Page 56 of His Red Carnation

She shook her head, sadness flickering in her eyes. “Really?”

I nodded. “Of course, baby. You’re it—you’re the one. We’re gonna get married, and you’re going to be stuck with me for another forty or fifty years until I croak.”

That brought a smile to her face. “I hope it’s longer than that.”Thank fuck, she’s happy again. “But…how are we going to tell him?”

I shot her a serious look. “We’renot telling him;I’mtelling him. I don’t want you to see your dad punching me in the fucking face,” I explained.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not letting you do it alone,” she huffed.

I blinked at her, realizing I couldn’t argue with her resolve. “We’ll figure it out. It doesn’t need to happen today. We’ll…we’ll prepare for it,” I assured her.

She sighed and nodded. “Okay.”

We ate our food, chatting as the diners around us came and went, mostly keeping to themselves. After I paid the bill, I took her hand and led her to my bike.

“Anywhere else you want to go, baby?” I asked, leaning against the bike and pulling her close by the hips.

Traffic was light, and I wasn’t worried about anyone seeing us.Fuck ’em.

Sloane placed her hands on my arms and shrugged. “Let’s go back to your apartment. I just want to spend time with you,” she replied earnestly.

Fuck, this girl was giving me a toothache. I smiled and gently pressed my lips to hers. She moaned quietly, pulling me closer. Once we parted, I gave her a playful tap on the ass. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Sloane and I sat on the couch together, her legs resting on my thighs as we watched some reality show on Netflix that she liked. It was complete trash, but it was entertaining. Just being with her, spending lazy time together, made me so fucking happy. I rubbed my hands over her legs, and she looked up at me with a sly smile.

We were suddenly interrupted by her phone buzzing violently on the coffee table. I leaned over to grab it for her, and my heart dropped when I saw Jake was calling. In all the time Sloane and I had spent together, he had never once called her. I handed her the phone, feeling sick to my stomach. She eyed it with confusion.

“Hey, Dad?” she answered.

Her eyes widened slowly, and her face went pale. She looked up at me, lips parted in shock.

“I’m…I’m out shopping. Why?”

I waited, watching intently, wishing she would put the call on speaker.

“I’m not going to come homeright this instant. What’s going on?” Her brows furrowed as she glanced back at me.

“Oh, Dad…it’s—” she began, but his voice cut her off.

Her chest rose and fell quickly, panic evident in her demeanor.

“I—I will explain everything when I get home, okay?” she said quietly.

Her eyes suddenly darted to mine.Fuck, he knows. How does he know?“Yes.” She paused for a moment before speaking again. “He’ll be there too.” Her eyes squeezed shut tightly, and she lowered the phone.

“What’s going on?” I asked impatiently.

Sloane opened her eyes and shook her head. “Someone…someone took pictures of us at the diner. And outside of it. My dad said it’s all over the Internet,” she explained quietly, tears welling in her eyes.

“Oh, fucking shit,” I blurted out. “What the fuck? I didn’t even see anyone around!”

She continued to shake her head. “We need to get back. We need to diffuse this,” she thought aloud.

Her phone began vibrating again. This time, it was Ana calling. Sloane burst into tears, covering her face with her hands.

“I can’t. I can’t—” she started, so I took her phone and pressed it to my ear.

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