I stare at the plate in front of me and then back up to her. “I can’t talk about this with you.”
She smiles softly. “Yes, you can. I’m here for you.”
I let out a heavy sigh, relaxing my shoulders. I have been tight with tension since I left the apartment this morning. “So much has happened, Sloane, I don’t even know where to start.”
She grins. “Let’s start with why Cruz needs to research what boundaries are?”
“That was for both him and Jagger. Your asshole older brother booked me into Ricky’s clinic for this afternoon to get put on birth control.”
Her mouth drops open. “You’re fucking with me.”
“I wish. Why would he think that shit was his responsibility?”
“I don’t know, are you sleeping with him?”
My eyes go wide. This conversation is getting way too personal. “Sloane!” I practically scream her name.
The old lady sitting at the table next to us glares in my direction and moves her chair closer to her husband.
“What? I’m just asking the obvious question. That shit sounds like something he would do if he thought he was responsible for you in that way. If you’re fucking, it kind of explains it. Not that I think he’s excused, just so you know, still major boundary issues.”
“Right! But that’s just the thing. I’m not sure if I am sleeping with Jagger or not.” I bury my head in my hands, knowing how this sounds, but she has to get it. She runs the club, and actually, she could be the one person who would know the truth. “You can see the files of all the VIPs who come to your club and book the private suites, right?”
Her perfectly manicured brow rises. “What are you asking me?”
“Is Jagger the mystery man who keeps booking me?”
She blinks back at me a couple of times, giving nothing away, and that in itself tells me all I need to know. “You know I can’t disclose information about our clientele like that.”
“I knew it.”
Her eyes lock with mine. “You don’t know anything. I haven’t been checking the bookings this week, so I can’t confirm or deny anything, but even if I knew, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”
“I don’t need you to, I already know it’s him. And this new controlling shit just proves it. The guy I was with last night, he makes me wear a blindfold so I don’t know who he is, but right after, well, you know, he swore like something was wrong. It would explain it, right? The condom must have broken, and instead of coming clean and telling me it was him, he books me in to the clinic.”
Her face says it all, she totally agrees with me. “It does sound like something Jagger would do. But we don’t really know anything.”
“He was hinting at stuff this morning, trying to get under my skin because he heard me and Cruz together.” I cover my mouth when I realize I have said too much.
She bursts out laughing. “Oh, no, you didn’t.”
I nod slowly, knowing I sound like a hussy. “I didn’t mean to, it just kind of happened. Your brother is kind of adorable when he’s not being a psycho.”
“And here I was thinking I had to keep Asher away from you.”
“Umm.” I look away.
Her eyes go wide, and her hand grips my wrist. “You haven’t?”
“No, I heard what you said to Ash that day in your office. You told him to stay away from me, so I have kept him at arm’s length, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t crazy hot chemistry between us and maybe sometimes I want to give in to it,” I admit, feeling my cheeks glow with heat. I laid it all on the table, and she can make what she wants with it, but I’m not keeping stuff from her. She’s been good to me, and I trust her. I need someone to talk to about this before it drives me crazy.
She finishes off her black coffee, I’m sure trying to process all the shit I just dumped on her. It’s a lot, I know it is. “If I knew it was this bad, I would have taken you to a bar, not a coffee shop.”
“It’s so insane, right? How did things get so out of control in less than a week?”
She shrugs. “Chemistry?”
I stare at her more seriously. “Sloane, what am I going to do?”
