Page 40 of Any Cowboy of Mine
As hard as Sophie tried to ignore it, argue that it wasn’t meant for her, all of that logic flew the coop against her morbid curiosity. She cast a furtive glance behind her in case Brad had snuck back into the room while she was distracted. Feeling safe in her minor espionage, Sophie grabbed the note and sat down next to the can to read it.
Dear Brad, it read,My room. Now. We need to talk. Love Always, Jules.Sophie frowned. There was no way Brad was there, was he? He wouldn’t, especially not after their night together.
Sophie read and reread the note three more times. At some point, she came to the realization that Brad was gone and not coming back any time soon to dissuade her from her now-frantic line of thinking. Panicked, she dialed Jackie’s cell.
Her friend picked up on the first ring.
“Well, good morning and Merry Christmas. How was your night?” Jackie asked. It was loud wherever she was, music and voices mingling in festive cheer. How the whole world seemed to be up and at ’em that early was beyond her. The noise pounded inside her skull, bouncing around in there like a tin can being tossed in the bed of a truck. She shut her eyes against the pain.
“Yeah, Christmas, right. Fine. No, better than fine, but I’ll fill you in later. Have you seen Brad this morning?”
“No, why? Is everything okay?”
“I think so. Well, I dunno. Maybe? Has Steve talked to him?”
“Not that I know of, and we’ve been together all morning. But hold on, I’ll check with him anyway.”
Sophie nodded, fully aware of the fact that Jackie couldn’t see her, but she refused to give a voice to her dread. What if Brad went back to Julia? First of all, that would make him just as bad as Chris since she’d just gotten married, but second, how could he after what he and Sophie had shared? He’d given no indication, no clue whatsoever, that he regretted his split with Julia, but maybe seeing her all done up in the white dress had flipped a switch.
Jackie’s voice was soft and gentle on the other end, a lilt to it that Sophie recognized. It was the sound of someone talking to a person they loved, and a pang of jealousy stabbed her chest, temporarily drawing her body’s attention from the pounding in her head and the hunger pains that ravished her stomach.
“You there?” Jackie asked.
“Yes. What did he say?” Sophie hated how desperate she sounded, but she couldn’t control the way fear built in her belly, growing like cancer, consuming everything in its path.
“We ran into his parents in the lobby when we checked out but haven’t seen Brad since you two left together last night. Did you spend the night together?”
“We did, but when I woke up, he was gone,” Sophie said, explaining the note she found to her friend.
“There’s no way he’d actually go to her room, is there?” Jackie asked after a very dramatic pause. The way she spoke said that question was meant for Steve. Sophie wished she could see, or at the very leasthearhis response.
“What does Steve think? And please, be honest. I don’t need to be babied right now. I’d rather just know.”
“Steve says he doesn’t know. Maybe. Want us to come up? We can walk with you to her room, just to check.”
Sophie almost told them no, that she didn’t want to be that person, but at the last second, she changed her mind.
“Please. And Jackie, thank you.”
“Of course,” her friend replied. Sophie cringed at the pity that laced those two words.
Sophie hung up the phone and fought back tears. She had no business being this upset about a guy she barely knew and had spent just one night with, but she couldn’t help feeling like Brad was more than just a crush. The opportunity to get to know him better had come along at such a perfect time in her life that it had to be more than just a crazy coincidence. Which is why she would feel the loss of him more than Drew.
Not two minutes later, there was a knock at the door and for a moment, Sophie allowed herself to imagine it was Brad and that he’d just forgotten his key. She threw open the door, an expectant smile on her lips that fell when her gaze landed on a sullen-looking Steve and Jackie instead.
“Let me see it,” Jackie demanded, her hand extended.
Sophie reluctantly handed over the note, which was crumpled and damp at this point, and Jackie sighed.
“Steve, you know I love you, but I’ll kill your friend if he’s there, you know that too, right?”
Steve nodded, all the more attractive with day-old stubble and his hair tucked away in a ball cap. Wasn’t it just her luck that these two showed up looking perky and perfect? She felt like crap and was pretty sure she still looked it, shower or not. “I got it, babe. You’ll have to wait in line. Let’s be absolutely certain before we judge the guy, though, alright?”
Jackie threw her hands up in a conciliatory gesture. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Sophie got her stuff, threw it in her backpack and left the note where it sat on the floor, next to the one she’d written for Brad.
She walked quickly, her feet carrying her half against her will, closer to the room number that was written on the letter from Julia. She stopped in the middle of the hall without warning and grabbed Jackie by the arm.
