“Don’t remind me,” I say drily. “Though no, nothing on that scale, thankfully.”
Landon doesn’t say anything. But now that it’s out, I might as well get the rest of that shit out, too. “She went through my phone.”
“Oh.” He pauses, as if waiting for something more. When I say nothing, he adds, “Is that it?”
“Is that it?” I glare at him. “Oh, I’m sorry—is that not an invasion of privacy for dads who have much more important things to worry about?”
“Nah, it still is pretty shitty,” he admits with a half shrug. “I just thought when you said that you couldn’t trust her, we were talking about some major betrayal. Like her banging your cousin. Or stealing your Rolex.”
I keep on glaring at him.
“Was it when you were sleeping?” Landon asks.
“No, it was before we even went on a date, after I’d been kind of a jerk to her and dropped my phone accidentally into her…” Realizing that I’m pacing, I force myself to stop. “What the hell does it matter? It’s still a sketchy thing to do. Even if it was her friends who hacked into it—she looked at my photos, man!”
“You still have those funny Arctic glamour nudes?” Landon asks with a chuckle.
“No, that’s not the point!” I open my mouth, then close it.
I sound like a butthurt idiot. So what if she went through my phone? It wasn’t even her idea.
“You sure that’s the reason you’re upset?” Landon asks. He shrugs again. “Then again, I’m not your psych, just your twin. Anyway. Are we going to spend the night out here arguing, or go in and make sure Emerson’s night ends well too?”
My answer is to stride back into the club. Coming out here was the problem in the first place. I don’t need more time to think. Fuck it, I don’t need any time to think at all. That was the problem in the first place.
Inside, Emerson’s still with his girl, their arms around each other, and Jax with his, moving along to the slower beat of the music. Mine is long gone, and who the hell knows why I feel relieved.
The rest of the night is more fun—we get on the dance floor and dance until we’re exhausted. We go out for burgers after, then go our separate ways.
Jax and his girl take the spare bedroom. I go into mine and sit on the bed.
Now that I can’t put it off any longer—what I didn’t even realize I was putting off until now—I pick up the phone.
Chapter 10
Sierra
What could it have been about?
I eye my phone suspiciously, but Nolan left no message when he called me up at four AM after an entire day of avoiding me after I told him about the phone thing.
I put my phone away with a final frown.
No way am I going to be some afterthought booty call, if that’s what he had in mind. If not, well… then he could have left a voicemail. Or even just a text.
Now, it’s eight AM, and still no word from him. Whatever.
For breakfast, I have some ramen with paprika. Then I walk Horatio, who only chases one other dog, probably since most have the good sense to stay away after he barks at them a few times.
Then, at home, I cave.
“You what?!?” Josie exclaims as soon as I tell her over the phone.
“Knew it,” Wynona says in a tone that could be good or bad or anything in between.
“Yeah, well,” I say, finding I can’t say anything else.
“So, it was amazing then?” Josie presses.
“Do you have to even ask?” I say with a sigh. “Yes, the sex was crazy amazing.”
“And…” Josie’s tone goes hesitant. “How do you feel about it?”
“Honestly?” I collapse-sit onto the couch and gesture Horatio over from the floor. He sits there and blinks at me. Sometimes I think he’s more cat than dog. “I’m not really sure. Afterwards, we kind of cuddled for a bit, but then I blurted out something stupid and it ruined everything.”
“Did you tell him about that time we made a voodoo doll of your bully and stuck pins in it?” Wynona asks.
“No—what? Why would I even…”
“Ignore her,” Josie mutters. “She’s trying this weird new nootropic and it’s been making her blurt out the randomest shit these past few days.”
“It isn’t random asking the cashier all the different countries all the unlabeled apples come from,” Wynona argues. “It’s not.”
“Can I say what I was going to?” I cut in.
“Of course,” Josie says. “What happened?”
“I admitted that we looked in his phone and he went all quiet and left.”
Silence.
“Huh,” Josie says.
“Tool,” Wynona says heatedly. “Like that’s worse than the worst thing he’s ever done.”
“I don’t even know what I was thinking in the first place, telling him like that, or even sleeping together at work in the first place,” I say sadly. “That’s the thing—I wasn’t thinking. It all just happened so fast…” I sink deeper into the couch, part of me wishing it could just envelop me completely. “Jesus, guys, I had sex with my boss on my first day on the job.”