Ben: Work has been so bad, and everything has been so hard since my grandma died. I asked you to be there for me. Where has my support been? Where? Out with your other man. What kind of girlfriend does that?
Ben: Where are you right now when I need you?
Ben: I’m just going to kill myself. I obviously have no support from the people who are supposed to be there for me. For my whole life, no one has been there for me.
Ben: So you don’t care if I kill myself, huh? Some girlfriend you are.
I sit back. Sawyer is silent.
“This fucker is her ex?”
Sawyer sounds pissed. “Yeah. Been blowing up her accounts. He wants to try again.”
For a second, I’m seven years old again, standing at the top of the stairs as my dad screams at my mom for being a cheatingwhore and telling her how much he hates her. I’d stand frozen in my dinosaur PJs, wanting to help my mom but too scared to. Then, mere hours later, she’d be believing him when he told her he loved her. She’d take him back every time, bruises and all. Until, of course, he left us.
“Pup.” Sawyer grabs my wrist. “You okay?”
I clear my throat. Fuck. Why the hell does this still bother me? It was twenty-five years ago. I should be over it. “Yeah,” I say. “I’m fine. Show me her camera roll.”
Sawyer doesn’t move for a second, then complies. Hundreds of thumbnails flash across the screen. I take over the mouse and mine through her pictures.
It’s clear the woman loves her cat. She has almost no pictures of other people. Fuck. Who was there to supporther?
Sawyer sits up straighter. “Wait.”
I stop scrolling. He clicks on a picture, and an image of Cali naked, except for a man’s shirt, comes across the screen. She’s facing away from the camera, and she’s pulled the shirt down far enough that you can see the soft and delicious curves of her body. My mouth waters. I feel Sawyer’s dick twitch beneath me.
“Goddamn,” I mutter. “How many points to let her go?”
“Five hundred.”
I don’t know where it comes from, but on impulse, I say, “Make it a thousand.”
Chapter 25
Cali
Iassume I slept all night since the sun is up again when I wake. I feel much better than before, although my brand still burns like a bitch. I’ve just gotten up to use the bathroom when Sawyer comes in.
“Come with me, bunny.”
My gaze drops to the chains in Sawyer’s hands. Why the hell does he have chains?
I take a tiny step back.
Sawyer’s gaze darkens. “Don’t make me chase you. You won’t get anywhere, and it’ll only make me want to hurt you”.
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Tie you up so you can’t go anywhere while Miles and I are out. Come.” Sawyer turns and walks out.
They’re going to leave me here? Where the hell are they going?
I follow slowly. I’m tempted to run into the kitchen, but Sawyer cocks his eyebrow at me. I glare at him. He walks further down the hallway toward a bedroom on the right that I’ve never been to.
I stand in the doorway. It’s a large bedroom with a king-size, four-poster bed. The bed is against the wall on one side, and a huge bathroom and closet are on the other. Sawyer goes to the bathroom and motions at me.
I take one step in the room. “Where are you guys going?”