Page 89 of Gluttony
“So,” Sloan said. “Funny story.”
“Not in the mood.”
She placed her palm on his chest, stopping him from entering. “Oh, I think you’ll want to hear this.”
He ground his teeth. “Fine. What?”
“Don’twhatme.” She looked like she would hit him, but that wasn’t really Sloan’s style. It was Liza’s. He glanced through the door to see if his other sister was there and breathed a sigh of relief when she wasn’t. The girls were bossy.
“What the hell, dumbass?” she snapped. “Please tell me you’re not being a jerk to Bailey already.”
Oh ye of little faith. He could get much worse. “Why, what has she said?”
“She came around looking for you, three times this week.” She held up her fingers. “And you’ve been conveniently out of touch.” When he didn’t respond, she pulled a burner phone from her pocket and shoved it into his palm. “Because you seem to have forgotten how to buy yourself a new phone, you can have this one. Bailey’s new number is programmed into it.”
“Stop trying to solve my problems. I’m a big boy.” He scowled at the cell phone. It was a leash on his monkey-chain and one he’d blessedly done without. The moment the studio, and everyone else got their hands on his number, demands would come rolling in.
“God, you’re a dipshit. Did you know that her car got scratched up by your crazy stalker? The one you keep fobbing off as being no big deal?”
Yeah, he knew. So what?
His sister’s eyes narrowed. “So you knew the word ‘slut’ was the word scratched into her car. You knew that, right? I mean, your girlfriend becomes the center of focus in your public life, and you look after her, right?”
Sloan’s words dulled as blood rushed in his ears.Slut?
Why hadn’t Bailey told him?
Because you haven’t been available.
He shut his eyes to take a moment. When he opened them, Sloan’s gaze had softened. “If you want to talk about anything, I’m here, bras. You know that, right?”
She watched him perceptively until, startled, he realized she was reading his emotions.
“Stop doing that,” he growled. “My feelings are private.”
She threw up her hands. “Can’t help it if you’re broadcasting your mope about the place.”
“Tony?”
A female voice had them both turning around. Tony frowned.
“Peta?”
The assistant from the studio.
She smiled warily at Sloan and then met Tony’s eyes. “I’ve been trying to contact you.”
“He lost his phone,” Sloan explained.
Tony gave her a look and then hooked an arm around Peta. “Let’s go outside and talk, where my nosy sister can’t hear.” And where she can’t put the guilt trip on him. He was doing a good enough job of that himself.
He could have sworn he heard Sloan’s raspberry behind his back as he guided Peta to the exit. They stopped in the area just outside the Lazarus House lobby. Folding his arms, he looked down at her. The doors to Hell on the opposite side were closed, and a bum reclined before it. His dirty face was shadowed by a hat, and a garbage bag covered his body. Tony shifted his eyes back to Peta.
“What’s up?”
“Um.” A blush colored her cheeks.
He waited. She turned shy. Sometimes he had this effect on women. It wasn’t a brag, just a truth. They got shy, they stuttered, and they swooned.Bailey never swoons. He smiled inwardly. She’d never balked like Peta.
