Page 67 of The Master

And also naked.

“Oops,” Calah said as she rolled toward Nate like she actually cared that I could see everything.

“I guess you caught us this time.” Roma smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and walked to the bed, ignoring both of the women watching me. I knew what they were expecting, but they were going to be sorely disappointed.

And they’d be lucky if they didn’t get bitch-slapped before the night was over.

“Nate. Wake up.” I grabbed his leg and shook it. I really didn’t want to have to get any closer to the women, but if he didn’t wake up from me touching his leg, I wouldn’t have much of a choice in the matter. And if that happened, I was going to be royally pissed.

“I guess we wore him out,” Calah said, putting her hand on his back.

“Remove your hand, or I’ll do it for you.” I kept my voice even as I shook Nate’s leg again. “Come on, Nate, you need to wake up.”

He groaned and rolled over. I’d seen the bottle of whiskey on the counter when I first came in, which meant I was already prepared for the bleary blink and confused expression when he saw me. As he moved to sit up, he realized two things in quick succession. The first was that he was naked, and he grabbed at the sheet, which led him to the second realization that he wasn’t alone in his bed.

“Ashlee…this isn’t…I mean…le soleil, I didn’t–”

I cut him off before he could get out a full sentence. “I know.”

He frowned, not even glancing at either of the naked women with him. “You know what?”

I smiled, keeping my gaze focused on him. “I know you didn’t sleep with either of them.”

Calah gave an inelegant snort. “You can’t be that stupid.”

“I think it’s more greed than stupidity,” Roma said. “If she gets pissed that he cheated on her, she loses her meal ticket.”

I ignored them. “I’m guessing you were pretty buzzed when they got here, right? They gave you some excuse to get in the door, then things get blurry after that?”

He nodded, a tentative hope written on his face. His brain wasn’t quite as sharp as usual, but he was starting to realize that I wasn’t angry with him.

“I don’t know what youthinkhappened, but we came here to make amends, and Nate invited us in, for old times’ sake. One thing led to another…” Roma climbed out of bed and stood with her hands on her hips.

I wondered if she thought being naked was going to get Nate’s attention or make me uncomfortable. I supposed it was possible she just didn’t care about nudity, but Roma struck me as a person who used her body like a weapon, and not in a fun assassin sort of way.

“Aside from the fact that I know Nate would never cheat on me, especially with the two of you, I have tangible proof that you’re both lying.” I folded my arms and squared off with Roma. She’d gone too far with this stunt. “I came here because I got a text from Nate’s phone that said he wanted me to be here.”

“Ashlee, I don’t remember sending a text.” Nate slid down to the end of the bed near where I stood, taking the sheet with him as he went.

“That’s because you didn’t,” I said.

“Yes, he did!” Calah was next to Roma now, not looking nearly as comfortable with her clothes-less status. “He said he wanted to know if you would join us or be a prude about it.”

Apparently, Calah hadn’t been the one who’d sent the message. I pulled my phone from my pocket and read the screen. “Hey, babe, I hope I’m not waking you up, but I’d really like to see you tonight. It’s lonely in my bed without you.”

“Okay, so he didn’t actually tell you that he wanted you to join us,” Calah backpedaled. “But he wanted you here, and we were here, so obviously there was something he wanted you to see.”

“You should probably stop talking,” I said. “I’m going to make this simple. Nate doesn’t call mebabe. In fact, he doesn’t call me anything that he’s called anyone else. You assumed that he talks to me the same way he talked to you. But he doesn’t. Because what he and I have isn’t anything like he had with either of you.”

Calah and Roma both glared at me, their cheeks flushed.

“Now, here’s what’s going to happen. Because I’m a decent human being, I’m going to let the two of you get dressed before you leave, but if you try anything, I’ll take you downstairs myself and deliver you to security to hold until the cops get here.”

“He invited us inside.” Calah’s voice shook with anger. “The cops can’t arrest us for trespassing.”

“No,” I agreed. “But I can call them and say that you two are violating your restraining order. And if that isn’t enough, I’ll explain that two individuals took advantage of someone under the influence of alcohol, resulting in all three people being in bed together, naked, and one of them hadn’t consented.”

---