Page 15 of Rags to Royals

“Me too!” comes her answer from up the stairs.

When I hear her bathroom door shut, I grab for my phone and open my podcast app.Wait ’Til I Tell Yeis the first one on my list. I open it and scroll to the transcript for the latest show.

Because of course I do.

I really need to get over this.

Maybe tomorrow.

Chapter 4

Cian

“You have some talking to do,” I say to Henry.

As usual, Henry was able to get everything organized quickly, and we were packed and on the plane on our way back to the US within an hour.

I won’t lie, I know that having a private plane is a luxury that I will probably never be able to get over.

I don’t know who he told what and I don’t care.

Now that I know that we know where Scarlett is, that is all I can focus on.

That and the fact that my best friend has known her location for a few months.

“I’m going to tell you the most important thing upfront,” Henry says from where he is lounging in the buttery soft cream-colored leather seat across from me.

It’s just the two of us, the flight attendant having left us alone and four and a half hours of the five-hour flight ahead of us.

I need the whole story before we get there.

Henry is now dressed in jeans and a casual, untucked button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He has one ankle propped on his opposite knee and he looks far too nonchalant.

While my heart is pounding, and I feel restless and like my dark gray joggers and loose tee are too restrictive.

I lean forward, resting my forearms on my thighs. “I want to know all of it. I’m pissed, Henry.”

He nods. “I know. And I’ll tell you everything. But the most important thing is I didn’t tell you right away because she didn’t want to see you. Still doesn’t.”

I frown. “She said that?”

“A few times now. I’ve been trying to change her mind.”

My frown deepens. “Why not?”

“In the beginning, it was because the only reason she spent that weekend with you was because she never expected to see you again. Considered you a young, hot, fun weekend-only fling.”

I flex my hands. Of course, I know that’s how it started. It was that for both of us. But it changed. Quickly.

Forboth of us, dammit.

I could fall in love with you, too.

I can still hear exactly how her voice sounded when she said that, sleepy, sated, her breath warm against my chest as I held her.

My entire body tightens and I feel an irrational surge of anger toward Henry. He’s been standing between her and me for months. I flex my hand again.

Henry keeps talking. “The reason we couldn’t find her for so long is because they literally left the state the Monday after you met her.”

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