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“You’re not mad?” I ask cautiously.
“How can I be mad, Lys? You told me to imagine how I’d feel ifIwas the man who had to walk away. I did it once and it ripped me apart so Iknowalready. But you’re here with me which I’m taking to mean you’re now mine in the same way I’m always going to be yours. And I’m fucking glad because I wouldn’t be able to live through losing you a second time.” His words surprise me as much as they thrill me. In that one declaration, he’s just proven that fate hasn’t steered me wrong.
“I love you,” I blurt out, I clamp my mouth closed in shock, my eyes bugging out as realization sinks in. I hadn’t planned on saying it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t the truth. I shake my head. “I’m sorry, I know it’s fast and it’s crazy. But I do. I love you. Barrett. I—”
He scoops me up in his arms, leaning his forehead down as his blue eyes stare intensely into mine. “Don’t youdaretake it back. I fell in love with you the moment you stepped onto that rooftop. I was a done deal when you told me to fuck you or walk away.”
I didn’t think it was possible but my splintered heart soars, and this time it’s happy tears trailing down my cheeks as my lips curve up into a slow-growing, but no less meaningful smile. “I think you need to kiss me again. Because I can’t stand hearing that you love me and not having you kiss me.”
“With fucking pleasure,” he murmurs roughly before taking my mouth and walking me back toward the bed. I fall onto the mattress with a soft bounce, and he drops down on top of me, and I know there won’t be any holding back this time.
Barrett was never the wrong or right choice—he was chosen for me. The effect he has had on me from the moment we first met can’t be denied.
It wasn't easy, it was never smooth, but it has always been real.
* * *
A while later, I’m in a bubble bath Barrett made for me. He kissed my head, put my cellphone in my hand and pushed me into the bathroom, telling me to relax while he went to brief Detective Manning as he’d promised.
Feeling myself turning into a prune, I get out of the water and wrap the complimentary white robe around me before grabbing my phone and bringing up Barrett’s number. Just as I’m about to hit the call button, the screen lights up with an unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Alyssa, it’s Marlee. Detective Manning, I mean. Has Barrett left there yet?”
I look at the clock on the wall and realize it’s been a long time since he left. “He was on his way to you over two hours ago at least.”
“Yeah, he was due to meet me at two but he hasn’t shown. Maybe I’ll try his phone again.”
“Sounds good. I’ll try sending him a text too.”
“Thanks, Alyssa.”
“You’re welcome. Goodbye,” I say before ending the call.
Walking over to the hotel window, I finish the message before looking out over the Strip and wondering what might’ve held him up. Two minutes later, my phone buzzes in my hand, a smile appearing on my face when I see Barrett’s name there.
“You’re in trouble, mister,” I say with a laugh.
“I’m not the one with a gun to his head, Alyssa. So if you know what’s good for you, you’ll come to the house and you’ll do it alone,” Gavin’s eerily calm voice warns in my ear, his tone so angry and spiteful it sends a chill down my spine. “No cops and no fucking FBI. Otherwise Barrett will be the bullseye and I’ll be the one aiming,” he says before I’m left with dead air.
“Gavin?” I shriek before throwing my phone on the bed and rushing to the hotel phone beside the bed, dialing nine one one on autopilot.
“Nine one one, what’s your emergency?” a female voice asks when the call connects. I open my mouth to speak but stop when Gavin’s threat rings loudly through my brain.No cops. No FBI.
I quickly hang up and move to my suitcase, throwing on a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved top then sliding on the first pair of shoes I can find. Grabbing my phone, I stuff it in my purse alone with my room key and race out the door, not stopping to check if it closes behind me.
My finger punches the elevator call button like my life depends on it.Not my life, Barrett’s.
It hits me that now we know why Barrett never turned up to meet Marlee. She would know what to do, but I can’t call her.No cops. No FBI.
When the elevator finally arrived, I pushed my way through the barely open doors, unaware of my surroundings and the fact there four other people in there already.
“Miss, are you alright?” an elderly man asks behind me, gently touching my shoulder.
I jump and whirl around to face him, my eyes wide with terror. “I . . .” I swallow hard and concentrate on steading my breathing. “I’m sorry. I’m . . . just in a hurry.” I give the man and his wife a fake smile to hide how scared I am before turning back to face the doors.
When we reach ground level, I rush out the doors and across the lobby to the sidewalk, my eyes catching sight of a cab with two young guys moving toward it. Without thinking, I jump in front of them and sit down in the back seat, slamming the door closed behind me.
