Who was Carter, and why was she going to dinner with him?
He’s probably a friend, you insane prick, I thought to myself.She’s allowed to have friends.
Shaking my head, I slid the phone across the tabletop, a quickly scribbled note on the back of our dinner receipt tucked underneath, leaning over to press one final kiss to the softness of her hair, making sure the blanket was tucked around her shoulders before I slipped out.
There was still a lift in my step as I made my way down to the road. My ride waited there, stony expression locked on his face as I climbed in.
I barely stayed awake on the ride home, and after a blurry elevator ride, I peeled off my clothes and fell into bed. The sweetness of sleep enveloped me just as I realized the maids had changed the sheets and they didn’t smell like Ashlyn any longer. I frowned but couldn’t stop the rising wave of tired that took over me.
I was so deeply asleep that I never heard the texts as they started rolling across my phone screen. And when the phone vibrated its way across my bedside table, I definitely didn’t hear it hit the carpet under my bed.
***
Pounding. So much pounding. It took a long moment for me to register that it wasn’t a part of my dream or part of the renovations going on beneath my apartment. It was at my front door.
Throwing myself out of bed, I scrambled down the hall to yank open the door. Only a few people had access to this floor, which meant that whomever was waking me up at the crack of dawn was either family or very close to it.
“What?” I threw open my door, staring blurrily at my guest.
Ian’s familiar face was pale, his freckles standing out across his cheeks as he stood with his arm around my sister. Sam was tucked close, her face downcast.
“You’re not answering your phone,” he said calmly, a violent opposition to the strange expression on his face.
I patted my hips, still half asleep and wondering where I must’ve thrown my phone last night. “It must’ve fallen off the table. What’s going on?” I gripped Sam’s arm, tugging her forward.
She resisted at first, her teeth worrying her bottom lip as she stared up at me. My typically fiery sister looked like all the wind had been taken out of her sails.
“Where were you?” Sam asked, her eyes dark and tired.
“I’ve been here, asleep. I don’t understand. What happened?” I raked a hand through my hair, frustration bubbling up in my chest.
Ian shoved his way in, moving us down the hallway. Sam waited until we were stationed in the kitchen before she spoke again. “Dad called last night. He called and called and said you weren’t answering.”
I was a very light sleeper. There was no way I’d missed my father’s calls. The vibration on my nightstand was all it took to get me up in the morning. Multiple phone calls? Of course I would’ve heard that. “I don’t understand. I didn’t hear my phone a single time.”
“You didn’t? Look at your phone, Liam. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t lying about that part. He was too far gone to understand the concept of lying.” Turning her shoulders, Sam slid past me to grab a bottle of water, her stooping posture a punch to my gut that I don’t want to think about.
“Ian, how did you get involved?” A small pinprick of jealousy bloomed in my mind. That he had played hero to my sister when she clearly needed me. But first, I had to figure out what had happened last night.
Ian shrugged. “Sam called me when she couldn’t reach you. Your dad got wasted last night. He wouldn’t let the bartenders call him a cab, he refused the ride, and when you didn’t answer, he finally called Sam instead.”
