Page 49 of Accidental Mile High Daddy

I’d tried calling, and it had gone straight to voicemail.

It shouldn’t have mattered. She’d received it — I knew she had, just wanted a reason to reach out, but that had been the agreement. A clean break, neatly paid for.

But Zach had asked about her last night over grilled cheese and broccoli.

“Is Sienna coming over soon?”

I’d told him no. Not why, just no, and he’d managed to pick up on my tone enough to not bring it up again.

I unlocked my phone again, stared at the texts I’d sent, days old now. Still nothing.

————

Traffic on Marietta crawled so slowly that I wanted to slam my head against the steering wheel. I loosened my tie with one hand, cracked the window with the other, letting the warm air rush in and ground me with its humidity and heaviness.

I didn’t think about it this time. I’d embarrassed myself enough already, I might as well add more fuel to the fire.

I grabbed my phone from the passenger seat and typed out a text.

Me:

Please just talk to me, Sienna.

My throat almost closed when I saw the three little dots pop up, dancing across the bottom of the screen like a threat.

Sienna:

leave me alone. you’re just as bad as ryan.

I stared at the words, each one hitting like a slap.

She meant it. I could feel it in the punctuation and the lowercase carelessness, in the bitterness bleeding through every character. Low anger, high dismissal, high resignation. Like I was already filed away in the same drawer as my brother.

That stung far more than I’d expected.

I set my phone in my lap as I crawled forward approximately half a car's length, my jaw aching from how hard I was clenching my teeth. She thought I was like him.

She’d looked me in the eye, gave me her body, her trust, her fucking laughter, and still ended up believing the one person who’d destroyed her.

Because I’d made it easy to.

I slammed my palm into the steering wheel, huffing out a breath of anger. I hadn’t told her anything, not really. Hadn’t corrected the story. I’d let her believe what she wanted because I’d figured she’d walk away anyway, but she hadn’t.

I had.

Fuck, Ihad.

My thumbs hovered over the screen as I picked it back up, forcing myself to breathe before I typed, drafting and deleting in my head before I sent something I regretted.

Me:

If you come over, I’ll tell you everything. The full story. Ryan, the inheritance, all of it. Anything you want to know.

I stared at it, hoping to God she’d reply, before adding:

Me:

I’m heading home now. I can send a car. Just say yes, Sienna.