Page 139 of The Restoration Program

“Can we talk, please?” he asked. “I’m begging you. Just five minutes.”

Cora appeared behind him in the shadows, breathless. She nervously pushed up the shoulder of her oversized shirt.Ryan’sshirt.

Darlene’s grip moved Nicole protectively against her front. Nicole glanced up and saw rage on her features she didn’t know Darlene was capable of.

“You fucking pig!” Darlene shouted at him. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Stay out of this,” Ryan growled.

“Oh, that ship has sailed. Seriously, after everything she’s been through? I hope you choke.”

Cora snarled, stepping out protectively in front of Ryan. Nicole flinched. “He’s given up everything.Everything!All to bringherback.” She jabbed a finger towards Nicole. “And you’re going to crucify him because of a little romp in the sheets? Grow up.”

Nicole scoffed. “Cunt.”

Cora’s eyes flashed down at her.

“Cora,” Ryan intoned. “Leave it.”

She frowned at him. “All of this… It’s complicated. They need toknow–”

“I’m serious,” he said. “Shut. The fuck. Up.”

She looked like she wasn’t used to being spoken to like that. In the stunned silence that followed, a soft noise drifted from the bedroom. Something shifting on the sheets.

A small voice said, “Is everything okay? Cora? You guys!”

Ryan rubbed his face with his hands. “Go untie Emma. You should both get your things.”

Cora looked nervous. The way she was so protective ofhimas she eyed the room made Nicole want to vomit.

“No. I’m—”

“Go.I’ll call you later.”

Finally, she shook her head and strode for the bedroom. For a few moments, they all listened to the peculiar sound of her speaking with Emma. Beyond the gaping hole in her heart, Nicole’s head was spinning at the sort of bizarre friendship that would lead to such an arrangement.

“You’ll call her?” Nicole sneered, her voice thick and warbly. Ryan looked up. A hysterical chuckle came out of her. “That’s sweet of you. A real gentleman, Ry.”

Ryan dragged a hand down his face. “I swear it was just sex.”

Nicole laughed again, too broken to do anything else.

“I know that doesn’t make it okay,” he hurried to add. “And I’m sorry. So fucking sorry. But it… this thing… I promise, it’s nothing like what you and I had—have.”

“Oh, don’t tell me this is about you havingneeds,” Nicole choked out. “You sound like a fucking soap opera. You don’t get to have both! And you and I… We officially have nothing anymore.”

Ryan opened his mouth, but Cora swept past them. Emma sat in her cupped hands, eyes red from crying. Her clothes were rumpled, and a few strings of yarn were still fastened around her wrists. It seemed Cora had needed to cut her free.

The moment Emma clapped eyes on Nicole, she crumpled into tears again. “I-I’m so sorry! He said you were leaving him. For weeks, he’d been saying that things were falling apart, a-and then you left—”

“We’ll talk later,” Ryan cut in harshly.

Emma’s face flushed. She tugged at the yarn on her wrists—something glinted there. She tore off a set of rose-gold cuffs and unfastened her necklace—each piece far more delicate than what the Program offered. She tossed the jewelry at Ryan. It fell to the carpet.

“I can’t even look at those things anymore,” Emma said.

“You fucking psycho,” Darlene said. “No wonder you didn’t put up much of a fight when Nicole left. You were too thrilled about having the place all to yourself.”