Page 9

Fuck.

Sloane dropped her phone like it was on fire. Had she manifested this call with her thoughts? She tried to control her breathing, ran a hand through her hair. She didn’t have time to check what she looked like. Did it matter? Jess had slept with someone else, so did she even care?

Sloane cleared her throat and swiped up. Every muscle she had locked up.

Jess appeared on screen, her face pixelated, before coming into focus. She looked tired.

“Hey.” She tried a smile, but it didn’t quite reach across her face. “I thought I’d call seeing as I’m twiddling my thumbs on the sofa.” She paused. “How are things up north?”

Sloane blinked. She was up north. In Lancashire. When she first landed, she wanted to call it the Midwest, but apparently that wasn’t a thing in the UK. “Things are good. Your country’s idea of summer is a little whack, but so far, I can’t complain.”

“Nice apartment?”

“Flat to you,” Sloane said with a smile. “The penthouse. It’s lit. I’m having parties every night, of course.”

“I bet. I saw some pics of you online out with Layla having coffee at Shot Of The Day.”

“That was quick. It only happened about two hours ago.”

“Fans are speculating whether you’re an item.” Jess gave her a pointed stare.

Sloane rolled her eyes. “People have got too much time on their hands.” She paused. “Anyway, as far as the world’s concerned, we’re still engaged, aren’t we?”

“Just the world?” Jess had the good grace to cast her gaze downwards at least.

“You tell me, Jess. You’re the one who slept with someone else and then wouldn’t talk to me before I left.”

Jess winced. She never was very good with the truth.

The silence stretched. Then it stood, and stretched again.

“How’s training going? Are you killing your penalties?”

Soccer. Whenever Jess was nervous, she always brought the conversation back to soccer. It was her love language.

“Don’t change the subject. Are we ever going to talk about this?”

Jess sighed. “I wanted to come and see you before you left, but you know our schedules never matched.”

She’d never been good at nailing down her priorities.

“I don’t want to do this on the phone, you know that,” Jess continued.

“We don’t have much choice. This is about us. Our future. You told me Brit was a short-lived mistake.” She still didn’t truly believe her. But Jess was Sloane’s fiancée and she loved her. Or at least, she had until very recently. It wasn’t so easy to throw in the towel. “We agreed we’d think about what we wanted over the summer. The summer’s nearly over.”

“Not in LA.”

Sloane stared into the camera. She wasn’t playing here. They needed to resolve this for both their sakes.

“Brit and I are over. It was a stupid tour fling that got out of hand. I told you that.”

“You’re still teammates.”

“And that’s all we are.” She sighed. “I want you, Sloane, but you moved across an ocean, so where does that leave us? You know it’s always been you. Ever since we met.” Her eyes shimmered as she gulped.

“Telling me it’s always been me and then cheating on me? That’s not love, Jess. That’s some form of weird bullshit. Something I’m not sure I need in my life anymore.”

“Are you still wearing your ring?”