Page 39 of Surviving Slater

"You'd better not need ice cream, otherwise Sin will be getting a visit from me." She hugged him tighter and he put an arm around her.

"I'm happy," she mumbled. "But I don't want you to leave."

"I'm not going away forever," he assured her as she looked up at him. "I'll visit."

And that seemed to appease the sadness in her eyes.

Life-and-death situations had a way of tightening bonds. It was the reason we were all so close even though we hadn't known each other for long. The close bond would survive irregular visits and time apart.

It felt like something was ending. Taylor was moving in with Sin, Matthew would be leaving for his new job, and that left me on my own, somehow leaving me behind.

"What time is Sin coming to collect your stuff?" I asked, needing to do something to stop the hollowness from spreading in my chest.

Taylor checked her watch before saying, "In about an hour."

"I'm going to get ready," I told them before leaving to go back to my room.

I was ready when Sin arrived to move Taylor's stuff in. She didn't have a lot of big items so there were only boxes. Matthew hadn't been able to help since he'd had a meeting about his next job scheduled for that day.

Watching Sin and Taylor smile secretly at each other was bittersweet. My friend was happy and I wanted to be happy for her but there was a part of me that was jealous of what she had with Sin. I shoved the thought away. She had tamed the bad boy, and against all odds they had survived so much to be together.

When we arrived at the new condo, my eyes scanned for Slater but there was no sign of him. Taylor had told me that Sin had rented a condo for Slater in the same building only a few doors down. My stomach tightened with nervousness.

"In the main bedroom at the end of the hallway," Sin instructed me as he gave me a small box to carry.

There were a few unpacked boxes in the living room. In the main bedroom, I set the box down. Taylor entered the room with another small box.

We began to unpack her stuff, when Sin entered with more stuff to unpack. I heard a set of additional footsteps. My heart picked up and I felt nervous.

"Sorry I'm late. My alarm didn't go off this morning," Slater said when he stepped into the room.

"Better late than never," Sin said as he wiped sweat from his brow.

Slater's eyes met mine and I felt a thrill shoot through me but my mind was already working overtime trying to figure out what he'd been doing the night before to have overslept. Had it included a girl? Was the mess of his hair caused by a girl running her hands through it in the heat of passion?Stop it, I told myself. We weren't anything, but the thought he might have replaced me already did hurt.

Stop it, I told myself again.You're acting like some jealous idiot.

Slater and I weren'tfeelings, it was only physical. We weren't even exclusive.

It took a few moments after Sin and Slater left to pull myself together.

"Everything okay?" Taylor asked beside me, taking me out of my thoughts of Slater.

I nodded, turning my attention to the boxes.

Needing to keep myself busy while I tried to figure out what my next move was going to be, I began to open the boxes. Under Taylor's guidance we began to unpack her stuff.

Slater entered with a large box. My eyes took in the way his arms tightened and flexed as he set it down on the floor. It was difficult to stop the memories from our night together from repeating through my mind, making me swallow hard.

He left without a look in my direction. Was he ignoring me to prove a point? Or had he decided I wasn't worth the hassle?

The next hour unfolded with an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach growing. Slater did not make a move to look or interact with me. He was making it clear he wanted nothing to do with me.

After Sin and Slater unloaded Taylor's stuff, they went to the living room to unpack Sin's stuff.

"You seem very preoccupied," Taylor said, and I faced her.

Maybe I needed to confide in her and get some perspective because I was driving myself crazy with my thoughts.