Page 121 of Heart of Stone

“Oh, but Miss Cole, now that you agreed to stay, I should warn you that you won’t be needing clothes for what I have in mind.”

“Good. I was hoping you’d say that.”

CHAPTER 33

When I got home, I found Allyson standing in the kitchen with her hands on her hips and eyes full of accusation.

Shit.

I had hoped that she would be at work, giving me time to avoid the inevitable for the afternoon at the very least. She was mad, and rightfully so.

“Is your phone broken? I’ve been texting you since last night!” she snapped at me.

“Sorry. My phone was dead and I didn’t have a charger on me.”

Weak excuse, Cole. Real weak.

“That sounds like something I would say, not you. Besides, remember our deal? No all-nighters? I was really worried, Krys!”

I winced at her reminder, and a guilty stab of pain knifed at my gut. The last time one of us stayed out all night unannounced, disaster struck. I was living my darkest hour and needed Allyson desperately, but I didn’t know where to find her. After that night, we made a deal. Neither of us would stay out all night without letting the other one know where we were.

“I know, I know – and I’m really sorry. I should have found some other way to reach you. I’ve just had a lot going on over the past few days. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Yeah, right,” she harrumphed.

“I apologized! I don’t know what else to say, Ally. I didn’t intend to stay out all night”

“For starters, where in the hell have you been?”

“With Alexander,” I said with an air of nonchalance.

Her hands that had still been planted firmly on her hips fell to her sides. Her jaw dropped open, and she began mouthing words that wouldn’t come out. For once, I had made her speechless, and her disbelieving stare made me laugh.

“Oh no – don’t laugh,” she said, shaking her head back and forth. “We never finished our talk from the other night. I mean, I don’t want to keep being all mother hen-like, but I don’t think Alexander Stone is the kind of guy you want to tango with.”

“It’s fine, Ally. I can handle him,” I told her confidently. “Just let me go change into comfy clothes and then I’ll tell you everything. Okay?”

“Now that I know that you’re not dead in a ditch somewhere, a few details would be nice.”

I ignored her sarcastic comment and retreated to my bedroom to get more comfortable. Wally’s clothes two days in a row sucked, even if Alexander did have them laundered. I quickly changed into sweats and came back out into the kitchen. Allyson had made coffee and pulled out cinnamon rolls for us to eat.

“Oh, no. I’ll take the coffee, but I can’t eat that. I’m still full from this morning,” I told her. She eyed me suspiciously, forcing me to explain further. “Alexander made breakfast.”

“Oh?” she asked, cocking up one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “So he cooks?”

“No, not really. Just breakfast. But hang on – let me backtrack to the beginning.”

I poured myself a cup of coffee and went on to tell her the interesting tale of Alexander Stone. It was a difficult story to tell, as I had to leave out a certain amount of sensitive information. When I was finished, Allyson had a look about her that said she wasn’t satisfied with what I had to say.

“That’s it?” she said. It was like she could see right through me, reminding me of her canny ability to read between the lines. I tried to be more convincing.

“There’s really not much more to it.”

Liar!

My pestering angel was back and she was frowning her disapproval.

“What about that whole Dominant thing?” Allyson asked.

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