She reaches for me, using a finger to lift my head up before pressing her soft mouth to mine. “It’s not too fast. I don’t want you to leave,” she whispers against my lips. “Stay.” She kisses me again. “Stay.” Her hands smooth up my chest, grabbing the collar of my shirt to pull me closer. “Stay.”
She unbuttons my shirt, pushes it off my shoulders, and runs greedy hands over my chest. Her mouth follows her hands.
My breathing picks up, every cell in my body coming alive under her fingers.
Her phone buzzes and chimes, vibrating on the floor a few feet away.
She groans in frustration and fumbles for it. “It might be Jacob.” She pauses, her gaze on the screen. “I don’t recognize the number.” Her troubled eyes lift to mine. “It’s an LA area code.” She accepts the call. “Hello?” Her hand reaches for me, grabbing my leg. “Piper? Hey, what’s—? What? Hold on, honey. Slow down. I can’t understand you. Why are you using someone else’s phone?”
She pulls the phone from her ear and puts it on speaker.
“—but I couldn’t bring anything with me.” Piper’s voice is high and thin with nerves. “I don’t have my phone. I don’t have my purse. I don’t have any ID or anything. I was lucky to get out of there with the clothes on my back. I had to borrow this nice lady’s cell phone, but I don’t know what to do now. I have nowhere to go. I can’t go back there, Finley.” She breaks down into messy, noisy tears.
“What diner are you at?” Finley asks.
I’m already reaching for my phone to call Mason. He’s in LA somewhere.
“I’m at Teddy’s Café.”
Finley stares at me. “Who are you calling?”
“I have a friend who owes me a favor.”
ChapterTwenty-Five
Finley
“Ihave a friend in LA.” He speaks louder for Piper. “He can get you somewhere safe while we work on the next steps, okay?” He puts his phone to his ear.
“Finley, who is that?” Piper’s voice escalates in volume.
“It’s Archer, he’s my . . . he’s my . . . he’s . . .mine.”
His smile is brilliant but quick. “Mason? It’s Archer. Hey, man, listen, I’m calling in a favor. How close are you right now to Teddy’s Café?”
While they’re talking, I ask Piper, “What happened?”
She sniffs. “I wanted to come, to see Jacob. We fought.”
We. She means Ben. The asshat.
“I told him I had to leave. Not for like, ever, just to visit for a day or two. But he wouldn’t let me. I was going to come anyway, so before he left for work, he took my purse, my phone, and then he”—she swallows and takes a couple of quick breaths—“he locked me in the bathroom.”
“What?” Blind rage turns my vision red.
Archer lifts his brows at the anger and incredulity in my tone.
“Maybe I should go back,” Piper says.
“What?” I almost drop the phone in shock. “Go back?”
“He’s going to be so upset when he realizes I left. It will just make things worse. Maybe I’m crazy, but you don’t know him. He needs me.”
I have to keep calm for Piper’s sake, but it’s a losing battle.
“You’re not crazy. He’s making you think his behavior is normal when he’s actually a piece of shit, and I’m going to murder him with my bare hands.” Sort of calm, at least.
“I-I know you’re right. I want to come home, Fin.”