Page 76 of Truth or Tequila (Grand Slam 1)

Chapter Thirty-One

sophie

When I leave Seb, I grab my stuff out of the office and head toward my car. Gary sees me leaving and follows me.

“I just got off the phone with Gentry.” He’s jogging to try to keep up with me. “He tells me you’re sleeping with Seb.”

“I’m resigning your account,” I say, not turning around. “Effective immediately.”

“I don’t accept your resignation.” He grabs my arm. “If you leave without delivering what you agreed to, I’ll sue you and I’ll ruin your reputation. You’ll never get another job in Miami—or anywhere else.”

I jerk my arm away from him and take a quick step toward him. “Don’t touch me,” I say, glaring down at him. He takes a step back.

“Hey, boss.” I look over Gary’s shoulder to see Max, Joe’s second-in-command on the security team, closing in on us. “Anything wrong?”

“Yes, Max. There is,” Gary says, pointing at me. “Ms. Banks has been fired. She’s no longer welcome on our premises. Please take her security badge and follow her out of this garage.”

“No problem,” Max says. “You should probably go back inside, Mr. Randall. I’ll take care of this.”

Gary glares at me one more time before he turns back to the offices. I rip my security badge off my shirt and throw it at Max. “You don’t need to follow me. I’m leaving.”

“I’m following you, but not for that asshole,” he says as he walks with me to my car. “Joe asked me to make sure you got home okay.”

I roll my eyes. “Do what you want.”

As I get in the car, I take a deep breath to try to settle down. All it does is cause the tears that I’ve held back until now to start streaming down my face. I grab my phone. There are four texts from Seb. I ignore them.

“Soph!” Maisie answers on the first ring. “Where are you? I called you like twelve times last night to see if you were okay. I know the hurricane went wide of us, but the wind was still so scary. Do you remember when we huddled together in our first little apartment all night when Irma came through? I’ve never been so scared. Sophie? Are you still there?”

“Yeah.” It’s all I can get out before I start sobbing.

“Sophie! What’s wrong? Where are you?” Maisie’s yelling, but I can barely hear her over my stuttered breathing. I feel like I’m hyperventilating. “What’s happening right now? Sophie!”

“S-s-s-eb,” I say, taking a long, shaky breath, “lied to me.”

“Seb? Where are you right now? At the stadium?”

“Meet me,” I say, sniffing loudly, “at my apartment.”

“Sophie, where are you?” Her voice drops into a soothing tone. “Honey, I’ll come and get you. You shouldn’t drive like this.”

“Max is following me home,” I whisper.

“Who the hell is Max?” She’s yelling again. “Sophia! What’s happening right now? I’m calling Roman.”

“Don’t call Roman!” I wipe the tears off my face. “I’ll be home in fifteen minutes. I can’t talk anymore right now. Okay?”

“Okay, Soph. I’m leaving my house. I’ll be waiting for you.” I hear her keys jingling in the background. “Don’t hang up, okay? You don’t have to talk, but don’t hang up.”

“Okay,” I say as I shake my head to try to focus. The tears are still streaming down my face.

As I leave the garage, I glance in the rearview mirror and see Max pull out behind me. I know I should probably be mad about that, but I’m glad he’s following me. I feel like I’m going to pass out. He stays right behind me all the way home.

When I pull into my lot, Maisie’s already standing by my parking spot—her phone glued to her ear. I barely get the car parked when she starts tugging at my door.

“Sophie,” she says, as she pulls me up into a hug. “What’s wrong? I was so worried about you. Just tell me, please.”

“Seb lied to me,” I say as the tears start to fall harder again. “He told me he didn’t sleep with her, but he did, and now he’s paying her off to keep her quiet.”

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