Chapter 8 Sloane #2
Shifting, I looked over my shoulder and found Kolton’s bright eyes watching me, dipping across my face, down to my throat when I swallowed hard.
He covered my hand with his, giving me a slight squeeze, instilling in me an ounce of courage before his gaze locked once more with mine.
I grabbed hold of his hand, lifting his finger toward my screen. “Do it. Please.”
Without a second’s pause, he hit the button to cut my ex-best friend out of my life. I felt both weightless and tethered, lost even as I was finding myself.
Finding what I wanted out of my life now that I had it back.
“Come on, Diva.” He squeezed my hand once more, then released my fingers. I missed his warmth the moment he stepped back. “It’s time to go.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Sloane?” Monica’s voice bordered on shrill as she walked into her office and found me sitting in the seat by the window.
Turning, I raised my brows, locking eyes with her before glancing to the corner where Kolton stood.
Where he’d been standing since I walked into the room five minutes ago.
Monica spun on her heel and her entire countenance changed. “Kolton! Hi!” She clasped her hands together, edging closer to him. “Could I bother you to wait in the hall, please? I need to have a moment alone with Sloane.”
“Not a problem, Ms. Greer.” He tossed a glance at me, looking me over like was worried about me, which I didn’t understand. “I’ll just be out here.”
He left me there, my throat aching as I wished I could fast forward through this stupid meeting. Or at least trade places with my bodyguard so I didn’t have to deal with this.
When the door clicked shut behind him, Monica put her hands on her hips, glaring at me like I’d done something wrong.
“What?”
“You know what. You’ve become a recluse, Sloane.
It’s been over a month since you came running to me asking for help moving back to Chicago.
It’s been a week now since Kolton set up your security system and started working for you, and this is the first time you’ve stepped foot outside of your apartment since you moved in. ”
Arguing that I went swimming that one time probably wouldn’t help my cause. Instead, I shrugged. “I have no need to go out. The cook you hired for me does all my grocery shopping. I have no need for anything else.”
Her lips pursed so tight, she looked like a smoker with a lifelong habit.
“Lee Bridgewater called me. He said Kolton stands at the end of the hallway every day, waiting in case you need him. Never once have you invited him inside your apartment. He’s not some unwanted pet you’ve been shackled with; he’s a human being with basic needs. ”
It wasn’t like I’d told him he couldn’t come in.
Was it my fault I assumed he could take care of himself?
I’d caught him eating his lunch on the floor outside my door.
He always brought a bottle of water with his lunch bag.
Of the two of us, he was the one who knew how to disarm the security system and get inside my apartment.
He’d just… never tried to come in, to use the bathroom or anything else other than check in first thing in the morning and before he left every evening.
Guilt trickled through me, but I pushed it aside. “I don’t need him!”
“We’ve been over this, and yes, you do. And you need to stop sulking and avoiding the world.”
“I’m not sulking! I’ve been writing!” At least, I’d tried to.
Of course, until this week, I hadn’t had a single lyric pop into my head. Until today, it hadn’t been more than a single line. Then Kolton had to open his big mouth, and I had half the song written before we left my apartment.
All because of what he’d said.
“Your label gave you time off. You just came off tour, and they don’t expect you to be back in the studio for a while.”
“And I don’t feel like sitting around staring at the walls when I could be doing something useful.”
“You could be useful by stepping outside of your apartment and living your life.” She dropped her arms to her sides, then came and sat in the chair next to mine.
She quieted her voice. “Look, I know this breakup has been hard on you, but I won’t allow you to throw your life away.
You need to be out there, showing your fans that you’re strong and nothing can hold you back.
We don’t want Beckett and Brooklyn controlling the narrative. ”
I had to press my lips together to keep them from trembling. “I don’t know what to do.”
She took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “You could start by inviting your bodyguard into your apartment, so he doesn’t have to stand in the hall.”
With a shrug, I looked out the window, staring out into the gray-blue sky. Monica let go of my hand, and rather than feeling weightless like I did when Kolton released me from his grip earlier, I felt like I was sinking.
“I’ve put a few performances on your schedule,” Monica continued, unaware of my wandering thoughts.
“You’ll be on the morning show here in Chicago with Heath and Sally at the beginning of next week.
Then there’s a few others, from New York down the coast to Georgia before you’ll be back in New York for a live children’s charity concert. ”
“Okay.”
“And Sloane,” she said as she rose from her seat, “I know how you feel about LA right now, but you need to consider heading back to the west coast at some point. There are some shows I’d like to book you for, and we could get the ball rolling on that collaboration album we discussed.”
“I’ll think about it,” I muttered, still not ready to commit to anything happening on that coast.
“It wouldn’t hurt if you got out of the apartment on your own,” she told me, but as my gaze snapped to hers, she raised a hand.
“With your bodyguard. Why don’t you try going down to the pool?
Or going shopping? Going to dinner sometime?
You haven’t even been to your mother’s house since you moved in. ”
My entire body flinched. “Did she tell you that?” When Monica did nothing more than purse her lips, realization dawned. “Skylar.”
Her smile was tight as she nodded. “Your sister is worried about you, Sloane. Don’t give her any more reasons to be concerned, okay?”
Wrapping my arms around myself, I looked away.
I’d done everything in my power to take care of Skylar while still trying to have a career, especially after my dad died.
My sister never wanted the things I did, and I wanted her to have a normal life, or at least as close to one as she could get.
She shouldn’t have been worrying about me when it was my job as her big sister to worry about her.
“Can we bring Kolton back in and discuss your upcoming trips?”
Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh, trying not to think of how it felt to be held in his arms. “Fine.”
When Monica opened the door, Kolton practically darted into the room. He looked me over as he neared, almost like he was checking for physical wounds.
“You okay?” he asked. I wanted to balk against his attention even as his concern warmed me.
Nodding, I told him, “I’m okay.”
One corner of his lips curled up. Even though it wasn’t like the wide, beaming smile he’d given me when we’d first met, it had me wanting to curl into his side.
But no. That wasn’t going to happen.
I gave him a tight smile as Monica directed us both to the chairs in front of her desk, and I settled myself in for the torture of coordinating performances I didn’t want to give with a person I didn’t want to be around.
Hours later, when Kolton ushered me back to my apartment door and pushed whatever magical combination of buttons was needed to keep the alarm system from summoning the police, I stopped him before he could pop back out into the hall.
“You’re, um… You’re welcome to come in. You don’t have to stay outside.”
“Oh, are you sure?” he asked, one foot already in the hall. “It’s really no bother. I don’t want to intrude.”
For a moment, I wished Monica were here so I could point this out. “See?” I’d tell her. “He’s fine being in the hall!”
But the hesitant look on his face reminded me of his words from earlier. I couldn’t help but wonder how many years of therapy he’d gone through, and if his lack of asking for something as simple as a bathroom break was his way of making himself smaller, putting other people’s needs before his.
I knew what that was like.
God, did I ever.
Maybe we had more in common that I thought.
“I insist,” I told him. “No more staying in the hall.”
That wide smile of his split his face before he schooled his features in a flash. He cleared his throat. “Of course. As you wish.”
“And Kolton?” He turned his gorgeous chocolate eyes on me. “Thank you. For earlier. With the...um…”
“The phone?”
“Yeah. That. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
His gentle smile nearly broke me. “Any time. You need anything at all, you just let me know, okay?”
With my nod, Kolton turned to the security system and punched in another code on the stupid device. I ducked my head and left him to it, rushing to my room to get away from whatever magic he was weaving while I wondered if this was all a big mistake.