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And that was all.
‘You found yourself a house full of rich alphas who absolutely dote on you. I met a stranger in a hotel room three times, and I’ve spent pretty much every spare moment since then reevaluating my life choices, now that it’s too late to do anything about them,’Nat had told me, when we’d been talking about our relationship.
Three times. At the Super 7 on Broadway. With Byron.
The damaged phone slipped from my fingers, bouncing on the shag carpet at my feet.
THIRTY-TWO
Mia
I COULDN’T BREATHE. This didn’t make anysense. Byron would have said something, wouldn’t he?Natwould have said something!
Don’t be stupid, whispered my inner voice.Of course they wouldn’t have.
I didn’t want that inner voice to be right, but it sounded like the truth inside my own mind. Wheezing with panicky, too-fast gasps, I fumbled for the dropped phone—desperate to figure out if Byron had been sleeping with both of us at the same time. The last message from Nat had been during my heat, but Byron couldn’t have met up with Nat then. He’d been withme.
I couldn’t get my thoughts to focus well enough to do the math on the others. Had they been before I’d met Luca and Zalen at a bar? Before I’d succumbed to temptation and texted Byron for—I’d thought—a no strings attached one night stand? My mind spiraled in tighter and tighter circles, with no solid answers in sight.
God, they were both missing. Luca was missing! Was there some kind of connection to what I’d just learned? Howcouldthere be, though? Luca couldn’t have been involved.
Luca would have told me if he knew.
I grasped that undeniable fact like a lifeline. Luca wouldn’t have kept this a secret from me.
I was losing it; shaking and crying with a double espresso shot of reaction. With trembling fingers, I pulled out my own phone and set Nat’s aside on the couch. The group chat with Zalen, Emiel, Byron, and Luca had been quiet for the last two days, since the others agreed what time to come to the restaurant reopening after they got off work.
Come to jennimgs I need you, I typed clumsily, then followed with the street address, retyping it three times before it was free of mistakes. Ten seconds later, two texts came in practically on top of each other.
On my way, from Emiel.
Are you okay? Safe?That, from Zalen.
Yea, I sent back, even though I felt like I was having a heart attack.Found something on Nat’s phone.
Emiel’s closer, Zalen texted.Don’t unlock the door until he gets there. I’ll be as quick as I can.
I clutched the phone in both hands and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and trying to breathe. My eyes burned from exhaustion and tears. I felt like I might throw up.
Time stretched like used chewing gum, sticky and cloying. It simultaneously felt like only seconds had passed, and like I’d been sitting on this couch long enough to grow roots when a knock sounded at the door.
“It’s me,” Emiel called, his voice muffled by two inches of solid wood.
I had to stop and think about how my legs worked, staggering a bit as I pushed myself off the battered sofa and wove unsteadily toward the front door. I unlocked it and opened it to let Emiel in.