Page 78 of Lawton

"The front door."

"How?"

I shrugged. "Probably stuck, just like I said." The lie felt wrong, but there it was. I glanced toward my car and said, "Well, I guess that's it."

She bit her lip. "I guess." Something in her eyes told me she wanted to say more.

I waited.

Turns out, I was wrong.

"Alright," I said. "See ya around."

I turned away, heading toward my car. Once inside, I fired up the engine and waited. From the driver's seat, I sat, watching her through the windshield.

For a couple of beats, she didn't move. And then, she began trudging toward the front door. Once there, she reached out and twisted the knob. It opened, just like I knew it would. A moment later, she was safely inside.

As for me, I drove back to my place and walked through my own front door. I looked around, taking in the mess – the spilled drinks, the half-empty plates, a random high heel lying on its side. Other than the mess, the place was empty.

Yeah, it was my home, I guess. But suddenly, the place felt way too big for only me. Funny, it hadn't felt like this last night, or the night before that.

I picked up a glass and hurled it across the room. It shattered against the far wall, sending bits of glass and liquid flying. I heard myself mutter, "Fuckin' Chloe," just before I headed to the fridge for another beer.

Chapter 35

The next morning, I woke up late, hung over and still pissed off. From my upstairs bedroom, I heard the regular cleaning crew down below, working to put things back in order.

I rolled out of bed, hit the shower, and went straight to the kitchen for coffee. Funny too, because I didn't normally drink the stuff.

Then again, I didn't normally drink anything, quantity-wise, like I had the night before. That didn't even count the shots I'd done while the party was still going. It was later, sitting alone in the dark, that I'd done the serious drinking.

Now, coffee in hand, I headed to my study and stayed there with the blinds shut and door locked, just like it had been the previous night.

It was nearly noon, and I still felt like shit. On the business front, I'd missed two telecons and some photo shoot for an endorsement deal. On the personal front, I had a butt-load of phone messages that I didn't plan on returning.

Screw it all.

I called the office and had my assistant reschedule everything – and not only what I'd missed in the morning. In my current mood, the afternoon wasn't looking too good either.

Cold anger kept me going until maybe four o'clock, when the cleaning crew finally left. Alone, I wandered through the house, trying to pretend that nothing had changed.

As far as the house, yeah, nothinghadchanged. Any damage was fixed. Any messes were cleaned. Anything unfixable was replaced with something new.

But when it came to me, nothing felt the same. I'd held her. I'd kissed her. And then, suddenly, she was gone. No explanation. No goodbye. No see-you-later. Had everything been a lie? A game? Something else? What?

Where was she right now? At home, on the other side of the fence? Or at work, shaking her ass for kicks.

God, I was such a dick.

She wasn't a stripper, not even close. And so what if she liked that kind of job? I considered my own career, the sex tape included. When it came tomygreatest hits, I'd been wearing a lot less than Chloe.

Forget it.

I headed back upstairs, planning to grab some workout clothes and hit the weights hard, anything to shake off my mood. But then, approaching my bedroom door, I paused, recalling that stupid red bow.

Yeah, it was gone, but something else remained – a hazy memory of my argument with Brittney and Amber. They'd mentioned Chloe, something about her job.

I closed my eyes, wanting to kick myself. The way it sounded, they'd gotten Chloe fired.