“Well, that went well. Ashton said that you might say no. But we are honestly glad that you said yes. You deserved it, Sloane. You can take a break for two weeks, and when you return, we will definitely work you to your bones again,” Kane jokes.
They never force me to work so much. It’s just in my nature to overwork myself.
“Okay. This is too awkward already,” he says, laughing. “Bye, Sloane. Please take care of yourself.” Then he hangs up before I reply again.
My knees are already cramping from holding up my awkward position on the sofa. So, I stretch my legs and stumble to the bedroom. I stop at the mirror to look at myself. The woman staring at me looks like a dead being — sunken eyes and ashen face. Great, my face mirrors what I’m feeling inside. Maybe I need to consider surgery again and be someone else, I start to think. But I’m too tired to explore the thought. So, I slump on my bed and pull the sheets up to my chin.
Owen’s face clouds my mind again, and my heart twists inside my chest. I can still vividly remember everything that happened earlier. But I can’t stop myself from wanting to see him again.
Chapter Twenty-Four - Owen
I feel like I don’t want to get up anymore. It’s as if all the happiness and excitement in the world are knocked out of me. Why do I have to feel this way now when I just got my daughter back? Why feel emptier now?
Still, I am a man of duty. Today is not really for the country, but my daughter means the world to me. I will give her everything I have, even if I feel like I don’t have much at all. So, I get out of bed and start my morning routine: exercise, fix the sheets, ready my clothes for the day, and shower. It’s simple, but the most mundane tasks will help me move and force me out of this heavy sadness residing in my heart.
I step into the shower and let the scalding hot water wash over me. This hot temperature is usually a wake-up call, but even this can’t make me feel present. Instead, my thoughts immediately gravitate to the mystery woman…to Sloane. Who deserves such trickery and lies? But my mind lingers in my memories, finding the clues, the meaning, and the reason for all that happened.
My pet is the first person ever to make me want something not just with my body but with my heart. From the start, I knew that it wasn’t just lust that I felt for her. At the time, I didn’t have a name for it yet. But I wanted to keep her, and that was why I had her sign the nondisclosure agreement.
Looking back now, it was when I was in the middle of the stressful search for Myah. And it feels convenient that this lady just appears in my life in the worst moment. Isn’t that a sign that Sloane planned everything right from the very beginning?
But my traitor lust can still feel her skin against mine as if that woman hadn’t just admitted that she is nothing but a lair—like my first wife. That is, like Laura.
Yet my body disagrees. I am rock hard from remembering how I fit my cock inside my pet. How she moans whenever I touch her. How she meets my eyes when she orgasms. How she makes my heartbeat so fast just by being there.
Then, my mind conjures Sloane’s face. I still can’t believe that they are the same. But when I look at my memories of her, I realize that I have always been thinking about how she reminded me of someone. And deep inside me, I know that whenever I’m near her, my heart jumps like it knows her. Although, I never listened to that silent but nagging tug in it. Have I really known, way before, that they are one and the same?
Don’t they smile the same? Don’t they feel the same when their skin touches mine? Don’t they have deep and dark eyes that I always get lost in when I see them? But how can I even bear to connect the two? The masked woman rarely talked with me, and all we ever did was explore one another. She followed my orders. And Sloane…she helped Myah hide from me.
“How can I ever make that connection?” I groan and say to the wall.
The water keeps on falling on me as if drowning me. Yet, all I can focus on is the hurt that I feel from being betrayed by someone I really, truly cared for. I never cry because I always need to be tough for everyone, but I let a single tear fall so that I can get through the day without stopping to linger in my emotions.