Page 26 of Facing Off
Ah, fuck. Rookie mistake. I called herdarling.
Based on my reputation, I bet she thinks I use the same line on every other woman.
My stomach wrenches, this anchor dropping straight through the bottom. She’s never going to change her perception of me. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve tried to show her other sides of me, because my past isn’t a lie. It’s a proven track record. Before I met Sonya, I spent most of my career jumping from one fling to another.
But that doesn’t matter right now.
Around us, the stage is being emptied. Whoever theolder lady was that ordered the curtains shut—she stormed away.
Sonya tries following, but my forearm claims her mid-section. “Hey, darling? You didn’t answer. Are you okay?“
We’re facing opposite directions. I can’t see her expression, but her nails prick into my skin. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me,” I insist.
“I’m fine.”
Her answers are robotic. Like all her frustration has just zipped back inside her, and now it’s sealed tight, with everything else she must be feeling shoved in there, too. It’s not nothing. Not after what just happened. I try to shake the image of her falling, but it’s looping in my head.Wrecking me.
Sonya starts pulling away. I panic.
I don’t know what to say next. She won’t meet my eyes. So maybe I have to push harder.
“Hey, don’t make me pull out the big guns.” What big guns?Who the fuck knows?My mouth won’t stop running. “Just tell me what’s going on?”
No response.
“Let me in,” I singsong, while internally cringing. Because I have no idea if this is working, at all. At least she isn’t pulling away anymore.
Still nothing.
Like a jackass, I laugh. “I’m running out of cheesy lines here, Sonya. Either talk to me or I’m seriously gonna start embarrassing myself. Not that it’s a problem. I don’t mind going on. It’s been a while since I saw you. Have you missed me? Because I’vedefinitelymissed?—”
She groans, this exasperated sound cutting me off. Tilting her head to look up at me, her eyes are full of fire. Not flat like I was scared they’d be. “Why must you be so obnoxious?” she grits out.
I grin, absurdly relieved that she’s speaking to me. I’d rather she be angry at me than…possibly at herself. “That’s just my personality! Please respect my vibes, darling.”
“Go away?—”
“First, tell me what happened.”Please.
“Nothing happened. I fell.” Her arms twitch as if she’s about to wrap them around herself again, but she doesn’t. “It’s not a big deal.”
“As long as you’re not hurt…” I start.
“I’mnot.”
“At least let me know if you need anything. I can help.”
Backlit by the stage lights, the strands of her dark hair seem to glow. This tinyughnoise escapes her. “You know what, I’ll be calling Quinn later to yell at him for sending you here. I don’t need to be checked up on. I was going to call him back.”
Cue the sound of her familiar quiet snarling…
It relaxes my spine. My next smile is more genuine because she can lash out. Grumble. Roll her eyes. I’ve bugged her plenty. Years of trying to get her to open up. Probably deserve her frowns by now.
Sonya has free rein to do whatever she wants with me, as long as she’s not hurting. That’s a deal I’ll take every time, no questions asked.
She wriggles away, and her finger jabs my chest. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
