Page 50 of Winter Glam in Amsterdam

Where am I? Why isn’t Summer next to me?

Suddenly, a cold wave washes over me. Fuck. Summer.

I jump up from bed and ruffle through my clothes for my phone. Once at the hotel, I undressed and threw all of them on a chair and now I can’t find… ah, there it is. Only 5% on the battery, but it has to suffice.

As soon as I unlock it, my heart sinks. Messages from an unknown number, but I know exactly who it is.

"Fuck," I curse under my breath as I pull up the chat, my heart beating into my throat.

Summer: Where are you? Asher gave me her number, hope that's okay. Is everything alright?

My lips tug into a smile, but that quickly falls off my face when I realize the gravity of what happened as I read on, noting the missed calls in between messages.

Summer: I’m worried about you. Are you okay?

Summer: Tanner, what’s going on?

Summer: Lily mentioned an emergency, is everything okay?

Summer: Tanner?

And then, more messages that came in only fifteen minutes ago, and my heart sinks.

Summer: Really?

Summer: I get something’s going on, but ghosting me is not it. Not after saying you wanted more.

Summer: Thanks for last night. Hope everything is okay. Have a great life.

No. Fuck, this can’t be happening.

I try to call her, but the call doesn’t even go through. And when I pull up the chat again to answer her, I realize she has blocked me.

I reach for my pillow, burying my face in it.

“Fuck!” I shout into it, hoping it muffles the sound enough to not have security knocking on my door. I can’t believe this happened. I should have messaged her. Should have left a note.

Fuck.

I start pacing the room, fighting with tears, punching and kicking the pillows I threw off my bed before crashing out.

Congrats, Tanner. You might just have destroyed the best thing to ever happen to you.

Summer

My eyes flutter open, and I just know it in my gut. He didn't call.

It's one thing to wake up alone after the guy you spent the night with promised you he wanted more. But it's a whole other thing to get his number from your brother's best friend, give him the benefit of the doubt and gather all your courage to reach out to him, just to get ghosted.

I close my eyes just for one more moment before I reach for my phone. No call. No message. Just like I predicted.

God, if this vacation is showing me one thing, it's that I'm so much more naive than I thought.

Naive enough to think a guy would like to get to know me without ulterior motives, only to get drugged, having to be saved like a damned damsel in distress. Naive enough to think a guy actually wants more just because he says so, just to have him sneak out of my room in the middle of the night.

Well, the joke is on me, I guess.

It’s not like I expected grand love declarations on my phone. A fucking thumbs-up emoji would have been enough. But twenty-four hours without so much as a sign of life, after promising he wanted more? That’s hard to believe.

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