“Thank you for giving me the chance to apologize,” she said. “I’ll let you go now.”
“Wait, Ariel.”
“Yes?”
No one would judge me if I never spoke to her again. No one would think less of me if I let Crewe lose her. But I didn’t want Crewe to lose someone he cared so much about because of me. If I’d never come into the picture, none of this would have happened. “Can you come to the castle today? I want the three of us to talk.”
“London, he doesn’t want to see me. I accept that.”
“I’ve never wanted him to lose you. I know you’re important to him, even now. There’s no reason it can’t be the three of us. You were always loyal to him until I came around. I want the two of you to have that relationship again.”
Ariel was quiet.
“Can you come to the castle?”
“I want to work it out with Crewe more than anything, but I don’t think I can watch him kick me out again. It broke my heart enough the first time.”
“We have to try. Crewe is stubborn, but if you give him enough time, he’ll come around.”
“I can be there in twenty minutes.”
“Perfect. I’ll tell Dunbar to put you in the office, and I’ll come down with Crewe.”
She sighed over the phone. “I hope this goes well, but my expectations are low.”
“My expectations are high.”
21
Crewe
“We need to get out of this room.” After I got dressed, London pulled me by the hand into the hallway.
“Do we?” I asked seriously. “Food is delivered to us whenever we want. We get plenty of exercise. And we’re naked all the time.”
“We have all night. Come on.” Hand in hand, we took the stairs together to the ground floor. Dunbar looked at me, but he didn’t wear a look of contempt for London. After my misery and blackout, he obviously thought London’s presence was essential.
London headed for my office.
I didn’t care about work right now. The business could wait until I started to care again. Without Ariel, the work was seriously piling up. It was so overwhelming I didn’t even want to bother. I’d need to get a replacement for her, but I didn’t want to deal with that either. “I hope the only reason we’re going in there is to fuck on my desk.”
“We’ll see.” She walked inside first then shut the door once I was inside.
I saw Ariel sitting on the leather sofa, in her jeans and t-shirt. Her glasses were gone because she was wearing contacts. When she looked at me, she wore the same expression of sadness that she did the last time we spoke. I distinctly told her I never wanted to see her again, so she must be here because of London.
I glared at Ariel, just as pissed off as I was the last time I saw her.
“Crewe.” London grabbed my hand. “Let’s sit down.”
“I told you I never wanted to see you again. You thought that was a joke?” My fury burned right through my skin.
Ariel looked down.
“Crewe, calm down.” London pulled me to the couch and sat down. She patted the cushion beside her. “Take a seat.”
Furious, all I could was stare at her.
“Crewe,” she whispered. “Come on. Let’s be calm about this.”
“No.” I wasn’t going to be calm, not after the person I trusted most betrayed me.
“Then sit for me,” London said. “Please.”
Only London’s beautiful voice could get me to cooperate. I resisted for a second before I lowered myself into the chair.
London grabbed my hand, her engagement ring brilliant as the sunlight filtered through the large window. “I asked Ariel to come today. She resisted because she knew how upset you were, but I pressured her to join us. So, don’t be mad at her. And you better not be mad at me.”
I watched Ariel avoid both of our gazes. She never backed down from any kind of confrontation, but now she yielded the authority to me.
“Crewe, Ariel is an important person in your life—”
“Was an important person,” I corrected. “Now she’s a stranger to me.”
London squeezed my hand. “I want the two of you to work this out. I want her in our lives.”
I yanked my hand away. “How can you possibly say that? After what she did to both of us?”
“I can say it because we all make mistakes,” London said calmly. “I betrayed you too. Then I came back. Joseph betrayed you, but you gave him another chance.”
“I never gave him another chance,” I argued. “I just put up with him for you.”
“Well, put up with her for me.”
This was ridiculous. “Why are you doing this, London? Ariel has been nothing but terrible to you. You don’t owe her a damn thing.”
“She’s family, Crewe. She’s family to you.”
“Was,” I corrected again.
“And family has their ups and downs, but they always find their way back to each other.”