Chapter Eighty-One
TYLER
How can I be okay with a man walking this earth who hurt the one thing I care about most in this world? The answer is easy.
I can’t.
Amidst my conversation with Cole, Sam approaches with a bottle of champagne in one hand and the skirt of her purple dress clutched in the other.
“What’s up? Where’s Sunny?” She leans on the railing with me, taking a swig of her champagne and hands it to me.
“Didn’t you hear? She’s fucking married.” I take a long drink from the bottle.
I can’t believe I let that slip under my nose. I can’t believe Mitchell found out before me. “Oh, and apparently her previous legal name was Mrs. Lauren Sunshine fucking Crawford. Or prior to that, Lauren Sunshine Masoner.”
“I mean, that doesn’t surprise me.” She looks blankly over the balcony.
“How come?” I hand the bottle back.
She shrugs. “It just makes sense. She never called him her ex-boyfriend or life partner or whatever. She never put a label on him. And I mean yeah, when you’re on the run, trying to hide from someone, the smartest option is to change your name.”
I realize that, too. Sunny never put a label on him. Ryan. She’d let his name slip. And I wasn’t going to give her any inclination that I’d picked up on it. She was careful, but I was observant.
“What do you know about him?” I ask.
“Probably as much as you do. He beat her. She took off and he did too.”
“Mitchell was the one who aired it out. In front of a lot of people,” I say, looking over the balcony.
I search the crowds for blonde curls but find nothing. If she ran off again, I’m going to lose my fucking mind.
“That doesn’t surprise me, either. They’ll do anything to make you get back with Shelby,” she says, looking at me. “Listen, can you blame her? I mean, she went through hell. She’s trying to leave that part of her life in the past. So who could blame her for not telling us.”
“If she would just let me help her,” I say, toying with a callus on my hand.
“Believe it or not Tyler, it’s not your job to save everyone. And also believe it or not, not everyone wants to be saved.” Sam hands me back the champagne. “You knew what was going to happen when you started things with her. So stop acting surprised that she isn’t changing her plans for you.”
I don’t like what she’s saying, but I know it’s true.
“You okay?” I ask as I pull my phone out to my private thread with Sunny.
“Yeah, I’m fine. You going to go find her?”
I nod. “I’ll come find you after.” I kiss my sister on the cheek then walk away.
“At least someone is going to get fucked tonight,” she murmurs.
SUNNY
After I stole a bottle of champagne from the bar, I made my way back to a quiet, dark dining room.
I lean back in a chair and prop my feet up on the table where Tyler fucked me earlier.
As I stare at the spot while I down the champagne, my attention is pulled to my new phone lighting up with a text from Tyler.
Where are you, little fire?
He’s been gone for maybe thirty minutes. I understand. He needs time to process. But I’d be lying if I said I was expecting more in that text than just that.
I decide to play petty. The champagne is making me bolder than usual.
In the room where you fucked me before you left me.
Stay there.
Setting the champagne down on the table, I stand from my seat. He’s coming and I need to prepare for another intense conversation. Tyler’s obsession has ignited after the details of tonight, and it’s time for me to put that out once again.
Pacing the room, I tap my phone in my hands until I hear the door open. I whip my head to see Tyler standing in the doorway, taking up so much space despite the fact it’s double doors.
It’s a brief pause, and then he is stalking towards me in long strides.
“Tyler…” I try to start but his hand is grabbing my jaw, forcing me to look at him while his other hand braces my hip, pushing me against the wall and pinning me there.
“Don’t ever hide anything from me again,” he says with lethal calm.
I nod and fucking squeeze my thighs together.
“Is there anything else I need to know?” He searches my face for a semblance of a lie.
“No.”
“Why Lauren? You are not a Lauren at all,” he says, a glimmer of amusement passes his eyes.
I let a small laugh out. “Parental pressure. My grandparents insisted I deserved a regular name. Pressured my parents into making my first name Lauren instead of Sunshine. But as soon as they brought me home, they said fuck that, she’s Sunny.
They never got around to legally changing it.
So, when I left Ryan, I did. I’ve always been Sunny, but Lauren Sunshine Crawford just didn’t exist at all anymore, anyways. ” I shrug. “Sunny Mason feels right.”
“You will never hold another man’s last name again but mine,” he says.
And before I can argue, he’s pressing his lips against mine. It isn’t the tender, passionate kisses from earlier. These are rushed, needy, possessive.
He throws his coat off, tossing it into the dark room and slides my dress straps down to reveal my breasts. He takes a pink peak between his teeth, biting and pulling a little too hard that has my head tilting back in a hiss.
He reaches a hand between my thighs where I’m soaked with both of us. The remnants of what we did earlier in here is physical evidence as he pulls a glistening finger from between my legs.
“Open,” he demands.
And I do.
He slides his finger along my tongue. “You taste that, little fire? That’s us. Taste how fucking perfect we are together. Taste how we belong together.” He pops his finger from my mouth.
The wild look in his eyes and labored breaths that rise and fall from his chest all tell me one thing.
“Are you…jealous?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says. “I will always be jealous for you.”
Tyler is jealous.
That just might be his very downfall.