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But we are the farthest fucking thing from it.
“Talk about Sloan like that one more and you'll fucking regret it. From now on, you'll be the epitome of professionalism—or I'll make sure you never work in this industry again.”
Viv jerks her arm away from me. “Asshole.”
The waiter clears her throat just then from where she’s standing awkwardly off to the side. I look up at her and give a trademark Beck Daniels grin. “Ms. St. James seems to have had too much to drink this evening. I need to make sure she gets home safe. Can you help me with that?”
“Beck—” Viv tries to move in again, but I swat her hand away.
She doesn’t like that.
She doesn’t like thatat all.
“Oh, I get it,” she seethes. “Gotta run home so you can fuck the white trash whore? She has that Polly Sue bullshit down, doesn’t she? Puts on her pretty checkered apron before she sucks your dick?”
More people have turned to look. I see camera phones flashing.
I turn to give Vivian a venomous stare. “You’re fired, Vivian. I want you to get the fuck out of my life and stay the fuck out.”
She sneers. “I’ll have you playing third string in fucking Siberia. You don’t get to talk to me like that.”
I laugh right in her face. “You can certainly try. In the meantime, I’m going home. Have a nice life.”
I do my best thinking when I’m behind the wheel, but the drive from the restaurant back home is too short for me to sort what’s in my head. Not that any of it matters.
I don’t have to find a new management team tonight.
I don’t have to worry about Viv’s poison tonight.
I’m on my way home to see Sloan, and there’s nowhere else I would rather be going.
That thought keeps me happy until I pull into the driveway, put the car in the garage, and walk inside. Maybe I should’ve brought her some flowers or a box of candies. I should’ve done something for sure.
Because when I see her sitting on the bottom of the stairs, the look on her face is straight-up murder.
“Have a nice fucking dinner with yourfriends?”
Shit.Either the internet beat me home or she knows I lied to her when she called me.
“Viv said?—”
Wrong choice of words.If a person can explode, actually shatter into a thousand pieces, that’s what Sloan does. Not literally,obviously. But holy hell. The emotional splinters are all aimed at me.
She leaps to her feet and jabs a pointed nail in the direction of my jugular.
“‘Viv said’? ‘Viv fucking said’?” She shakes her head. “Well, you know what Viv said to me? She said,Stay away from him. Don’t fuck him.And yet I did. What the fuck does that say about me?”
I hold up a hand to placate her. “Let’s talk about this, Sloan.”
“No!”
She shakes her head and sighs as her voice drops in volume and intensity. This is worse than the fire. I’d rather see her frothing at the mouth than whispering that heartbroken rasp. “I hate seeing you with her. Is that what you wanted to hear? Does watching me grovel make you fucking happy, Beck?”
I stand silent and still. Sloan remains a mystery to me in so many ways, but I know her well enough to understand that she isn’t actually interested in my answers right now. This is something in her she needs to work through. I want to be there with her, help her, hold her hand and wipe her tears…
If she’ll let me.
“We can’t be together, Beck. Every time I think about risking it, Vivian shows up and shoves my contract down my throat. I give you the bedroom eyes and I lose my job.”
