After parking my car in the visitor’s area, I was able to walk right through the unlocked glass doors into the lobby. A sign taped to one of the doors said that the lock was broken, which was the stupidest fucking thing I’d ever seen. They might as well have put a neon arrow over the building with a sign saying rob here.
Security wasn’t just lax; it was nonexistent. I intended to do whatever it took to get her to leave with me. The argument couldn’t have been clearer, so I hoped she’d see things my way.
After getting off the elevator on Allie’s floor, I hurried toward her door and knocked. I was keyed up but also so fucking ready to see her. Being separated for a month was too goddamn long. Never again, I vowed.
I was already unhappy about the lack of security, so the fact that Allie opened the door without checking to see who it was didn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I could tell that she hadn’t looked because her jaw dropped in surprise when she saw me standing there.
“What… what are you doing here?” she asked.
“I’m here because you are,” I answered. “You shouldn’t be surprised, either. I’ve been texting, calling, and sending you gifts for weeks. You and I need to talk, baby. That text you sent was bullshit, full stop. I don’t buy for a second that you weren’t in this with me the whole time.”
Her green eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. Goddamn, she was sexy as fuck when she had an attitude.
“Come in,” she said, her voice cold.
After following her into the condo and closing the door behind me, I trailed after her into the living room.
“You’ve got some nerve, Corbett,” she said as she sat on the couch.
Oh, shit. Calling me by my last name didn’t seem like a good sign.
It frustrated me to no end when I sat on the couch next to her, and she scooted away like I was viral.
“What’re you mad at me for?” I asked, genuinely miffed. “By rights, I’m the one who would have reason to be pissed. You dumped me and then ghosted me without an explanation. I’ve been losing my shit for two goddamn weeks wondering what the hell would’ve made you do that.”
She looked ready to blow. “Wow. You are a real piece of work. Are you seriously going to sit here and play the victim? I ghosted you because I found out what a cheating piece of shit you are, Vaughn. I know the truth, so don’t bother trying to twist it any other way.”
I could see that she was serious, but I honest to God had no fucking clue what she was talking about.
“I don’t know where you got that idea, but it’s bullshit. I have not and will never cheat on you, Allie. You’re the only woman for me.”
My words didn’t calm her at all. In fact, she looked more riled up than ever.
“It makes me sick that even after telling you I know the truth, you’re going to lie to my face. How dare you?”
“I’m not fucking lying, and there is no other woman,” I said firmly. “How much clearer can I fucking be about that?”
Lifting her chin, she met my gaze head-on. “So there’s no other woman? No one at all?”
“No, and also, fuck no.”
“I feel like I never knew you at all. I bet the whole I never brought a woman home thing was bullshit, too.”
That was it. I’d had it. Clearly, someone had sold her a bill of goods. Whoever had filled her head with lies was going to wish they’d never been born.
“It wasn’t fucking bullshit. Everything I’ve told you is true. You’re it for me, Allie. Whoever told you otherwise is the one who’s lying.”
“You’re sure there have been no other women since you met me?”
I gave her a pointed look. “I think I’d fucking know if my mouth, my cock, or my hands had gotten near another woman. There is only you.”
“So Mila must be a man then,” she said stiffly.
“No, she’s a woman. But what the fuck does she have to do with us?” I asked, confused.
“Off the top of my head, the fact that you canceled your trip to Chicago, moved her into your house, and then lied to me about it has to do with us.”
I stared at Allie in wide-eyed horror for several seconds as I tried to find words.
“Holy fuck. Let me get this straight. You broke up with me because you found out that Mila stayed at my house for four days?”
“I guess she didn’t rate the full-week experience,” Allie snipped.
“She was a guest, Allie. Not a goddamn girlfriend. I never laid a hand on her. This was all so fucking pointless,” I said, frustrated. “If you’d asked me about it at the time , I would’ve told you what I could.”