Chapter 32 Sloane
Sloane
After what I discovered as the possible meaning behind the earpiece found at my father’s crime scene, I headed home to shower and wait for Lydia.
She’s coming over tonight as planned, and I have so much to talk to her about.
After Riven gave me Callum’s last name, it wasn’t hard for me to find a number.
I could have asked for that, too, but I’m way too good at finding shit out on my own.
I wasn’t even sure that Riven would give it to me.
I’m sitting on my sofa, doom-scrolling on my phone, when Lydia walks right in like she owns the place.
“Lo! This security system is nice!” She brings her purse over to the counter and sets it down, moving to the sink. “I got my nails done earlier, and my hands feel weirdly sticky.” Wait, the sink. Oh shit.
I nearly choke on absolutely nothing, jumping up from the sofa to intercept her.
“Uh, yeah, it really is. It’s a funny story, actually.
” I pause, coughing to clear my throat. “Here, let me wash these real quick and get them out of the way.” I walk over, pushing past her to get to the sink.
As I run my hands over the soapy corkscrew and ice cream scoop, images of what Riven used them to do flash through my mind.
My cheeks heat at the memory. Once I’m done hand washing, I open the dishwasher and shove them both inside. This calls for a steam cleaning.
“Funny story, huh? This doesn’t have to do with a certain professor, does it?
” She giggles, bumping her hip into mine.
She cranes her head to look at my face. “Are you okay? You’re kind of flushed.
Wait! You’re blushing. Oh, this is going to be so good,” she practically sings, like my life is the most entertaining piece of new gossip to hit the streets of Hollowcrest.
“Maybe it is about him,” I say. “So what if it is?” I turn, holding my head high, moving to pour myself a glass of water. My mouth is suddenly so dry.
“Lo! You little …” She turns toward me, leaning against the kitchen island on her elbow. She props her head in her hand, smirking up at me like she knows all of my dark and dirty secrets.
“So, how was it?” How does she always manage to know things without me saying a single word?
“How was what?” I say, averting her gaze to take another sip of water.
“Oh, come on, babe. You were never a great liar,” she mocks, popping her hip out and placing a hand on it.
I grab my glass of water and walk over to the sofa, sitting. After quickly washing her hands, she follows behind me, giggling like she knows I’ll give in at any second and spill my secrets.
I sigh. “Okay. Yes,” I say.
“Yes?!” She hops to her knees, beaming at me like she already knows the answer but is going to make me say it, anyway. “Yes, what?” She bounces up and down like a child.
I blink and then blink again. I open my mouth to speak, but then close it. Finally, I manage to gain the courage.
“We had sex,” I say, throwing my hand over my mouth. Lydia starts cheering. Yes, full-on cheering with her fist pumping in the air, and an exclaimed, “Yeeeeeees!”
She drops back down and sits, crossing her legs over one another. She places her elbows on her knees and leans forward, resting her chin in her cupped hands.
“Do tell me more.” She’s smiling from ear to ear.
“It was really good, Lyd. Like, damn good,” I say, smiling like a fool and unable to hold out any longer.
“Wow.” She beams. “I want to be you when I grow up.” She leans back against the sofa.
“I guess you forgave him, then,” she asks.
I chuckle. “I guess you could say that. He came over and apologized,” I say.
“Mhmm. I’m sure he apologized all right,” she says sarcastically.
“I made him work for it, of course,” I say, giving her the details she so desperately wants from me.
“Lo!” She gasps. “You dirty, dirty girl.” We both laugh.
“No, but really, I’m so happy for you, babe.” She places her hand over my knee. “Are you two like official now?”
“Well, he did say that I’m his, and some other things about chasing me to the ends of the earth and incinerating my enemies, or something like that,” I say nonchalantly.
“Sloane!” She throws her hand over her mouth on another gasp. “What?!” She pauses. “That’s so … romantic.” Leave it to Lydia to be the only human on earth to think that a man threatening to kill for me is romantic.
“Yeah?” I ask, assessing her.
“Oh, totally, babe. It’s very ‘touch her and die.’ It’s giving Aries, and some of our very favorite fictional men are Aries. I love that for you.” Leave it to her to guess his correct Zodiac sign.
I chuckle. “Well, when you say it like that.”
She nods, knowing she’s right. A thought must suddenly occur to her, as most do, because she sucks in a breath and grabs my wrist. My eyes flick to her hands. I can feel the heat spread across my cheeks as I recall another set of hands restraining them above my head on top of my kitchen island.
“Where can I find one?” she questions, snatching me from the memory. “Does he have a brother by any chance?”
“I don’t know.” I laugh. “But I did find …” She releases my wrist, and my opposite hand mindlessly massages the area.
“Oh my God! You found Callum’s last name, didn’t you?” she exclaims, interrupting me.
I smile. “I found something even better than that.”
She’s bouncing in place on the sofa again, a huge smile splayed across her face. Her eyes are shining with excitement.
“Tell me now,” she demands.
“I got his number.” I brace myself. She grabs me by the shoulders and shakes.
“Lo! I knew you could do it.” She reaches over for her phone that’s sitting on the end table next to the sofa.
“Let’s have it, then,” she says, grinning. I grab my phone and pull up the number, reading it aloud to her. She types it into her phone, repeating it back to me. She looks up from her phone with a mischievous grin. Oh, no. What have I done?
“Lyd, no.” I shake my head, reaching for her phone. She pulls it back from me, tsking.
“Too slow. Maybe next time.” She looks down, typing something into her phone. She types, and types, and …
There’s a smug grin on her face as she dramatically uses her pointer finger to hit one last button that I really hope was not send. She drops the phone in front of her on the sofa, and I snatch it.
My eyes widen as I read the text message that she definitely did send to Callum freaking Thorne. Why is it so long?
Lydia: Hi. My name is Lydia Aston, but my friends call me Lyd.
Well, really just Sloane. I’m Sloane’s best friend, by the way.
I’m not looking for anything either, so it’s fine if you aren’t.
We could just hang out…or talk, or whatever.
I’m also a certified Golden Retriever trainer, if that’s something you’re into.
You know what, forget that I said that part.
That’s an inside joke between Sloane and me, and…
I’m rambling. I am…so sorry. Look, Cal, is it okay if I call you Cal?
Shit, anyways, if you never want to speak to me again after this text, then I would totally understand, but also if you could…
that would be cool too. Anyway, I hear you’re not one for words.
Good thing I am, though, right? Okay….. Goodnight, good sir. Love, Lyd. *kiss face emoji*
My mouth is still wide open when I look up from her very wordy, very sent text message to Callum.
“Ly-d-yuh!” I say, pronouncing the syllables. “Why … what? This is bad,” I say, unable to properly voice my worry and panic.
“What?” She grabs the phone back, reading through it again. “Nah, it’s fine.” She shrugs.
“It’s definitely you. That’s for sure.” I cover my face with my hands. “You couldn’t have said…I don’t know, hey?” I say, pausing, “like a normal human?”
I can’t help the smile and laughter bubbling up my throat. Lydia keeps you guessing. Although it can be quite insufferable at times, it’s one of my favorite qualities about her. A quality that I wish I possessed instead of the rigid control and order that is my brain.
“Nah, that’s boring. And I think we both know that I’m not normal. This way, even if he doesn’t respond, he’ll be thinking about that weird text forever.” She throws her head back in laughter. I laugh with her until tears fall from my eyes.
I wipe my eyes and sigh. “From my brief encounter with Callum, he’s going to be scarred for life. That guy has a stick up his ass. He’s so serious and broody.”
“Mmm. I love a big, broody man. Those are usually the most fun to break.” She sighs.
“That’s if he doesn’t run away after your weirdo text.” I laugh. “I hope he doesn’t tell Riven. I’ll never hear the end of it for not asking for the number.”
“Oh, come on. You two have mastered the apology. It’s fine.” She smirks. I reach across and smack her leg.
“Shut up,” I joke. She stands from the sofa, walking over to the freezer. She opens it up and looks around, bending down.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I need a snack after all that guy talk. Don’t you have ice cream? You always have ice cream.”
“Yeah, it’s in the bottom drawer,” I say.
“Found it.” She grabs the half pint of cookie-dough ice cream from the freezer and stands, closing the door.
She places it on the counter and turns toward the dishwasher.
And although I know I just washed the ice cream scoop, I cannot bear to see her use it to scoop ice cream right now.
I jump up from the sofa and nearly sprint to the utensil drawer, pushing past her to grab a spoon.
“What are you doing, weirdo?” she questions, eyeing the spoon suspiciously. “We can just use the scoop. It’s washed.”
I’m sure my bright red cheeks and flustered eyes are giving me away right now. “Use this,” I say, handing her the spoon and trying to mask my utter embarrassment. I know Lydia would never kink shame me, but I’m going to take this one to the grave.