Her lips fell to his neck and his stomach physically turned with nausea. She didn’t feel like Kallie. Didn’t sound like Kallie. Didn’t touch him or kiss him the way Kallie did. He shoved Sasha back, but she grabbed his shirt, and together they tumbled to the bed. Sasha rolled him over and straddled his lap, grinding her bony pelvis into his.
“I’ve missed that cock,” she said as her hands fell to his chest. “Let me ride it, Ash. Make the birthday girl happy.”
He shoved her off him and heard her collapse onto the bed. He threw himself onto his feet and toward the door, ripping it open before he charged out. His shorts were crooked and his shirt was wrinkled. He could tell his face was flushed with anger. Sasha’s touch made him feel cold. Her kisses made him feel gross. He slammed out the front door and stumbled down the steps, his own drunkenness getting the best of him.
He looked right, then he looked left. He raked his hand through his hair before turning down the road and walking back toward his father’s place. His chest filled with regret. His heart ached in his chest. The marrow of his bones weighed him down until all he wanted to do was lie on the pavement and get run over by a damn car.
Fuck, was Eris telling the truth?
Did Kallie really leave the island because of his money?
It went against the narrative. The entire fucking narrative. Both Kallie and Eris had ferociously defended themselves. And she was right. Kallie wasn’t the one that kept approaching him. He kept approaching her. Was it possible his heart knew something his mind refused to believe? Was it possible he was clouded by his own assumptions of the situation. He assumed every woman who came into his life would want his money, so when someone insinuated Kallie was the same, he shoved her out of his life.
Was it possible he had created his own self-fulfilling prophecy?
Maybe they weren’t lying.
Maybe that voice message was real.
Maybe the text messages were fake.
Ash stumbled up the steps to his front door and poured himself in. He shut the door behind him and lay down on the cool marble floor. His back was drenched with sweat. His face was red with heat and anger. He felt his eyes flutter closed as he lay there, sprawled out on the marble floor of his father’s beachfront mansion in the Hamptons.
He had to get to the bottom of those text messages.
As soon as he possibly could.
Chapter 7
Kallie
All Kallie wanted to do was leave. While she knew her best friend meant well when she dragged her all the way to the Hamptons, her time there had been a total bust. Instead of getting away from Ash, he was around every corner. Drunk. Confronting her. Berating her in front of everyone. He had single-handedly turned her weekend into one massive embarrassment, and she wasn’t going to deal with it any longer. Around every corner, there was something he said to make her feel like shit. Around every bend, he was there. Sneering at her and defaming her over some idiotic interview that was filled with nothing with falsities. And she was done. She knew Eris and Jeremy had plans to stay until Monday, but she wasn’t going to do it.
She was leaving, whether they came with her or not.
“I’m leaving,” Kallie said.
“Where are you headed?” Eris asked.
“Back to the city. I have stuff I need to do.”
“I thought you took Monday off?”
“Doesn’t matter. I want to spend it in my apartment.”
“Look, if this is about Ash—”
“Save it, Eris,” Kallie said curtly. “I’m over this weekend. The entire point of this was to get away from all of the crap from the city, and guess what? That crap has been around every corner we’ve turned the entire weekend.”
“She’s right,” Jeremy said. “She can’t relax with Ash here.”
“But we put him in his place last night,” Eris said. “He won’t bother her anymore. He’s not that stupid.”
“You did what?” Kallie asked.
Kallie watched the two of them exchange looks, and it made her nervous.
“What happened after I left?” she asked.