Chapter 13 Sloane
Sloane
Less than an hour later, Monica’s assistant, Tami, lead us into her office. “She’s just finishing up her meeting. Go ahead and have a seat. She’ll be with you shortly.”
I gave her a smile I didn’t feel and pushed past her, going for the chair near the window where I always sat. Ever since I saw that article on Kolton’s phone, my thoughts had been a loud swirl in my head.
“Does it feel calculated to you? Because it feels like it to me,” I muttered under my breath, not expecting a response.
“It’s going to be okay,” came Kolton’s reply, though his voice was tight and I wasn’t sure he believed it any more than I did.
Hunched over in the chair, I stared out the window at nothing, not seeing the cars and people down on the street, not caring about the world spinning around me. Warm hands curled around my shoulders, gently pulling me upright.
“Hey, you’re all right.” His fingers dug into my tense muscles, massaging away the tightness there. “I won’t let anything happen to you, okay? You’re safe with me.”
Not for the first time, I wanted to melt into him. His fingers loosened the tension in my neck, lessening the grip my impending headache had on me. I leaned back, letting my head lull to the side as he dug his thumb into the muscle, down my spine and into my shoulder.
“Oh my fucking god, Kolton,” I groaned as he worked a sore spot that left me feeling like he’d taken a heavy weight off my shoulders.
“Shit, are you okay?”
“Don’t stop,” I demanded as he tried to step away. “So help me, I will kill you if you don’t keep doing”—I flapped my hand at my neck—“whatever the hell you’re doing.”
“Are you sure?”
I turned a glare on him, but I couldn’t hold it when I caught sight of the look on his face.
He had an innocence about him that you wouldn’t expect from a man as tall and as strong as him.
I’d seen him without a shirt on, seen him in nothing but his gym shorts.
While he was too slim to carry too much bulk, there was no doubt that he was well built.
But the look he wore now made him seem like he was just a kid standing in front of a broken cookie jar.
It softened me up, made me want to ease his pain. “Please?”
He blinked quickly before he was reaching for me again. “As you wish.” When he dug his fingers into my shoulders, I barely stifled a moan.
If this is what he could do with his hands…
No. I couldn’t think like that. I couldn’t imagine him using those magic fingers for…
No. Just no.
“Why did you go into security?” I asked to change the path my mind was racing down as his thumb slid along the line of my neck again.
For a moment, I didn’t think he was going to answer. I thought maybe I’d ruined this whole thing as his hands paused in their ministrations. Then he swept a tendril of hair to the side and dug in again.
“My, umm… My sister had it all planned out. I was going to be a nurse.” He spoke slowly, weighing every word.
“And I always listened to her. But this time? I couldn’t.
” He shuddered, his gaze fixed on something far away.
“I’m terrified of the needles. The blood.
The feeling of being trapped. When I saw this job, it was the first time I chose something just because I liked it.
Applying was the best decision I've ever made.”
He moved lower, working his fingers under my shoulder blade. “I’ve always wanted to help people. And I get to do that here. I can keep people safe, make sure no one gets hurt, and… I don’t know. It’s just better.”
“No bodily fluids?”
He chuckled as he let up, then tucked a hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered, and goosebumps rose along my skin. “Yeah. That was definitely a plus.”
“I get it.”
“Oh yeah?” He stepped to the left, out of my view, and started working on my other shoulder. “You have an aversion to bodily fluids too?”
His joke pulled light laughter from my chest.
“Well, yes.” I groaned as he dug his thumb into my neck again.
“God, that feels good.” I let him work for a moment, let my head lull to the side before it gently fell against the back of the chair.
“I get wanting something of your own. Making decisions for yourself because it’s something you want instead of something that’s expected of you. ”
“Tell me something you want that’s just for you.” His voice was so quiet, it was like he was whispering in my ear. It felt far too intimate, and yet I couldn’t stop myself from answering.
“It’s not exactly just for me, but I want to do a collab album for charity. I have so much, and I want to give back to those in need. And I know there are other artists out there who would be willing to get on board, I just have to find them.”
“I think that’s a great idea.”
“You do?” I peeked up at him, only to realize my head wasn’t leaning against the back of the chair but instead against his hard stomach. Blood rushed to my cheeks, but he didn’t seem to notice, just kept digging his fingers into my muscles. He brushed my hair away and his eyes connected with mine.
“Who doesn’t love the idea of helping those in need?”
“Well.” I turned my head under the guise of letting him dig a little deeper into my neck muscles, but really, it was so I wouldn’t get lost in his gorgeous eyes. “Beckett, for one.”
“Beckett’s a fucking douchebag.”
“What?” I whipped my head back and looked up at him again.
Kolton gave a shrug, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“He’s a piece of shit, Sloane. He’s an absolute horror in the media and he’s a piss-poor actor.
The fact that he gets away with it is mind-boggling.
Add to that how he treated you! He fucked your best friend, flaunted her in public after you broke up, then had the audacity to show up at your apartment and call you his girlfriend.
Like anyone would believe that. Like… Oh my god, what the hell am I doing? ”
This time, when he pulled away, I whipped around to face him. “What is it?”
He had his hands over his mouth, his chocolate eyes wide. I reached up and grabbed his fingers, tugging them down.
“What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “I’m a horrible person. Just forget I said anything, okay? I know you don’t want to hear my opinions about your ex.”
Squeezing his fingers, I was tempted to string them between my own. “I love your opinions about my ex.”
“You do?”
“Kolton, he fucked my best friend, flaunted her in public, then had the audacity to show up at my apartment and call me his girlfriend.” I raised my brows and stared at him.
“On top of that, he assaulted my bodyguard and acted like such a spoiled brat that building security had to electrocute him to get him to stop.”
A crooked smile curled his lips, and he shrugged one shoulder. “Tasered.”
“Huh?”
“They tasered him? Not electrocuted? You know what, that’s not important. What’s important is how he treated you, and that’s not okay.”
Once again, my face burned, but Kolton almost forcefully turned me around.
He dropped my hand and dug into my shoulder as if he could silence me and push past this embarrassing conversation.
But it stuck with me, weaseling its way deep into my brain as he worked through the remaining tension in my left shoulder.
Beckett wouldn’t have let it go. Brooklyn wouldn’t have either.
There was a difference between tasering and electrocuting—that much was clear from Kolton’s reaction.
What that difference was wasn’t clear to me, and the fact that Kolton was studiously avoiding prodding at my ignorance while diligently massaging my neck had my mind spinning just as much as it was when we first walked in.
A low moan escaped me as he worked my neck again, and I couldn’t help it—I dropped my head back against him again, reveling in the feel of his attention.
“Does that feel good?” Kolton asked, just a whisper.
“So good. My god, you’ve got magical fingers.”
Before embarrassment had a chance to sweep through me again, my manager’s voice rang out behind me. “What, exactly, is going on here?”
I spun away from my bodyguard, expecting him to do the same, but he just turned toward Monica and gestured at me with his thumb.
“Just working out the kinks,” he said. “My sister, Kacie, gets migraines sometimes, and loosening up the neck muscles seems to prevent non-hormonal migraines, so I thought I’d give it a shot.
I know stress can be a trigger, and, well… ”
He dipped his head, and I watched as he toed the carpet like a little kid caught doing something wrong.
Monica just smiled. “That’s very thoughtful of you.” She turned her gaze on me, and that smile dropped as her eyebrows rose. “Are you okay? Need to take some medicine before we begin?”
I was about to open my mouth and tell her yes, I needed a pill, but I couldn’t get words to form.
Between his magical fingers and his sheepish behavior, and his complete and utter thoughtfulness, I wasn’t sure what to make of Kolton.
He wasn’t what I expected, that was for sure, and I was beginning to think maybe not all men were bad.
When I managed to shake my head, Monica cut to her desk and sat down, all business. “We need to get out in front of this thing with Beckett and Brooklyn. Your performance at the Eagles Loft should have made bigger waves than them having another romantic dinner at one of their favorite restaurants.”
Kolton darted a glance my way before he grabbed the chair beside me and pulled it closer to Monica’s desk. His back was to me, and it felt like the two of them were cutting me out of the conversation when he asked, “What do you suggest we do?”
She grabbed her planner from the corner of her desk and flipped it open.
“I think we need to push fast forward on our plans. Sloane, I know you wanted some time after Olivia was here before you got on the road, but I don’t think we can afford that.
I’ve made some adjustments to your schedule, and I booked another couple of appearances on the east coast. I’ve got you down for two different interviews in Florida and that morning show in Boston finally called back, so I went ahead and booked you there, too. ”
Everything Kolton had done to loosen my muscles suddenly felt like it hadn’t happened. My shoulders crept toward my ears and my blood pounded in my temples. The headache I thought he’d staved off was rearing its ugly head.
“I thought we decided not to overdo the appearances,” I told her, my tone biting. Kolton glanced my way, his brow furrowed, and the sight did nothing to calm me.
“There’s overdoing appearances and then there’s staying on top of the news cycle.
With the way Beckett and Brooklyn are acting, I’m afraid that they’re going to take any attention away from you, and I don’t think we can risk that with your label.
They need to see that you’re just as marketable as you were when you were on Beckett’s arm. ”
“Beckett doesn’t matter!” I snapped.
Monica took a sharp breath in and let it out slowly.
When she spoke again, it was like she was talking to a toddler crying over not getting their way.
“Sloane, it’s not Beckett that matters, it’s public opinion.
It’s your reputation on the line, and we need to make sure you’re doing everything you can to stay in the public’s good graces.
The appearances will help. The charity concert will help.
You’ve wanted this for so long, and now that it’s booked, we can’t back out. ”
I wanted to tell her there was a difference between genuinely wanting to help people and just wanting to stay in the news cycle twenty-four-seven. The latter was something I didn’t want. It was something Beckett would have forced me to do because it made him look good.
Now it was me Monica was trying to make look good, and I didn’t want it at all.
Kolton’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I jerked away from his touch, snapping my gaze to my manager’s.
“No more after this. I don’t want you booking anything without my approval going forward.”
“Sloane—”
“No, Monica.” I stood from my chair so fast, it nearly fell over.
But of course, Kolton was there, stopping it from toppling to the floor.
“This is exactly what I didn’t want. I’m trying to get over what Beckett did to me, not be more like him.
” Without another glance in either of their directions, I stormed out of Monica’s office.
“Sloane, wait!” Kolton called after me, but I wasn’t going to stop. I made it as far as Tami’s desk before Kolton grabbed my hand and tugged. The softness of his hand on mine was overridden by the sharpness of his voice. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” I snapped, trying to free myself from him and Monica and everything.
“Diva, you can’t just go running off without me. I’m here to protect you, remember?”
“How could I forget?” I crossed my arms over my chest. I felt hollow inside, and I just wanted to be alone.
Kolton put his hands on the outsides of my arms, rubbing like he thought I was cold, or that he could offer me comfort the way he had moments ago before Monica came into her office.
“Come back in with me, okay? Just for a little bit? We need to get your schedule so we can be prepared for whatever it is she planned.”
A breath huffed out of me. “Can’t she just send it to you or something? It’s not like it matters if I want to or not.”
He was quiet a moment, and his voice sounded different when he said, “Should we just get it over with? Since we’re already here?
” He curled his hand around my shoulder, almost like he had when he pulled me upright to rub my neck.
Except this time, the force wasn’t tugging me upright but instead pulling me back toward Monica’s office.
“It’ll just take a minute, then I promise we can go home. ”
“Fine. Whatever. Let’s get it over with.” I brushed past him, nearly bouncing into Tami as she came around the corner. Pushing past her too, I made my way back to Monica’s office.
Back to being told where to go and how to act, as if what I wanted didn’t matter at all.