Page 104 of Just This Once

“Trouble?” I called, anyway.

When she didn’t answer, I whipped off the covers and crawled out of bed. After finding my jockeys on the floor in the front room, I pulled them on and searched the rest of the suite, checking out the balcony and kitchen, then the bedroom and bathroom again, before I strode to the exit and yanked it open.

“Oh!” The chick at the hospitality counter jumped when she got a look at me in my underwear. Fumbling for a moment, she finally turned her face away to give me some privacy, even as she tried to stay professional. “G-good morning, Mr. Ohrley. Did you?—”

“Did she leave already?” I asked, motioning back into my suite so she’d know who I was talking about.

Glancing over her shoulder at me, the woman flushed before dropping her gaze. “You mean, Miss Langston?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, sir. She came through here about an hour ago.”

Shit.

I blew out a breath and mumbled, “Thanks,” as I turned back into the room.

“Of course, Mr. Ohrley. And if there’s anything else you—” I slammed the door on her, muffling the rest of her offer.

Then I swiped a hand over my face as I took in the empty suite.

But fuck. She’d left me.

I set my hands on my hips as my chest tightened miserably, reminding me all too much of that moment in Thane’s room when I learned I was an orphan.

And here it came. The pain. The confusion. The lack of understanding. The frustratingly helpless feeling of total fucking abandonment. The knee-jerk urge to apologize and swear that I’d do better for whatever wrong I’d done to cause this to happen in the first place.

But I didn’t want that feeling. I hated that feeling. So I invited the anger in to wipe it all away.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered.

Real nice of her to leave me in the lurch like this.

The weekend had been perfect too. So why the fuck would she just disappear without a goodbye, backward glance, or even a fuck you?

I stormed toward the bedroom to hunt up my phone. And when I saw the ruined high heels she’d left behind lying negligently in the middle of the floor, my jaw hardened. Trying not to think about when those very heels had dug into my back while I was inside her, I turned my attention to the nightstand and spotted my phone.

But as soon as I dropped onto the bed and reached for it, I paused.

What the fuck was I doing?

Maybe she’d just run out to get something and was still coming back.

Or maybe she’d left me high and dry without a backward glance.

I checked the location of my car, and when I found it at Archer House, I sucked in a harsh breath.

Had guilt chased her straight to her brother to confess all? A cold sweat coated my flesh, but I shook it away almost immediately, refusing to believe that.

It’d been a few days since she’d seen Alec, that was all. Maybe she just missed him. Maybe he’d called her, and she’d had to leave in a hurry.

Without waking me.

Or writing a note.

Fuck. She’d definitely left without saying goodbye on purpose. I ground my teeth, steaming mad, even though, honestly, I knew her sneaking out had been for the best. If she’d waited around to say goodbye, I would’ve begged for more time. We both knew it. I’d already done it twice. And I might’ve even talked her into staying too. Which would be bad.

This thinghadto end at some point. Too much longer of it, and people would start to figure shit out.

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