Chapter
Thirty-Seven
West
It’s been two days since I heard from Serena, and I’m starting to feel bad about our argument. I didn’t even give her a chance to explain and the more I think about her taking money from DeMarco, the less confident I feel that she did. She won’t even take money from me, not directly, and while he absolutely owes her for years of child support, she’s been firm that she doesn’t want him in her life.
Right?
I don’t know anything right now and I need to call her, but it’s late morning in Atlanta on a Wednesday, which means she’s at work. We may argue again, and it wouldn’t be fair to do that to her when she’s at school.
Lying in bed, I stare up at the ceiling.
She’s got me all twisted up inside. Even when things were going bad with Briar, when I knew the writing was on the wall, I didn’t feel quite like this. Like I’m losing something extremely important. I’d been falling for Briar, but she kept me at enough of an emotional distance that I was a lot more prepared than I am with Serena. Despite how hard I’ve tried to keep things casual.
Once I decided to let her in, that was it, and now…
Fuck.
I grab my phone, wondering if I should send flowers or something. A soft apology for not listening, if nothing else. I’ve no sooneropened my browser when I see Serena’s face. For a moment I’m unsure, because she’s wearing a ton of makeup and her hair is a lot longer.
Staring at the picture, I realize it’s from when she was on Dusty Peaks. Four years ago. Except?—
Former Dusty Peaks star on board for Reboot.
What. The. Fuck.
I skim the article and it’s all there, in black and white. A press release talking about the reboot, bringing back most of the original cast, plans for the fall release, and a lot of details I’m too pissed off to care about.
Once again, she went behind my back and did something I had no idea she was going to do. And this one really hurts because we never directly discussed her accepting child support from DeMarco, but we absolutely talked about her moving to L.A. to star in Dusty Peaks.
And she is the star.
There are no current pictures of her, but the article has tons of photos of her from the original show, both by herself and with her costars.
God dammit.
Rage and confusion and pain ricochet through my chest, and I toss the phone aside.
How could she do this?
And more than that, how could I let this happen…again?
I’m mad at myself and mad at her and just…mad.
Despite not wanting to bother her at work, I send a text anyway.
WEST: I can’t believe you did this without even talking to me. I guess that’s all I need to know about where I stand in your life.
She doesn’t respond right away, and that’s fine with me.
I get up, yank on some clothes and wander down to find some coffee. Ashton Knight is already there, looking a little hungover, and I shake my head. I remember being twenty-two. I could party all night and still show up and play hockey. These days, I need my sleep. I’m not old, but my body reminds me not to overdo it.
“Morning.” His voice is gruff, like he just woke up.
“Late night?” I ask with a grin.
He nods. “Yeah. You know how it is. Pretty lady. Too much wine. One thing leads to another…”