Page 58 of Sloane

Sloane shrugged at Maddie. “I mean… he’s got a point. He is taking care of Tank for me.”

“Plus, I’m your emergency contact,” his friend added.

“Oh my god, fine,” Maddie grumbled as she popped a pita chip into her mouth. “I’ll be the third to know; just as long as I know!”

“I promise I will contact you as soon as I hear something from my commanders.”

Chapter Sixteen

Sloane

Ashley remained chilly toward me but was friendly and engaging with everyone else the rest of the night. My friends knew something was up and glanced at me side-eyed more than once as if to accuse, What did you do!

I subtly shrugged my shoulders in silent answer.

Maddie and Grace’s matching pursed lips indicated they didn’t believe me.

I followed Ash when she went into the kitchen to slice the dessert she brought. When she opened the refrigerator, I boxed her in, so the door was blocking us from everyone else’s view, and lifted her chin so she had to look at me—something she’d been avoiding since she moved into the family room.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

She tried to look down when she replied, “Nothing.”

I really was at a loss and was grasping at straws what the problem could be.

“Do you want to go?”

“No. I like hanging out. I’ve been doing it for the last three days.”

Ding! Ding! Ding! Johnny, we have a winner!

I knew the second I had described our relationship like that, I had fucked up. I just hadn’t recognized the magnitude of my fuck up.

“Aw, dulzura, is that why you’re upset? Because I told Josh we’ve been hanging out?”

She lifted her shoulders like she didn’t care. “No, why should I be upset about that? That’s what we’ve been doing.”

I didn’t like hearing her downplaying our time together, like it didn’t mean anything, and suddenly understood why she was so pissed.

“We’ve been doing a lot more than hanging out, and you know it.”

She kept her eyes locked with mine when she raised one eyebrow and sassily asked, “Do I?”

I slid my arm around her waist and pulled her tight against me as I snarled, “Fucking A right, you do,” then captured her lips with mine in a punishing kiss.

For the first few seconds, she kept her spine and mouth rigid, and I was worried she wasn’t going to return the kiss. Then I felt her body relax as her arms wound around my neck, and she melted against me with a sigh.

Breaking the kiss, I leaned my forehead against hers.

“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just didn’t want to talk out of turn. We haven’t defined what this is between us.”

She pulled back to look at me with narrowed eyes.

“You had no problem telling Sara I was your girlfriend...”

“She was being disrespectful to you and needed to be put in her place.”

“So, you can say it to someone to piss them off, but you don’t want to say it in front of your friends.”

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