Page 43 of On My Side
“You—you called me sweetheart,” I whisper.
His cheeks flush, like he hadn’t realized he said it. “I won’t say it again. I’m sorry…”
“What if I want you to say it again?” I ask.
He slowly lifts his hand, cupping my cheek. “What are we doing, Audrey?” he asks, voice husky. “Why did you come to my room?”
“I told you, I wasn’t sure if…”
“Right, the towels,” he interrupts. “If they weren’t in my room, I could have called the front desk. You didn’t have to leave Piper and come to the inn, but you did. Tell me why.”
I want to lean into his touch. To tell him the truth, that I wanted to be close to him. Iwantto be close to him.
But I can’t.
I take a step back and his hand falls to his side. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, “I shouldn’t have come.”
He steps back and inhales shakily. “Okay.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again.
“Okay,” he repeats.
He’s avoiding my eyes and I want to take it back, to rewind the tape and not let his hand fall.
But I can’t.
“You probably want this back,” Ren says, giving me my phone.
“Thanks. Sleep well.”
“Goodnight, Audrey.”
When I get home, I bring Piper my pint of Cherry Garcia and bury myself beneath the blankets. It’s not till then I finally let the tears fall. I feel suchshamefor rejecting him, for hurting him. But it’s for the better, because if he knew how damaged I am, he wouldn’t want me. It’s better to shut him down altogether.
The upside is he doesn’t know I know he’s Sky.
Despite that, the darkness still covers me, a familiar companion pulling me into the depths again.
I cry myself to sleep.
Chapter 15
Ren
Playlist: I Did Something Bad | Taylor Swift
I was awake all night tossing and turning, restless because of this infuriating woman and what I discovered.
I didn’t know when I unlocked her phone, it would open to an app I’m intimately familiar with—literally.
She was listening to my most recent audio, the one I uploaded a few days ago. She’d made it a few minutes in and…
Audrey listens to my audios.
I’ve worked hard to keep Sky anonymous, to keep myself separate from Sky. I felt nauseous, wondering if she knew.
Maybe she didn’t. Sky is one of the most popular creators on the app, and 4Play is one of the most downloaded apps in its category. She could not know.
