Chapter 190
-NUCA-
I walked the girl out.
She wanted to stay. They always wanted to stay after sex.
སྙམག
5 vouchers
I put her in a car downstairs, closed the door, and took the lift back up with champagne still in my hair and nothing in my chest that felt like celebration.
Tonight seemed empty for some reason. The sex didn’t do anything for me.
Monaco was supposed to feel like the top of the world.
I went to check on Charlotte the second I got back into the suite.
Her door was open a crack. Bed empty. Jacket gone. The room still smelled like her.
The surprise hit stupid and sharp. She always waited. Or she slept. She did not vanish after I brought someone home.
For a second I stood in the doorway like an idiot, listening for the shower, for a cabinet, for the sound of her existing in the suite the way she always existed. Nothing. Just an empty bed.
Panic arrived before I gave it permission.
I called her phone.
She did not answer.
Where was she this hour? Why didn’t she tell me she was leaving?
I left the suite and headed for the elevator with my phone still in my hand, my heart racing.
Charlotte Reid did not disappear like that. If she was gone, something was wrong.
That was when I saw them.
Charlotte and Marco, coming back down the corridor, laughing.
The jealous feeling hit before I could properly process it.
I was fucking pissed.
Why?
What the fuck was going on?
They looked easy together. His hand not quite on her. But still close, too close.
It was hard to look at them and pretend that I was fucking okay with them spending any time together. Without me. Even with me.
25
O
๑๑
|||
O
1425 Fri, Sep 25
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
“Where did the two of you go?”
་ ་ད་
S vouchers
Charlotte looked at me and smiled too widely. Not her normal smile. That was when I realized she was not acting like herself.
I frowned at Marco. The anger seemed to intensify.
“Did you give her something to drink?”
He nodded, easy, like this was still a joke. “She had a few.”
“Are you fucking insane? She cannot handle alcohol. Fuck.”
Marco looked surprised. Actually surprised, which made it worse.
He had taken my best friend downstairs, poured alcohol into a body that went from fine to gone in two glasses, and walked her back laughing like this was okay.
He did not know her limits. I did. I had spent years knowing them. He got one dinner and brought her back so drunk I was sure she couldn’t even remember her own name.
I picked her up without another thought.
She made a small sound and hooked an arm around my neck, holding onto me tightly.
I carried her into the suite and shut the door in Marco’s face before I said something I could not put back.
The lock clicked.
Charlotte’s face was against my shoulder. “You’re loud,” she murmured.
“You’re drunk.”
“Marco said the girl would be gone by now. That’s why we came back.”
Fuck.
I set her on her bed and crouched so I could see her eyes.
Too bright. Unfocused in a way that made my anger at him mix with something that felt like panic.
She had left because of the noises. Hadn’t she? Because of me.
Damn it. I had to be more considerate. Why was I only just thinking of this? How awkward it must be for
her.
“How many.”
She held up fingers. “Enough. He said you were lucky.”
Lucky? My brother? Did he say that about winning?
I dragged a hand down my face. “Of course he did.”
་
12:25 Fri, Sep 25 91 F·
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
“Don’t be mad.” Her words were slurred.
Mad? Why the fuck would I ever be mad at her?
5 vouchers
She had gone to my brother. She had laughed next to him. The same laugh I hoped would always only belong to me.
The jealous feeling did not leave.
I pulled the blanket up. Got water. Made her drink. She complained and drank anyway because she still listened to me when it counted.
“Sleep,” I said. “I’m here.”
“You weren’t.” I almost didn’t hear her. Then her eyes closed.
You weren’t?
What exactly did she mean by that? I’m always here. Always by her side.
I sat on the floor with my back against her bed and stared at the door.
I did not know why I felt like this. This was pretty fucking new to me.
This feeling that I did not like.
I only knew I would have put my brother through that door if he had tried to follow us in.
And I knew, with a clarity that ruined the win, that the next girl I slept with was not coming up to this
floor.
Not if Charlotte was on the other side of the wall.
12:25 Fri, Sep 25 1 TF.
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.