Page 82 of Midnight Dissonance

A full week went by without her. And then another before he finally extracted his head from his ass.

It had been the longest two weeks of his life. He’d texted her about the stuff she left behind. He knew she didn’t have much. And he’d been a total horse’s arse.

Josh was fecking miserable. More than he had been at the end of his marriage. Because he had been wrong. So what if she had student loans? Plenty of people did in this day and age, and he was proud of her for leaving the lane her parents wanted her in and striking out by herself.

That took guts. And yeah, she’d hurt him by removing her collar. But she’d only done it because he’d walked in guns blazing. All because he’d been terrified he’d been played again.

Because his bloody ex really had done a number on him. Except by holding onto his past and using what his ex-wife did as a shield, he was depriving himself of happiness.

In all his days, he would never forget the look on her face when she stormed out. They needed to talk. He never should have accused her without speaking to her about what Lisa told him. And if she would just give him a chance to explain, they could fix this.

Bloody hell, he missed her.

But she wasn’t responding to his text messages.

Josh wanted her back. They belonged together. Because he realized something far too late.

He loved her. Deeply. She was it for him.

It was up to him to apologize and beg her to come back. But she wasn’t answering his calls. His stubborn sub forced him to find another route.

And he knew what he could do to lure her back in.

He contacted his friend, Gage Walker, and called in a favor. He was a club member and had his own security company. Josh paid him a large sum of money to find out where her loan was being held.

As a peace offering, he’d pay the loan off for Lexi. In so doing, it would hopefully prove it wasn’t a big deal and would be part of his apology for hurting. Gage told him he was crazy. And he was, but only because he loved her so fecking much he ached with it.

And he realized the depths of his feelings about an hour after she stormed out of his place. He thought he had known love before her advent into his life. But even his feelings for his ex-wife paled in comparison.

And it’s why he sat at his desk with the information Gage procured and called the loan company. He would pay it off and beg her to come back.

After telling his secretary he would be on a call for a bit, he dialed them up and was on hold for a bit before an agent came on the line.

“Yes, Sir, how can I help you today?”

“I have a loan that I would like to pay the balance on. It’s a rather hefty amount, too, so I’ll need to know the best method for transferring the funds.”

“Oh, certainly. I would be happy to help you out. What is the account number or social on the account?”

Josh rattled off the account number.

“Okay, give me just a moment while I pull up the account information.”

Josh tapped his pen against the desk while he waited.

“Um, I’m sorry, sir, but that account balance is zero. There’s nothing to be paid off.”

“It’s paid for? In full?” Shock riddled him. But Lisa told him there had been over two hundred grand. How was it paid for?

“Yep. We received the final payment last week.”

“Oh. Okay, thanks.” Josh hung up the phone and leaned back in his seat. She paid it off. It was the only explanation.

Bloody fecking hell, he was an eejit.

He’d lost the best thing that had ever happened to him over a lie. He didn’t understand why Lisa would lie about it. Unless she hadn’t known. But why would she try to sabotage his relationship with her sister? Josh didn’t get it.

He wanted to speak to Lisa, but her secretary indicated she was on a conference call. While he waited for her to be done with the call, he went through the stack of mail on his desk. And he reached a tan envelope addressed from a Williams.

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