Page 35 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘But…’ I prompted.

‘Well, now that they’re moving in together…’

‘Moving in?’ I cried out, trying to catch my breath.

‘Shit,’ I heard him moan. ‘I thought that’s why you were calling.’

‘No, I just saw Lisa change her relationship status,’ I sobbed. This was much more serious.

He was supposed to be waiting for me, just as I was waiting for him. But that was ludicrous, even I knew that. The poor guy thought I was dead, and he was trying to move on with his life. I’d totally shot myself in the foot and potentially ruined any chance of a happy future with him.

‘I need to call him Breton,’ I insisted.

‘Fuck, we’ve been over this,’ he sounded frustrated.

‘I don’t fucking care, I’m not going to sit back and watch someone else move in with him,’ I was practically yelling into the phone. ‘He’s only doing this because he thinks I’m…’

‘Ok, you don’t need to say it,’ he warned me, cutting me off.

‘Give me his number,’ I demanded. I didn’t have his number, I had left my phone on the yacht in my purse.Which was a good thing, because there had been so many times I wanted to call him. So many times I’d been so lonely, a loneliness that I knew only he was able to fill; mentally, emotionally and physically.

The man I was in love with, was dating another woman, likely fucking her, and soon would be moving in together.

‘No way,’ Breton didn’t hesitate.

‘Either give me his fucking number now, or I’m getting on a plane.’ It wasn’t the first time I had threatened this action, but he must have sensed the real sincerity in the promise this time. I didn’t care about the risks this time. My heart was breaking all over again, and I needed Drew—at the very least, I needed him to know that I was alive.

‘Let me get him a secure phone first, like the ones I got your parents,’ Breton negotiated with me. ‘I’ll send him one this week.’ Breton had sent my parents new phones with enhanced securities that were nearly impenetrable, allowing us to talk whenever we wanted, now that I too had the same phone since moving to London.

‘When are they...moving in...together?’ I asked, nearly choking on the words.

‘May first,’ Breton replied. I still had three weeks to try and stop it.

Did Drew love Lisa? Did he not care enough for me to mourn me? It had only been seven months, but he was already shacking up with some chick. I was furious, sad, angry and hurting.

‘Will you really send him a phone?’ I pleaded.

‘Will it really keep your ass off an airplane?’ he asked, sounding annoyed.

‘For now,’ I sighed. ‘But I can’t stay here much longer.’

‘I know. I’ve come up with a plan, we can go over it when I’m back in a few days.’

I didn’t say anything. I was willing myself to stop crying, but I knew it wasn’t going to work. When I got in a mood like this, there was very little to get me to stop. And knowing that he could be with her right now, be inside her right now. Knowing that she’d had more of him than I ever had made me want to vomit.

But what did I really expect? He was hotter than hot, sexy as sin, and had the kindest heart of any man I’d ever met. A guy like him could only go without for so long. He hadn’t had sex the entire time we were ‘together,’ but that was all his doing. I wanted nothing more than to be with him in every way. But no matter how many times I asked, how often I tried to seduce him, he held out, thinking he’d be able to be with me sooner rather than later. Little did he know that it would need to be later, much later than either of us had initially thought—especially now seeing that Breton didn’t have as much time to help me as he did before. I’d been in London for almost a month now, and I didn’t know how long I would be out in no-man's-land.

If Drew only knew that I was alive, perhaps he’d be so overjoyed with the news that he’d change his relationship status without a second thought. But it could also backfire, and he’d be so pissed with me that I would further push him to her—but that was a risk I was willing to take. There wasn’t much I wouldn't do to get my man back.

She wasn’t even all that pretty, but then again, Drew never was a shallow man. He had fallen in love with me, despite our apparent physical differences. I was the one being petty now, jealousy never did look good on me, and for the first time, I was enraged with it.

‘Can you send the phone today?’ I asked when I had calmed down enough to speak again.

‘If I were in London and had one just lying around, yes, for you, I would. But as it stands, I’m in the middle of fucking nowhere, with no access to procure a satellite phone, or a regular one I can enhance security on, so securing one and sending him one is going to have to wait till I’m home. I’ll put a request in now then tinker with it when I’m back. I will get it to him as soon as I can, I promise you that.’

Like he always did, Breton kept his promise to me, and a week later Drew had his phone. In the few days that Breton had been home before being sent out on a new mission, he had enhanced the phone and couriered it to Drew.

It was late Sunday evening, and I was lying in bed reading when my phone buzzed in my pocket next to me. It was a long weekend, on account of Easter, but at least I’d been able to talk to my parents during this holiday and video conference with them.

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