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It takes me two tries to get the room unlocked and get inside.
Stupid technology.
The room isn’t anything special—a typical king-sized bed type room. I sit my bag on the floor and flop back onto the bed. What the fuck am I going to do? I scrub my hand down my face. This is one big clusterfuck.
My job is screwed.
My love life is shit.
I sigh and dig my cell phone out of my pocket and search Aubrey’s number. “What’s up lucky girl? How’s that fine man of yours?”
I close my eyes. “Not good.”
They’re the only words I can get out before I start balling over the phone. I let it all go. The emotion and hurt I refused to let myself feel in front of Noel. Anger somehow put on the backburner as I allow my heart to break over the phone with my best friend.
“Aw, baby cakes, tell me what happened?” Aubrey sounds concerned.
It kills me to bring myself to admit to her what an awful person Noel is. “He’s such an asshole.”
She lets a heavy breath waft into the phone. “Did he hurt you? I’ll kill him if he laid a finger on you.”
I roll my eyes. “Nothing like that. He’s just…” I take a deep breath. “Noel has a girlfriend, Aubrey.”
“What!?” I rip the phone away from her shrill screech. “What do you mean he has a girlfriend?”
A tear rolls down my cheek and I wipe it away with the palm of my hand. It’s hard to say that out loud. “I guess he has for a while, but that’s not the worst part.”
“What can be any worse than that?”
“She’s pregnant.”
Aubrey gasps. “Like, with a baby?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes. She says it’s Noel’s.”
“Oh, my God. Screw the job, Lanie. Run away as fast as you can from that freak show. Come home.”
I can’t bring myself to tell her that Sophie is Riff’s ex. That will only make her feel weird, and this situation is fucked up enough as it is, without adding that to the mix.
I sigh and think about catching the next flight back to New York, so I can wallow in my own apartment. Being anywhere around Noel Falcon is the last thing I want to do, which is why I’m here. To get some space and figure out what my next move is.
A knock on the door startles me. Damn, I should’ve put the do not disturb sign on the door since it’s still midmorning. “Just a minute,” I say.
“Who is that?” Aubrey questions.
I shove myself up from the bed and start towards the door. “It’s probably just housekeeping.”
I pull the door open, expecting to find maid service, and my heart clenches in my chest. “What are you doing here?”
Noel shrugs with his hands in shoved deep his pockets. The neck of his red shirt hangs lose from the fight with Riff and his dark hair still wild. His face red and the sparkle in his blue eyes gone, replaced by dullness. He looks awful. “Can I come in?”
A sane person would slam the door in his face after telling him to take a flying leap. As much as I want to do that, I can’t bring myself to after looking at his face. He looks broken.
Maybe he actually cares that I left?
I pull the door open and he squeezes past me so I can shut the door. I lean my forehead against the door and take a deep breath. “Aubrey, I’ll have to call you back.”
“Is it him?”
I nod. “Yes.”
She takes a breath. “Tell him to fuck off, Lanie. You don’t need to put up with his shit.”
After I tell her okay, and she’s satisfied I’m about to throw him out on his ass, I end my call. He’s waiting in silence—waiting on me to make a move. Since I’ve already let him in, I have no choice but to face him—to hear him out.
I turn around and lean against the door, but I can’t look at him. The worn carpet on the floor marks a path from the bed to the door. It makes me wonder how many happy couples spent romantic weekends in this room and if any ever went through anything like this situation—betrayal by a lover.
Noel takes a step toward me and grabs my hand. I try to jerk away but he refuses to let go. “I know you hate me and never want to see me again, but I can’t let that happen. You mean everything to me, Lane. I don’t love Sophie. I never have, but I love you, more now than ever. I can’t lose you.”
My chest crunches tight at the sound of her name on his lips. A tear falls from my eye. “Why did you sleep with her, Noel? How could you betray Riff like that? More importantly, how could you keep this from me? We are not supposed to have secrets.”
He sighs and then brings my knuckles to his lips. “I don’t even remember her getting into my bed, to tell you the truth. I’m not always on my best behavior and, honestly, I was too wasted most of the time to remember much of anything, a few months ago. One morning, I woke up and there she was—completely fucking naked. I knew Riff would go through the fucking roof when Sophie told him what happened, so I bought her a plane ticket home.”
“You sent her home?”
He nods. “I wanted the problem gone. I felt like shit because I couldn’t believe that even in a fucked up state I could let that happen. Riff’s the only family I have. I would never dick him over like that, or so I thought. That’s why I sent her away—to fix things.”
“You don’t remember sleeping with Sophie at all?”
Noel frowns. “Nothing. That’s what kills me. I watched Riff call her a million times after he figured out she split, knowing at some point I would have to fess up to my shit. To be honest, I prayed Sophie would never tell him, but I knew she would. It’s just the kind of person she is.” He takes a ragged breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. “She told him we’d slept together, and she could never go back with him after that.”
