Page 76 of Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 9

"Why won't any of them answer me?" I stared down at my cell phone.

"Keira, stop, you're driving yourself crazy." Emily picked up my phone and moved it out of sight.

"Do you think they still haven't found him?

" It had been several hours since Rory had stormed out.

I thought Connor or Jackson might text me once they found him, but I hadn't heard from either of them.

And Rory wouldn't pick up whenever I tried to call him.

I rubbed my forehead. I had a terrible hangover from drinking shots in the morning. I was physically and emotionally spent.

"I'm sure they found him. They're probably just hanging out. That's what guys do."

"They always hang out here. No, he's definitely sleeping with someone else right now. They can't find him because he's at some tramp's house."

"He's not."

"Emily, he's slept with an average of two women a week for the past six years."

"Yeah, that's disgusting."

"Ugh." I put my face in my hands. "Why didn't I just tell him?"

Emily rubbed my back. "Keira, stop beating yourself up. Everyone makes mistakes. Part of being in a relationship is working through problems together."

"We're not in a relationship anymore. He broke up with me."

"You were both drunk. You had a fight. He didn't really break up with you. And there's no way he's sleeping with someone else. From everything you told me, up until that point it seemed like he was totally smitten with you."

"Why can't he just tell me everything I want to hear like you do?" I laughed and lifted up my head.

"Because he's a boy, not a man. You really should be dating men, Keira."

"Oh, he's definitely a man."

Emily laughed. "Okay, fine. But are you sure you even love him? Are you sure you don't just..." Emily looked away from me. "Are you sure you don't just want to be in love?"

I had thought about that a lot. But I didn't feel the pressure of getting married when I was with him. He had even told me he wasn't sure he'd ever be ready for marriage and I still wanted to date him. I did love him. Nothing else mattered. "When did you realize you loved Jim?"

Emily sighed. "Right away. But you know how I am. I easily fall head over heels."

"But it was different with Jim, right? You knew it was more than just a crush?"

"Yeah, it was different." Emily smiled to herself.

"Living with Rory made everything different for me. It kind of already felt like we were in a relationship somehow. I don't really know how to explain it. He's everything I ever wanted."

"I get it. When you know, you know."

"I lost him, didn't I? I chose my career over love. I never in a million years thought I'd be that person. I don't want to be that person, Emily! How do I fix it? I can't lose him this way."

"Okay, I'm pissed now too. This is ridiculous. No one makes my best friend grovel for hours for no reason."

"There is a reason..."

"No, there's not. I read the articles. They weren't even that specific." She picked up my phone and scrolled through my contact list. Then she picked up her cell, typed in some numbers, and pressed the call button.

"What are you doing?"

"Be quiet, I'm putting it on speaker."

"Hello?" Connor said.

"Son of a bitch," I mouthed silently at Emily. I had been texting him all day and he had never responded to me.

"Hey, Connor."

"Who is this?"

"This is Keira's friend, Emily. I just left her place and she's really upset. Why haven't you called her back?"

"Look, Emily, I've interfered in their relationship enough. She just needs to talk to Rory."

"Um...yeah. I agree. So where is he exactly?"

The line was silent for a second. I thought there'd be music blaring in the background, but it was really quiet. Maybe they weren't at a bar hooking up with random women.

"He's with me. Everything's fine. I'll have him home soon."

"What time exactly?"

"He'll be home in a few hours. Can you tell Keira that everything's fine?"

Emily smiled at me. "Will do. Thanks, Connor."

Connor hung up without saying goodbye.

"See," Emily said. "Everything's fine. They're probably just walking around town or something. And they're all together."

I sighed. "Maybe you're right."

"I'm definitely right. Connor just verified how right I am."

I laughed. It felt like a huge weight had just been lifted off my chest. Maybe everything was going to be okay. Maybe Rory would even forgive me. Please let him forgive me.

"Do you want to try to get some sleep?" Emily asked.

"Oh, geez, Emily, I'm so sorry. It's late. I know you have to wake up early for work."

"It's fine. But I am going to get going. I've been so tired recently."

"Yeah well there's a little human inside of you stealing all your energy."

Emily laughed. "Text me once everything's worked out."

"And if it doesn't work out?"

"Then I guess you'll just come over." She smiled at me. "But it is going to work out. He just needed some space."

"I hope so."

***

After an hour had passed a pit started to form in my stomach. Once two hours had passed I started pacing the floor. He said a few hours, right? A few meant two? Or was that a couple? Maybe a few meant three.

***

I looked down at my phone. I had texted Connor again after three hours. And now it had been four hours. It was 2 a.m. Rory wasn't coming back tonight. Either Connor had been lying about being with Rory, or Rory had refused to come home. He didn't want to see me.

I got up off the couch and walked over to Rory's room. I just wanted it to feel like he was here. This is weird. But I didn't care that it was weird. I might never get another chance to sleep in his bed. And I loved his bed. It smelled like him.

I opened up the door to his bedroom before I could change my mind.

Even his room smelled like him. I lay down and curled up on his side of the bed.

And I immediately started to cry. I didn't love his bed because it smelled like him.

I loved it because he was always in it with me, snuggled up next to me, holding me, making me feel safe.

I missed him. And now I was worried that I was going to have to miss him for the rest of my life.

Eventually the soothing smell of cinnamon engulfed me and I slowly drifted to sleep.

***

When I woke up, I half expected Rory to be in bed with me. But he wasn't there. Where is he? I looked down at my cell phone. There were still no new messages or missed phone calls. I couldn't wait around anymore. I needed to go find him. I climbed out of bed and walked out of Rory's bedroom.

I froze when I saw him. He was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter, looking down at something on his lap.

"Rory?" My voice sounded weird in my throat.

He immediately looked up. "You slept in my bed." He smiled at me. There were dark circles around his eyes. He looked exhausted.

I didn't want to have to filter anything anymore. It was time to just be me. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

I wasn't sure what to do. Should I go to him? For some reason I remained frozen by his bedroom door.

"I read the rest of the articles."

"Rory, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have written them. I..."

"I didn't realize how much I was hurting you."

"It doesn't matter. I don't care about any of that."

"I was an asshole," he said. "And honestly, I don't even know if we'd be together right now if you hadn't done all those things to get my attention. I think I might have needed that somehow." He scratched the back of his neck. He looked lost.

"It doesn't mean I should have done it."

"I'm glad you did, though. Like you said last night, you make me happy. Actually, I'm happiest when I'm with you." He picked up the sheet of paper that he had been looking at on his lap. "Is this true?"

I looked at the smudged paper. It was the first draft of my article for The Post. The one where I had poured my soul out. "Where'd you get that?"

"Connor gave it to me."

I thought about that night in the ice cream shop. Connor had picked up my trash. He must have kept that note once he had seen that the envelope was addressed to Rory. That's why he was so sure he could fix everything last night.

"Is it true?" Rory asked.

"It was true when I wrote it. But it's not true now. I'm not falling for you anymore. I know you don't believe me, but I do love you. I've completely fallen."

"Keira." He stood up and walked over to me, closing the gap between us. "I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have walked out on you."

"Where did you go?" It was weird to be standing so close to him without him touching me.

"I just needed to sober up before talking to you again. I swear that's it."

I didn't care where he was. If he hadn't slept with someone else, then it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was here now. "I believe you." He still didn't try to touch me. That's how I'd know if we were okay. If he wanted me again. "Maybe we should just start over?"

He didn't say anything.

"Hi, I'm Keira," I awkwardly put my hand out for him to shake.

He looked down at my hand and then back up at me. "I don't want to start over." He stepped toward me, pressing my back against the wall.

I swallowed hard. "I don't want to start over either..."

He leaned down, silencing me with a kiss. His kiss was soft at first, but seemed to grow with intensity every second, until he was kissing me more passionately than he ever had. He grabbed my thighs, lifting my legs around him. I could feel his erection pressing against my thigh.

If this was the security he needed, I'd give him whatever he wanted. I wanted him to understand how much I cared about him. And it didn't matter that he had purposely hurt my feelings ever since he moved in. All that mattered was that he wanted to be with me now. And that he had come back.

"Promise you won't leave me like that again."

"I promise." His lips moved to my neck, placing hard kisses down to my clavicle.

"When we fight we have to work it out together. You can't just walk out on me."