Page 92 of Always

“Please don’t tell her I told you this, but she slept with him tonight.”

I raise my eyebrows.

“That’s why she wanted me to go to dinner with them. She didn’t think she could control herself around him, and she didn’t want to sleep with him.” She shakes her head. “This isn’t like Tessa at all. She’s always been able to handle men. She usually has them eating out of her hands. You know how gorgeous she is.”

Tessa Logan is indeed supermodel gorgeous, with an olive complexion, deep brown eyes, and flowing onyx hair. Not to mention her model-perfect body. But I’ve had my fill of the vapidcelebrity type. Not that Tessa is vapid. I don’t know her well enough to have an impression. Not being able to control herself with Garrett Ramirez, though?

I smell a rat.

A big fucking rat.

“Anyway, she was crying on the phone. She said he screwed her and then left. Said he had a meeting in the morning. But tomorrow’s Sunday, Braden. Who has a meeting on a Sunday morning?”

I let out a slight huff without meaning to.

“Sorry,” she says with sarcasm. “I forgot who I was talking to.”

“Just go on,” I say.

“She’s been drinking, but that’s not what concerns me.”

“What does concern you, then?”

“The last time she and Garrett had a falling out, she…” Skye bites on her lower lip.

“You may as well tell me, Skye,” I say. “I’m in this now. I need to know what we’re dealing with.”

“She took ecstasy,” Skye says. “And that surprised the hell out of me. Tessa doesn’t do drugs.”

“Did she seem high to you?”

“She certainly wasn’t herself,” Skye says. “But how would I even know? She and I have had some rough patches, and this is all my fault, Braden.”

“How can it possibly be your fault?”

“Because she asked me to have dinner, and I said no. I said no because I didn’t want to cancel on you.”

“Skye…”

“She misses me. She thinks I’ve been absent from her life because I’m so taken with you. And she’s partly right, Braden.” Skye sniffles.

“This isn’t your fault, Skye. Tessa is a grown woman. She doesn’t need a babysitter. If she was that worried about notbeing able to resist Garrett, she could have broken the date herself.”

“I know. I just feel terrible. I put you over her again. I… I wanted to be with you tonight, Braden. You and I went through a rough patch, too, and I was ready for tonight. I yearned for it. I can’t bring myself to be sorry it happened.”

“No one is asking you to be. Not even Tessa.”

“She kind of is. She said she needed me tonight. And I wasn’t there for her.”

Before I can reply, we arrive at Tessa’s building.

“You may as well go home,” Skye says. “I should stay with her tonight.”

I nod. “I’ll walk you up. It’s late.”

She kisses my cheek. “I’ll be okay.”

“I’m walking you up, Skye. It’s not up for debate.” I slide out of the car and open the passenger door for her.

---