Skylar broke out of my embrace and rubbed her arms as if she were cold. “We need to talk,” she croaked, her voice rough. She walked into the house, not waiting for me to follow. I called for Edgar, who came back inside, and I closed the door behind us.
Something was very, very wrong.
With increasing dread, I walked into the living room to find her sitting on the couch, holding a pillow to her chest as if to create a barrier between me and her. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day,” I began, sitting beside her.
“I know,” was all she said.
“I can tell something’s up. Please, just tell me. I’m worried—”
“I had a visitor today,” she interrupted, chewing on her bottom lip in the way she did when she was anxious.
“Okay…” I drew the word out, not understanding.
“Did I tell you about the woman I met when I went shopping with Whitney?” she asked. I shook my head. “She had just moved to town. She was really nice. We had a lovely talk about you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “About me?”
“Yeah. I was talking to Whitney about you while she was picking out shirts for Web. I was feeling like you were keeping things from me. Not opening up. I was talking about how scared I was of being hurt by someone again after Mac and his lies. How I wasn’t sure I could trust you.”
My heart started to beat fast, and my palms began to sweat.
“Anyway, this woman jumped into our conversation and I found myself chatting with her and she seemed to have really good advice about trusting my instincts. I liked her. She was refreshing.” Sky rubbed at her eyes. “Then I saw her again when I was waiting for you at Sweet Lila’s. I should have known then that something was off about her. Particularly when I said I was waiting for you.”
My gut told me where this was going. I felt my insides grow cold. “Skylar…”
“Her name was Tiff.”
There it was. My worst nightmare.
“Skylar,” I said again, but she wasn’t listening.
“She said she came to town to reconnect with a man she used to be with. She had high hopes they’d be together again. I didn’t think anything of it. I wished her luck and that was the last I saw of her until today.” She looked at me finally, her eyes chilled. “Turns out you’re the man she was in Southport for.”
“Sky, please, let me explain—”
She shook her head. “And that wasn’t all she told me. She shared a fun story about how you used to work as an escort for wealthy older women. How you met her when you were working at a strip club. And the best part? That you’re still stripping on the internet. Can you believe it? What a tale!” She slapped her thighs and got to her feet.
“Skylar, let me explain,” I called out.
She reappeared a few minutes later with her laptop and sat back down beside me. “Then she gave me this.” She held up a flash drive and put it on the laptop. She clicked a file and I already knew what I was going to see. “Talk about a show,” she remarked blandly as the sight of me dancing naked to club music filled the screen.
I reached over and closed the file, ripping the flash drive from her computer. “Stop it. You don’t need to see that.”
“Don’t I? It’s nice to know what your boyfriend gets up to in his free time. Especially since this Tiff woman knew all about it and I didn’t have a clue.” She bared her teeth at me.
“I should have known she’d pull something like this,” I muttered, feeling sick to my stomach, close to a full-blown panic attack.
“Why? Because you went to see her last night when you told me you were working late?” she added, her eyes filling with tears. I had never seen Skylar cry before. I hated myself.
“Skylar, baby, can I please explain all this to you? I know it looks bad. The worst. I planned to tell you tonight. Remember I said we needed to talk?” I said frantically, feeling like I was losing her.
I couldn’t lose her.
“Fine. Tell me. Make me understand why you kept something like this from me. And maybe while you’re at it you can tell me why I should forgive you for lying to my face over and over again.” She backed away from me, putting space between us.
I wanted to touch her. I needed to. I wanted to hold her and make her forgive me. I couldn’t bear this icy anger between us. But I knew if I tried to reach out to her she might bite my fucking hand off.
Skylar Murphy was a force to be reckoned with when she was furious.