My shaky voice rattled in my head. Hell, I didn’t sound okay. I sounded…fractured. Desperate.
But for what? There was something off about the way he was watching me, how his eyes followed me. I didn’t like it, and more than that, I didn’t like that Cheyenne was fawning over him.
“Um…Yeah, I’m okay.” Pushing off his chest, I took a step back, nearly tripping up the stairs in my attempt to get away from him. “Sorry, I—thank you. For catching me.”
“Aren’t you glad I picked you up, now?”
I hated to remind him that I wouldn’t have been rattled to begin with if he hadn’t followed us home.
As I turned to walk up the stairs, his hands landed on my hips, holding me steady. I glared at the knowing look Cheyenne shot me, then picked up the pace to escape his grip.
I counted down the seconds until we reached the apartment door, grateful I could finally escape Archer.
“Open the door,” I hissed at Cheyenne.
“Why? Did you need something?”
My head snapped up to meet her gaze, and what I saw chilled me to the bone.
She was pissed at me.
And she was never pissed at me.
As she shoved the door open, I rushed inside, desperate to get away from the man tailing us through the apartment.
“I’ll just check things out, and then I’ll be on my way.”
As he disappeared down the hall, Cheyenne raised an eyebrow at me, pursing her lips in that way that only Cheyenne could, killing me with that one look.
“I—”
“It’s all clear,” Archer said as he strolled back down the hall. “Don’t forget to lock up behind me.”
As soon as he was out the door, Cheyenne flipped the lock.
“It’s not what you think,” I said, cutting off any thoughts running through her head.
“Oh, it’s not?” she asked, spinning around. “So, you didn’t fall into his arms and fawn all over him? Don’t you already have a man?”
I flinched back at the scathing tone, but reminded myself that we were both drunk.
“Cheyenne, I’m not interested. If anything, Archer makes me uneasy. There’s something unsettling about him.”
“Then tell me why you couldn’t pull yourself away from him?” she snarled.
“Because—because he freaked me out!”
She barked out a laugh, then stormed down the hall to her room. “Poor, Bailey! Can’t hold onto her man, so she has to go after all the rest of the available men in town!”
The walls vibrated with the slamming of her door.
Sinking down on the couch, I buried my face in my hands, wishing I could start this whole day over.
And I’d start by never going to the hospital to pick up Liam.
Cheyenne stumbledthrough my door at six o’clock. Her hair was piled on her head in a ratty mess that was held together only by the hairspray from last night.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, holding her head as she fell onto my bed. “I think I said some really horrible things last night.”
