Page 31 of Double or Nothing

“How do you know?” she asks.

I know because the boy I fell in love with never would have left me.

Rather than admitting that and risking sounding like a lovesick fool, I grab my phone and type his name into the search engine. Picture after picture of him with women populates. I turn the phone toward her, my eyes giving her an “I told you so” look.

All it does is initiate an eye roll.

“Oh, please. You can’t believe everything you read, Kat.”

If it was only one article, I might agree, but it’s page after page of detailed stories about him with various women, wild parties, partaking in drinking and drugs. Then there are the fights in clubs and a plethora of other destructive behavior. Maybe not all of them are true, but it’s enough to know that the man Sutton Cole has become is not the same guy that left Vegas five years ago. The fame, the money, or the women—something changed him.

“Even if only a quarter of it is true, it’s bad enough. He’s not the same guy I used to know.” And love. God, did I ever love him. Like the endless love songs and romance books are written about.

For as much as I hate him, hate what he did to us, I know being near him again will wreak havoc on my heart. One touch. One touch is all it ever took for him to win me over. One touch is all it will take for him to finally destroy me once and for all.

“I am so screwed,” I say, resting my head on the bar.

Liz laughs as she takes a seat next to me.

“The first step is admitting you have a problem.”

I have a problem all right. A tall, sexy, rocker boy problem.

Chapter 18

Kat

My head aches as I stir awake. Memories of last night slowly trickle in and make it pound even more.

The stiff drinks.

The shots.

The conversation about Sutton.

Only he could make me want to drown my sorrows in whatever liquor I could get my hands on, which apparently, was a lot.

Even worse, today is the day he arrives, and I’m way too hungover to deal with him.

My eyes slowly open and fall on unfamiliar territory. This isn’t my room or Liz’s. Where in the hell am I?

I jolt up in the bed and glance to my left. The man is facing away from me, so I can’t quite make out his face.

How in the hell did this happen? Yes, I was drunk beyond intoxicated. Even so, I was with Liz and Callum. There is no way they would have let me go home with some random stranger. Unless it’s someone I know? But who?

My eyes dart around the room, looking for anything familiar as I slowly slide out of bed, extra cautious not to disturb the man sleeping next to me, whoever he is. Hopefully, I can make a clean break and get out of here without this becoming an awkward situation.

“Morning, Kat,” the deep voice drawls out just as I’m about to escape the bed.

The sound of the voice startles me, and I scream. That’s when it hits me. The voice, it’s familiar. Too familiar. I jump the rest of the way off the bed, the blue comforter wrapped tightly around my barely dressed body, and stare at Callum. He’s lying there with the sheet draped across his waist, his hands behind his head, and a huge smile on his face.

No. Please, God, no. Not again. This was a mistake. A huge, drunken mistake. I’m certain Callum won’t let me live it down.

“What the hell happened last night?” I shout at him despite my aching head. How could he let this happen?

“You’re acting like you didn’t enjoy every minute.”

“I most certainly did not.” At least, I don’t think I did. Did I? If memory serves me right, I most likely did. I groan internally, hating myself for the bad drunken decision.

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