Secure Love (Wet & Wild 3)

“Ash made an ass out of himself, that’s what happened,” Eris said.

“What did he do?” Kallie asked.

“He came up to me and rattled on about leaving Eris and you behind because of the two of you supposedly working together to be gold diggers or something,” Jeremy said.

“So, the same shit he and James have been spouting for days. Got it,” Kallie said.

“And I gave it to him. I really did,” Eris said. “I told him that you would never do any of the things James accused you of.”

“I’m really sorry he did that to you, Jeremy,” Kallie said.

“It’s not your fault. He’s the one losing his mind,” he said.

“I even played him the voice message. But it didn’t look like it did anything.”

“Wait, what voice message?” Kallie asked.

“The one when you first got back into town? You know, where you said that Ash wasn’t what he seemed to be?”

“You played that for him? You still have it?” she asked.

“I do. I didn’t delete it because I heard it and then went straight over to you.”

“A day and a half later,” Kallie said with a snicker.

“I was busy, but I got there,” Eris said. “And it didn’t do a thing anyway, but he did look like he felt like shit. He needed to be reminded of his place in all this. That man wasn’t forthcoming with you in the beginning with who he was. He seems to have forgotten his entire fucking lying streak.”

“She really handed Ash his ass. I was impressed,” Jeremy said with a grin. “She told him to not forget about the fact that you left because of his money. It was great. The entire room was silent while it happened.”

Kallie felt worse than ever. Not only had she ruined Jeremy and Eris’s night, Ash had gotten his ass handed to him in front of a bunch of people that probably respected him. And she wasn’t sure why that made her feel so bad. Maybe she was so over all of this crap that she didn’t care what Ash thought as long as the two of them moved on. Or maybe she didn’t enjoy having people become embarrassed on her account.

Or maybe she still cared about him.

Kallie refused to entertain that last part.

“Did Ash say anything after you played him the message?” Kallie asked.

“No. He was silent. Didn’t say a damn word. Not even as Jeremy and I left,” Eris said.

And any glimmer of hope that existed within Kallie was extinguished in that very moment. She remembered the voice mail she left for her friend. It would always be emblazoned within her memory. Kallie had been so shaken up and so blindsided with who Ash had been that it had frightened her. Scared her away from an island and cooped her up in her apartment. But if that voice message didn’t convince Ash of her innocence, then nothing would. She had nothing else. James had forbidden people from taking pictures at the wedding because he wanted them all to look a specific way, and she couldn't track down the wedding photographer. As far as she knew, there was no one taking videos of anything. It was her word against his, and because he had the money he was the one with the platform.

There was nothing else.

Nothing except to move on and forget about it.

“I’m going home,” Kallie said with tears in her eyes. “And I don’t care if you two come or not. But I’m going back to Manhattan and I’m spending the rest of my weekend the way I want to.”

Then, Kallie headed up to her room.

It didn’t take her long before she had herself packed. She hadn’t brough much with her and she hadn’t done much since she arrived. She slung her bag over her shoulder and slipped into her shoes, then made her way for the front door. She didn’t see anyone downstairs. She couldn't hear anyone in the house. She figured Eris and Jeremy had left to go do something fun on the island now that they no longer had her dragging them down. But it didn’t matter. Kallie would call a cab and pay the exorbitant fee to get her back. That was how badly she wanted to be home. In her own bed. Underneath her own sheets.

Away from Ash and that girl hanging all over him.

Kallie opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. The sun was hot against her face and the ocean breeze was almost stifling. She could taste the salted air on the tip of her lips. She closed the door behind her and made her way down the stairs, not looking up until she got to the sidewalk.

And she was met with Jeremy’s car.

“What?” Eris asked. “You didn’t think we’d let you ride home alone, did you?”