“I don’t know,” he said to Alex. “I haven’t spoken to her since the night of your party.”
Alex sat again, but he didn’t look at Sloan, which he was grateful for. Instead, he faced away from the bar, staring out at the scenes being played out.
“Where’s Tara?” he asked Alex.
“She’s over with some of the other subs. I can watch over her from here.” Tara was never out of Alex’s sight for long. He realized now he wanted that. A relationship where he had the right to fuss and worry over his sub as much as Alex did over his. He could have had that with Kinley. Only you held back, didn’t you? You can’t blame this all on her. She was keeping things from you, but you were doing the same.
They both had a part to play in this mess. Only question was, how did he fix it? Did he want to?
Yes, he did. Life without her was miserable. He was miserable.
“When you left her was she all right?”
Yes. No. He took another sip of beer. “Your show of concern for me is touching,” he said sarcastically.
Alex turned to give him a sharp look. “I can see you. You look like hell. And you have a face like a thundercloud but you’re in one piece. You’re here. Nobody has heard from or seen Kinley in over two weeks. We’re worried about her. She’s one of ours now.”
He wondered how she would react to that. He knew she didn’t quite feel that she fit in, although she got along with the other subs just fine. But he knew she wouldn’t come here without him. Not just because he’d paid for her membership, but because this was his place, not hers. Or he thought it was. The way Alex was fussing about her told him otherwise.
“And if I told you she betrayed me? Cheated on me? Would you still be so concerned about her?”
“Kinley? Cheat on you? For some reason I can’t figure out, that woman adores you.”
“You think I’m not good enough for her? We can’t all be born into money, to have everything come to us so easily.” He looked down at his work-roughened hands. “Some of us have to work for a living.”
“Oh, tell someone who believes your ‘poor me’ bullshit. I know how successful that little construction company of yours is. You’re the most sought-after contractor in the city and you know it. I may have been born into money, but that doesn’t mean everything came to me easily. You haven’t cornered the market on working hard, you know.”
There was disgust and anger in Alex’s voice. He stood, and Sloan reached out to grab his arm.
“Sorry,” he told the other man, who was one of the closest friends he had. “I’ve had it pointed out to me that I’m a bit touchy about money.”
“Yeah, just a bit.” Alex didn’t sit again, but he did lean against the bar. “Did you have a fight with her over money?”
He shook his head. “Well, not quite. I thought she was cheating on me.”
Alex shook his head, looking incredulous. He opened his mouth, but Sloan spoke before he could.
“She isn’t. But she was keeping something from me; she took a second job.”
Alex frowned. “She’s got money troubles?”
He took another drink of beer. “Apparently. She didn’t tell me until recently.”
“Have you told her everything about your past?” He’d told Alex about his past one night over a few too many beers. The other man hadn’t brought it up again, but he should have known he hadn’t forgotten. Asshole had a mind like a steel trap. Alex was the only one who knew about the shit from his past. Well, other than the man who’d lived through it with him.
“No.”
“So, she’s not to keep anything from you, but it’s okay if you keep stuff from her?”
“She lied.”
“She told you she didn’t have money troubles, did she?”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “Semantics.”
“Is it? Or was she trying to deal with everything as best she could? Did she tell you why she kept it from you?”
This part made him uncomfortable. “She said that in the beginning she didn’t think it was my business.” He got that. But as they started to grow more serious, she should have told him. She definitely should have told him it was so bad she needed to get another job. “I’m supposed to protect her. Can’t do that if she doesn’t tell me everything.”