Page 147 of Foreplay on Words

“Where is my suitcase?”

“Still at the hotel,” she smiled. “They left it at the reception desk. But I should warn you that Kristine was the one who found it in there last night while we put Chase to bed.”

“Oh geez.”

Cause that’s not awkward.

“If you throw these on, I’ll drive you over there and then take you to the airport if you want,” Nathan offered as he gestured at a pile of clothes beside me.

“Thanks. Although I’m sure at this rate, I’ll miss everything scheduled for today.” Even if we left soon, it’d still take a while to get to the airport, and even if my flight were on time, it’d cut it close.

“I’m sure Chase can handle it,” Talia assured.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think she could. “I feel horrible that she has to.”

“Get dressed, stud,” she nodded at the clothes. “There’s a shower in the bathroom over there. If you don’t get out of here, you’ll miss your next flight too.”

The three of them left, crossing through the playroom and shutting the door to the main studio behind them.

My head still hurt, but at least I wasn’t seeing double anymore. The shower helped clear my head, but when I put on the clothes, I knew they were trying to mess with me. Under a clean pair of black socks and boxers were a pair of leather pants and a mesh shirt.

Rather than going shirtless, I nutted up and put on the clothes. Afterward, I slipped on my black dress shoes and folded up my wrinkled clothes from the previous night. I was sure they smelled horrible.

“Told you he’d put it on. Nice pecs, Evan,” Talia whistled as I entered the photography studio.

“You guys are dicks.” I could feel my lip twitch as I tried not to laugh.

“Oh, it was just for a little fun. Here.” Nathan tossed me a black T-shirt, and I pulled the mesh one off to catcalls from Talia.

“There’s an Apple store on the way to the hotel. Let’s go.” Nathan gestured toward the door as he stuffed my soiled clothes into a bag.

Forty-five minutes later, I had purchased a new phone and retrieved my luggage from the hotel.

“Thanks for doing this. I’d much rather it be you than Adrian.” Nathan really was a nice guy. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but you’d never be able to guess his proclivities by hanging out with him.

“I feel bad that I took Chase to your ex, and she said those nasty things to her.” His still feeling guilty showed me that he was a good person, and Emory was right. We all had skeletons.

“I can’t believe she showed up. How did she even know about it?” I hadn’t talked to her since I got my new phone number upon moving to Connecticut.

“Stole her employer’s pass,” Nathan said dryly. I didn’t even know who she worked for anymore.

“I haven’t talked to her in two years,” I sighed. I wished that were still true.

“She must have heard you’d moved on. She came at Chase pretty hard. Your girl sure does have a nice right hook,” he praised.

“Chase hit her? Holy shit!” No wonder I thought Simone looked like she’d been in a fight when she accosted me outside the hotel. When I’d seen them together in the ballroom, Chase was laughing at something Simone had said. I’d obviously missed a lot after that.

He nodded with a proud smile. “She’s probably sporting double black eyes right about now.”

“Can’t say that I care,” I shrugged. “Have you heard from Chase?”

“A few missed calls and texts, but I haven’t talked to her.” He shook his head. “She wasn’t answering her phone, so I texted her. They were on the plane before you woke up.”

“I hope she’s not mad at me,” I sighed heavily. If she was, I probably deserved it. It would be an understatement to say that last night had been less than ideal. It was such a fucking shit-show.

“She’s not. Just worried,” he assured, pulling up to the terminal at the airport and popping his trunk.

“Thanks again. You guys saved my ass by coming to find me. Lord knows where I would have ended up after that bar closed.”

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