Page 35 of Sweetest Sin

“I know who he is.” Then, to me, she says, “Peyton spent that night with you in the Dominican Republic, and then you left her without a word.”

Fuck.

“It’s not like that,” I say. “It’s actually why I was hoping to get her number. I wanted to explain.”

“Tell you what …”

“Dominick.”

“Dominick,” Ericka says with a smile. “You give me your number, and I’ll pass it along. If she wants to talk to you, she’ll call.”

The woman next to her grins smugly, and I internally roll my eyes.

“Fine.” I sigh.

I rattle off my number, and she types it into her phone, then hits Send.

Almost instantly, her phone dings with a text.

“What did she say?”

“She wants to know if I’m with you.” She types something back, and a few seconds later, it goes off again.

“Sorry,” she says. “She said not to give you her number and asked that you please leave her alone.”

Fuckin’ A. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

“I know she’s probably pissed about how things ended, but if you can call her so I can talk to her, I can explain what happened.”

Ericka sighs. “Fine.”

She hits Call, and the phone rings several times before Peyton’s voice comes through the speaker.

“Ericka!” Peyton hisses. “Please tell me you didn’t give him my number.”

“She didn’t,” I say, plucking the phone out of Ericka’s hand and taking it off speaker.

“Dominick,” Peyton breathes, and with my name on her lips, somehow, all the stress from the past several weeks evaporates.

“I need to talk to you,” I tell her. “I need to explain.”

“No, you don’t,” she says, her tone devoid of all emotion. “There’s nothing to say. I need you to leave me alone.”

“I know I fucked up, but?—”

“I’ve moved on.”

“If you could just—”Wait, what the fuck did she just say?“What?” I ask because there’s no way I heard her right.

“I’ve moved on,” she repeats. “I met someone else, and I need you to please leave me alone.”

Well, fuck …

“Okay,” I tell her since there’s nothing else to say. “But?—”

I pull the phone from my ear, and the display is showing.

She hung up on me.