Page 46 of Accidental Mile High Daddy
Margot’s door was open, empty.
The two single beds in Zach’s room were made.
The sheets were stripped in Matt’s, folded and waiting at the foot of the bed.
There was no luggage, no shoes by the door, no food in the fridge. A half-empty pot of coffee sat in the machine, still hot on the hot plate.
They left. No message, no goodbye, just gone.
My breath hitched once, twice, shaking,wrong.
This couldn’t be right. He wouldn’t—hecouldn’tjust vanish, not after last night, not after how he’d touched me like he meant every second of it, not after how he’d held me in the comedown like he didn’t want to let go. My hands shook as I moved back to my room, staring at my clothes strewn about the place, my jaw wobbling.
I packed quickly, grabbing out the first casual clothes I could find—a pair of jean shorts and a plain white shirt—and pulled them on, moving on autopilot as I tried to convince myself they were just down at the beach or waiting in the main building.
I didn’t even know when my flight was.
I dragged my suitcase down the path, the wheels making a racket against each slat of the wooden walkway, the air toobright, too hot, too cheery for the hollowness that seemed to swallow everything inside of me like a black hole.
A voice stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Oh, wow,” he said, and I spun on a dime, realizing too late that I hadn’t even bothered to look in a mirror after Matt had thoroughly ruined my makeup last night. Ryan stared at me, grinning like he’d just witnessed a comedy sketch of someone slipping and falling down ten flights of stairs, his short-sleeved shirt unbuttoned and blowing in the breeze. His hair was damp, a drink already in his hand, his sunglasses perched on his nose like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Didn’t think I’d see you this morning.”
“Ryan,” I swallowed, taking a single step back.No, no, fuck, you’ve lost the edge, Sienna.“Do you—have you seen Matt?”
I cringed at myself. I soundedbroken.
His smile faltered, just slightly, before he blinked at me behind his shades. His head tilted to the side, his grin stretching into something sharp.
“You mean yourboyfriend?” he asked, drawing the word out like it was a joke.
“He’s not, uh, he’s not in the villa,” I said, willing my voice to sound stronger than I felt. “Sorry, I just—I just woke up. Do you know where he is?”
He snorted. “Right now? No. But I saw him loading up one of the vans earlier. Him, the kid, the—shit, what’s her name? Magpie?” He spoke like he was living on cloud fucking nine, his drink sloshing over his hand before it was even noon.Did he sleep?“They were all packed and gone before sunrise. Saw ‘em drive off while I was on a piss break.”
My stomach dropped through the center of the Earth.
Matt had left.
Genuinely, fully, really left.
He wasn’t down at the beach, he wasn’t waiting in the main building.
He wasgone.
Ryan watched me, pulling his sunglasses down and off his face with a look that was nothing but smug. “Guess it wasn’t that serious, huh?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t, I wouldn’t — I didn’t trust what might come out of my mouth.
“Oh, come on,” he laughed, taking a step toward me. “Don’t look so heartbroken. You know he’s a piece of shit, Si. You didn’t think he’d actually stick around, did you?”
I clenched my teeth and yanked the handle of my suitcase back up, taking a deep breath and trying to convince myself that I didn’t care. That I hadn’t let myself believe, even for a minute, that it wasn’t an act. That maybe the look in his eyes when he’d saidyou’re beautifulwasn’t something more than heat and convenience and a pretty dress.
“Guess you served your purpose,” Ryan added with a shrug, popping his sunglasses back on and taking a sip of his drink. He raised it toward me as he took a step back, then another, and another. “Hope it was worth it.”
I turned before he could shoot anything else my way, forcing my feet to move toward the main building.
I still had Matt’s credit card. I fished it out of my bag along with my phone, scrolling through my emails until I found the reservation booking for my flights, biting back the burn that was threatening to rise behind my eyes. Four in the afternoon — just enough time for me to make it back to the Cancun airport if I left in the next thirty minutes.
