Page 95 of Not Your Little Girl Anymore

She looks over my shoulder through the doorway of the kitchen. “Are you expecting anyone?”

I kiss the crook of her neck. “No.”

Hesitantly, she kisses me again, but the knock grows louder. “What if it’s important?” She drops her legs, and I gently let her down.

Placing a hand on the doorway, I suck in a large amount of air. “It’s most likely the guys. I can ignore that.”

Summer’s eyes narrow. She shakes her head. “I’ve come between you guys a lot lately… I think you should answer it.”

Fuck.

I don’t want to answer, but I haven’t spoken to them since the concert. The show I left immediately without a single word of my whereabouts.

“I’m so sorry.”

A soft laugh comes from Summer. “Why are you sorry?”

I brush a strand of her hair out of her face. “You deserve my full attention.”

Her hand rests against my chest. The warmth is exhilarating. “And I have your full attention, but you also have a career you must keep alive.”

Goddamn, she’s right.

“Go answer the door, Alec.”

Groaning, I run my fingers through my hair and walk into the kitchen. Summer follows me but keeps a little distance between us as I peek through the peephole. Sure enough, I was right.

James, Samantha, and Tyler are all on the other side of my door.

I swing open the door, reminding myself of what Summer said. My career has always been important to me, and I can’t push it aside more than I already have. Leaning against the door frame with my arms at my chest, I raise a brow.

Samantha walks past me, letting herself into my apartment. James and Tyler follow. James’s case of beer in his hand doesn’t go unnoticed. He helps himself to the fridge, placing the beer inside.

“I would’ve called, but,” Samantha pauses as her eyes fall on Summer, who bites onto her bottom lip. “Hi,” she says to Summer. Samantha turns to me. “We can come back…”

“There’s no need,” Summer says before I can agree. “I… I actually wanted to apologize to you—to all of you. What happened; What I said... It was rude, and I shouldn’t have assumed such a thing without speaking to Alec first. Or even you.”

Samantha’s eyes draw in, and she slowly turns her head to me before returning to Summer. I know what she’s thinking. She had her own vision of Summer plotted out in her mind, just like I had.

Samantha nods. “It’s OK. I don’t blame you for lashing out the way you did.”

“Sam,” Tyler cuts in, catching her attention. There’s a slight impatience in the way he said her name.

“What is it?” I drawl.

“I don’t know if it should be discussed,” Samantha shrugs. “You know.” She nudges her head toward Summer.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Summer’s arms tighten around her stomach. A slight buildup of anger rises in my chest.

She must have noticed because she cut in. “It’s fine. Really. I’ll just go wait in the other room.” Summer swings her thumb over her shoulders, pivots on her heels, and heads into the living room.

James chuckles. “Way to make that awkward.”

Samantha glares at him for a second. “Alec, Chase came to me after the show, and I was going to call you, but I knew you needed time to sort,” she said, waving her palms in a circular motion toward the living room, “all of that out.”

My head tilts, the anger inside of me increases. “What did he have to say?”

She draws in a deep breath. Tyler pulls out a beer from the fridge and passes it to Samantha. She pops open the twist top and hands it to me. Something tells me this isn’t going to go over well. I take the beer from her hand. She takes another from Tyler, popping the cap off that one, too.

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