Chapter 21 Sloane
Sloane
“Brooklyn?” I almost didn’t believe the woman in front of me was my old friend, and I wouldn’t have if she hadn't lit up at the sound of my voice.
Where once her brown hair had stopped just shy of her shoulders, now her perfectly highlighted blonde locks hung down her back in curls that would have taken my low-maintenance friend hours to perfect.
Where once her subtle makeup would have highlighted her rounded face, now the bold black eyeliner and mascara fought against the cherry pink blush on her sharpened cheekbones and the hot pink lipstick that made her look like a recently unboxed Barbie doll.
Her outfit didn’t help matters any. Gone were the comfortable jean shorts and T-shirts she used to swear by. Now, my old friend stood in front of me in a shiny silver crop top and a matching skirt that sat a good three inches above her knees.
Her gaze darted behind me when Kolton’s hand landed on my shoulder, tugging me back a step. Her uncertain smile had me wanting to move even further away, but Kolton and all our bags were stopping me.
“Hey girl,” she said, stepping forward. Her ankles seemed to wobble in the high heels that had taken place of her beloved Chucks.
“What are you doing here?”
She looked around, eyed Kolton again, then took another step closer. “Can we talk?”
For a moment, I felt like I was back in that elevator, trapped and unable to escape.
The last thing I wanted was to be pulled back into Beckett’s sphere of influence, or to stand face-to-face with the girl I’d caught in bed with my ex.
But I was acutely aware of the people nearby and the need for civility and good press, and a small part of me ached to have my old friend back.
I forced a smile I hoped didn’t look as fake as it felt. “Of course.”
“Sloane.” Kolton’s hand tightened on my shoulder. I peeked up at him, pleading with him to understand. He studied me for a moment—my fake smile, the tightness around my eyes—before glancing around the lobby. “Over there.”
He motioned to the double doors that led to the attached restaurant and bar. It was still early enough in the afternoon that there were plenty of open seats.
With a nod, I set off toward the restaurant with Kolton on my heels, our packages obscenely loud in the thick silence that followed us. Once inside, Kolton took the lead, securing a table for us at the back of the restaurant—away from prying eyes.
When he pulled out my chair for me, Brooklyn glanced over her shoulder at the dozens of empty tables closer to the lobby and the few people who had followed us to the door, their cell phones at the ready to document this little reunion.
But I sat, and her only choice was to follow my lead or make a scene that would shine a dirty light on her.
I hadn’t watched Brooklyn walk into the restaurant behind me, but I did so now as she sat herself down on the edge of her chair.
The girl I knew would have slouched back in her seat and bitched about her uncomfortable shoes.
As Brooklyn sipped from her water glass, her back straight and her hair extensions expertly draped across her shoulders, I reminded myself I really didn’t know her at all.
That hurt more than anything.
“What do you want, Brooklyn?”
Her face pulled into an exaggerated frown as she reached across the table to grab my hand. Kolton stepped forward as I pulled my hand back, and Brooklyn’s attention shot to my bodyguard.
“Can’t I see my friend?”
I lifted my hands to my sides, but my stomach was churning with a mixture of anger and regret.
Brooklyn rolled her eyes, and for a moment, her composure dropped, and she nearly slouched back in her chair. She caught herself, righting her posture like she was playing a part and was ready to deliver her lines.
“I just wanted to apologize.” She looked back at me and pulled her hand into her lap, her bottom lip trembling.
She waited until Kolton stepped away to say more.
“Nothing was ever supposed to happen. Between me and Beckett, I mean. It’s just that you were away on tour for so long, and he didn’t know how to be alone.
This was exactly why he didn’t want you to do this, Sloane.
It’s one thing to like to sing, but your tour lasted forever.
What were we supposed to do without you? ”
Not fuck each other’s brains out, I wanted to say but didn’t.
“Anyway.” She reached across the table again before pulling up short and sending a quick glance at Kolton. “You completely ghosted us. Do you know how many times we both tried to contact you? So many times. And we had to hear it from Celebrity that you moved to Chicago? What even happened?”
She tossed her long hair over her shoulder, but she didn’t wait for a response.
“Anyway, after Beckett was”—she flashed another glance at my bodyguard and swallowed hard—“removed from your apartment building, he came home absolutely heartbroken. I tried to console him and, well, one thing led to another, and we just kind of got together.”
“Uh huh.” It was all I could muster in light of her bald-faced lies.
“We couldn’t wait around for you forever, Sloane.
You understand that, right? I’d wanted to tell you in person, but you weren’t accepting my calls, and then Beckett proposed, and I just couldn’t say no.
And I just wanted you to know that we both love you so much, and we never wanted to hurt you in any way. ”
“Right.”
“You understand, don’t you?”
“Of course, I do.” I understood plenty. I pasted on a pretty smile for the camera phones that were indiscreetly flashing our way. “Did Beckett happen to tell you I texted both of you before I moved?”
Her brow pulled down, head tilted to the side as she tried to figure out my angle. “He would have told me if you did. Besides, I had to get a new phone in the middle of March and lost all my contacts, so I wouldn’t have gotten anything even if you did.”
My eyes started to burn, and my throat was so tight I couldn’t talk. I glanced at Kolton, whose lips were pinched as he glared back at me. He gave a subtle glance at the watch on his wrist and my heart dropped to my gut.
“Silly me,” I forced through a tight throat as I turned my attention back to Brooklyn. “I must have forgotten.”
She gave me a pitying look, as if I was really that dumb. “It’s okay. See, this is why you need me and Beckett. How are you supposed to take care of yourself without us?”
“I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Brooklyn reached for my hand again, this time not bothering with a glance at Kolton, and grabbed it off the table before I could pull away. “Once you’re done with”—she waved her free hand in the air beside her—“all this nonsense, you should come home. We miss you, Sloane.”
A single tear slid down my cheek, and I tugged my hand away from Brooklyn to wipe it away. But before my lungs could inflate, she was out of her chair and moving my way.
“Oh, honey. It’s okay.” Her arms wrapped around my shoulders, snagging on my shirt as the weight of her body pressed into me like she was trying to hold me down. It was smothering, having her touch me when a cruel sense of acceptance had washed over me a minute before.
“I need you to move back,” Kolton said quietly from my side. Brooklyn froze, then slowly pulled away and looked up.
“Really, Sloane?” she said, addressing me while her eyes were glued to him. “You never needed a bodyguard when you were with us. Ditch the loser and come home where you belong.”
Kolton flashed a tight smile and draped his hand over my shoulder. His brown eyes flared white hot as he told me, “We need to go.”
Brooklyn gave a huff as I grabbed my purse from behind me and rose from my chair. “You know my number. Call me when you come to your senses.” She tossed her long hair over her shoulder and gave a beaming smile as she turned toward the cameras and the growing crowd at the front of the restaurant.
Kolton hooked his hand around my elbow and tugged me toward the waiter station near the kitchen door. The woman standing there turned as we approached, her pretty eyes going wide as they landed first on him, then me.
“Do you have a way out of here without going through the front?”
Nodding, she pointed over her shoulder. “Through here.”
“Lead the way.”
We followed her through the kitchen, getting looks from the staff the entire way.
When she slowed a minute later, she pushed open a door to a hallway that looked far more grim than any we’d seen in the hotel so far.
“The lobby is that way,” she said, pointing to the left, “and that elevator will take you up to the conference rooms on the fifth floor.”
“What about that way?” Kolton asked, pointing down the hall to the right.
“That leads to the laundry and supply rooms.”
“Thank you.” Without another word, Kolton tugged me along beside him, peeking in rooms along the way. Once he found the laundry, he ducked inside and dragged me through the place until we reached another door.
This one led us into yet another hallway that had numbered doors on either side.
He kept going, his long legs eating up the floor as I raced to keep up.
It wasn’t until we’d crossed the hotel to the other side and found our room one flight up that Kolton finally let go of my arm.
But that was only long enough to get his keycard out of his pocket and open our room door.
Inside, with the door closed and our bags unceremoniously dropped on the couch, Kolton paced, his long strides carrying him from one end of the room to the other in no time at all. And his silence was enough to make my shoulders tense up.
“Kolton, what’s wrong?”
His steps stuttered as he looked up at me.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” He shoved both hands through his hair, making the ends stand up.
Then he motioned to the door we’d just come through, his mouth working for a minute before he spit out, “Why would you open yourself up to that again, Diva? Brooklyn was lying! She couldn’t even keep her own story straight. ”
I flinched, but his raised voice had me raising mine in defense. “Don’t you think I see that?”
“I don’t know!” His hands were back in his hair, tugging the brown locks. “Why would you put yourself through that?”
A chill went through me, and I wrapped my arms around myself.
“I thought… maybe… She was my best friend, Kolton. I was hoping that maybe, somehow, it was all just Beckett manipulating her the way he always did to me. Her hair and her clothes—that’s not who she is.
That’s Beckett telling her what to do. But then… ”
Kolton stepped closer, like he wanted to comfort me but decided against it. I raised my face and looked him in the eyes.
“She couldn’t keep her story straight, you’re right. If it was all Beckett, there would have been a script to follow, and Brooklyn’s a good enough actress to learn her lines and follow the script. But she’s horrible at improv and she just proved she’s in this on her own.”
He pressed his lips together, then tore away from me, pacing again. I was almost worried he was going to pull all his hair out, the way he was tugging at it. When he spun back around, I stepped in front of him and blocked his path.
“What?”
He squeezed his eyelids shut, only opening them when I pressed my palm to his chest. “I don’t understand why you would even agree to talk to her.”
“Besides the fact that everyone in the lobby had cameras pointed our way?” When he flinched, I took his hand. “I did it because I miss her, okay? Do you think it would be easy to cut your sisters out of your life?”
“That’s different,” he said, shifting back on his heels. “They’re family.”
“Brooklyn was my family, baby. We were closer than anyone. After my dad died, she was the only thing holding me together. Losing that hurt, and I needed to see if there was any of my old friend left in her Barbie facade.”
He swallowed hard, and I could have sworn I saw his bottom lip tremble before he asked, “Is that what you want?” through a voice so tight it sounded painful. “To be back with Brooklyn. To be around… him?”
“What I want,” I told him, sweeping my palms up his chest until I could wrap my fingers behind his neck, “is right here. My handsome, sweet, caring bodyguard, who also happens to be my boyfriend.”
He dipped his head closer and muttered, “Diva,” before I could pull him to me, his lips a hair's breadth away from mine.
“I want you, Kolton.” I brushed my lips across his.
“I want someone who wants me for me and doesn’t try to change me.
Who supports me and watches out for me. Who’s happy to stay in and watch movies instead of trying to go out and put on a show every night.
I want your gentle heart and your kind soul.
” I slid one hand down his chest until my fingers reached the buckle on his pants. “And I want your gorgeous body too.”