Page 19 of Sloth
Misha sat next to her jabbering about something Sloan had missed over the roar of the hairdryer.
But it was all done now.
No bangs.
Sloan grinned. She could deal with this.
“You look hot, Sloan,” Misha leaned in, chewing on gum. “Max is going to seriously regret whatever he did. What did he do, by the way? Wyatt won’t dish and it’s driving me nuts.”
“This isn’t about Max.” Sloan scowled.
Misha snorted. “Yeah, okay. Revenge Package for the doorman then?”
Damn it.
Angelo’s fingers ran product through her hair. “Don’t ruin all my good work with that frown, sweetheart.”
When Sloan turned her scowl on him, he made a hasty retreat, leaving Sloan alone with Misha.
“You okay, Sloan?” Misha asked. “You’re scaring away the staff.”
“Fine. I’m fine.” She rubbed her temples. “Just getting another headache.”
“So… Max? What’s the deal?”
She wasn’t going to let up, was she? Sloan sighed, fingers moving to tug on her hair, wanting to put the end in her mouth, but she resisted. “After years of online dating, we decided to make a go of our relationship in real life. He made the first move. Said he was quitting the army. He booked flights to come here. We were going to get married. Have babies. Live together forever. All that vomit stuff—no offense. It was such a huge commitment, that I told him my secret. He got cold feet.”
“Oh. That’s… yeah. That’s rough.”
They were both silent for a moment, and then Misha piped up. “Are you sure nothing happened to him? I mean, what if he didn’t show because something happened, you know?”
“Oh, he came.” And that was the hurtful part. Sloan understood if he couldn’t deal with the vigilante crime-fighting, but it was the fact he believed the media before asking her for the truth. That betrayal hurt most of all. “I checked the flight records. He was in Cardinal City the day Sara blew herself up and killed a building full of people. The flight records also showed he left the city the same night. So… he believed the hype, I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
“He must have seen what the news stations were saying about us and decided it was too much.”
“But he’s here now. If he didn’t want to be with you because he believed the lies the media spread, why did he come back?”
Sloan had been avoiding asking that question herself. Was it as simple as he’d changed his mind? Decidednotto believe the media?
“Ow.” Misha’s hand went to her mouth.
Sloan hissed as a stab of pain sliced through her tongue.
“I bit my tongue instead of the gum,” Misha whined. “I’m such an idiot.”
The tang of metallic blood filled Sloan’s mouth, and she held her finger there to inspect the flavor. It came away stained with red.
When Misha spat out her gum, covered in red, she spotted the matching red on Sloan’s finger. Misha’s head cocked to the side as she studied Sloan. “Did your mouth just bleed when mine did?”
The urge to confide in someone was stronger than Sloan’s will to deny. “Yes.”
“Are you serious? Did you bite your tongue too?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
