“Where’s Holden?” My brows are knitted in confusion as I take in the rest of the scene around me. These guys sure like to party and don’t care who sees them naked as the day they were born. Holden could have at least woken me so I could go to my room and lock the damn door.
“In his room. He said he didn’t want to be disturbed. So, if you’d like to champion your complaints to him, they’ll have to wait till morning. I’m available though.” He smiles a slimy smirk at me. Ugh. One man in this apartment who thinks he is god’s gift to women is enough.
Rolling my eyes, I stomp over to the stereo and power it off. “Party is over!” I shout in a raspy tone.
Wren laughs and takes a drink from the bottle of liquor. “Sure thing, love.”
“Stop calling me that,” I growl.
“Can I call you dove then?”
“You can call me Conleigh, now it’s time for everyone who doesn’t live here to leave.”
I don’t bother waiting for a response. I make my way down the hall to Holden’s room and don’t bother with knocking. I twist the knob and let myself in only to find him lying in bed reading. I don’t know what is more shocking. The fact that he’s alone or that he’s reading. A big part of me thought I would find him in here hooking up.
“You’re awake,” I blurt out stupidly.
“So are you,” he says without looking away from the page his eyes are scanning.
“Why are you being weird?”
“Wasn’t aware that you cared.” His eyes slide over the page and he raises a brow at me.
“I never said I didn’t. I—”
“You what?”
The bathroom door opens and out walks a woman wearing only a small towel. Her fake boobs are toppling out of the top and her bottom is surely hanging out the other side. She saddles past me and into Holden’s room.
My stomach lurches and rolls and throw up spews from my nose and onto the floor as I try to cover my mouth.
Tears sting my eyes as I fall to
my knees in heartache and humiliation. I should have known better. Why did I think Holden might really care about me?
The woman laughs and says, “Wow, Holden, you really know how to pick them.”
“Shut up, Reese,” he growls as he walks past me.
I should get up and go to the bathroom, but the truth is I am afraid if I move I’ll puke again. I chance a peek at the woman and now that I look at her as she fingers through a bag on the chair grabbing some clothes, I recognize her from the photos with Wren.
Holden returns and starts cleaning up my mess. I will never be able to look at him again. Is he screwing Reese? Do her and Wren have an open relationship? Is that why he keeps shamelessly flirting with me? I feel sick all over again as I lay crumpled on the floor.
Holden hands me a damp wash cloth and I graciously wipe my mouth but am still unable to look at him. Instead I look at Reese’s perfectly manicured toes, flexing my own, wanting to hide the terrible paint job I did on them last week.
“She looks like shit.”
“Get out, Reese,” Holden barks at her as she towers over us.
“She must really have you by the balls for you to be cleaning up her puke,” she sneers and shuts the door behind her.
Holden doesn’t speak to me until minutes later when he’s disposed of my mess and done who knows what with Reese. “Are you okay?”
“Why do you care?” I grumble at him, attempting to sit up.
“Don’t be like this, Conleigh. You told me you wanted space. And Ezra told me you…you know what it doesn’t matter. None of my business. You should get cleaned up and go to bed. If you still want that job, I need you at the bar in the morning to open.”
I start to ask him what Ezra said to him but think better of it. I want to ask him who Reese is to him as well as Wren, but I don’t. I pick myself up from the floor without a word and go brush my teeth. I don’t look in the living room to see if everyone left but it is refreshingly quiet.