Page 118 of Romancing His Heart

“Which was?” Julia asks, crossing her arms like she’s preparing for war. For such a tiny human, she’s quite scary. Trevor wraps an arm around her and whispers something in her ear. The sight causes my heart to splinter.

After pulling Julia into his lap, he turns to me, “Listen, Sloane. We’ve known Loki our entire lives. Whatever he did, we’ll knock some sense into him.”

Dear God. I don’t think I can take much more of this.

Tap-tap-slide.

“Guys, honestly, I’m fine. Everything is fine. Loki has a job to do, and it’s not something he can just leave. It’s all he has ever known, and he made his choice. End of story. SIA needs him, and that kind of life isn’t conducive to relationships.”

Preston is pacing to my left, and it makes me so nervous I jump at the sound of Trevor’s booming voice. “That’s bullshit. He isn’t staying with SIA. He and Ash are taking over EnVision as soon as this shit is over. Who told you he was staying with SIA?”

I gape at him. “Loki did.”Didn’t he?

“Well, he lied,” Dex announces.

“Why the fuck would he do that?” Trevor mutters.

“I left my phone in the car. I’ll be right back,” Preston interrupts, but no one pays him much attention.

“Why would Loki lie? What did he say exactly?” Julia asks, taking my pad of paper and a pen from the coffee table.

I search one set of eyes after another, looking for answers no one has. “I don’t remember, exactly. He said … basically, he said we were just a fling, and it was fun while it lasted. He said I’m a child that needs to grow up and that I should have known this would never amount to any-anything.” My voice catches on to the last word, and I hate myself for it.

“That asshole.” Lanie’s soft voice cuts through the silence, and we all stare at her in shock. One thing I learned quickly about Lanie is that she doesn’t swear. Ever.

“Loki is in trouble now. He got Lanie to swear. He’d better watch his back,” Trevor jokes.

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Emory whispers. “I heard him talking to Preston. He … none of that sounds true to me.”

“Why would he say it then?” Eli asks. Her defenses are rising, and she can be a mega-bitch when she’s in mama bear mode.

We all sit, wide-eyed with no answers.

After a while, Dex speaks up, “Guys, what do we know about Loki?”

“That he’s a son of a bitch who’s getting a foot up his ass when I get my hands on him,” Eli promises.

Trevor and Dex chuckle while Julia jumps up to high five my sister. Julia and Eli are so alike it’s scary.

“If this is true, we’ll hold him down, but Loki has spent his life protecting us. How did he do that?” Trevor is staring at Dex, and a full conversation happens between their expressions.

“He did it on his own without letting us in,” Trevor answers, and I swear I can almost see the lightbulb appear above his head.

“What are you saying? You think he hurt Sloane on purpose? That’s even worse.” I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure Julia just growled.

“What?”

Tap-tap-slide.

“No, he didn’t hurt me. We weren’t like that.” With seven sets of eyes focused on me, I feel the second my walls break. One tear turns into two before a steady stream flows silently down my face. “It doesn’t matter,” I sob. “It doesn’t matter because he would have left eventually. That’s why I wanted to go to Vermont. I leave first. I always leave first so they can’t hurt me.” With an audience, I vomit the words I’ve never said out loud before.

Emory pulls my head into her chest as Eli lays her head on my back. Tilly crouches down in front of me, and everyone else sits silent, witness to my mental break.

“Sloane,” Eli whispers. “Who? Who leaves?” She’s treating me with kid gloves, and it makes me cry harder.

“Shh, it’s okay, Sloane,” Emory coos, and I snap.

Pulling away, I jump to my feet. “No, it’s not okay, it’s not. Your moms left. My mom left, and Dad was never here. Emory left for school, and you guys would have left me too if I hadn’t gotten out of here first. Don’t you see? That’s what I know; that’s what I do. I leave. I was supposed to go, not Loki. I’m supposed to walk away first.”