“It’s a little complicated,” she says. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Max.”
“It feels like I did,” I reply, hating the vulnerability slipping off my tongue.
She takes a step closer to me, and she stills, her eyes going wide as she looks up at me in shock. It looks like she’s about to cry as she rubs the side of her throat but says nothing.
I touch her shoulder. “Sloane, are you okay?”
She shakes her head, and her hand comes up to her face, covering her nose and throat.
“Excuse me. I’ll be right back,” she says as she scurries off to the bathroom.
I watch her leave and give her space. What the hell just happened?
Ethan is in his mascot costume, and I can barely hear him mumbling under the head.
“What?” I ask, and he leans in even closer.
“What happened with Sloane?” he asks.
“I don’t know. We were talking, I was about to go on her live stream, and then she looked like she was going to be sick.”
“I’ll go check on her.”
“Dressed like that?”
“I’ll take the head off,” he says, and I shake my head with a light laugh.
“Me, you, and Sloane, we’re good, right?”
“Yeah, man. I’ll go talk to her,” he says.
I wish I could see his face or hear him better because it definitely doesn’t feel like the three of us are okay. Instead, I just nod, and the Beta wearing the massive fox head makes his way to the bathroom.
The water in my hands doesn’t feel strong enough as I watch Bram Nilsen approach me. Just what I fucking need. More shit from this asshole.
“If you’re coming over here to tell me to stay away from Sloane or how much you hate me, I really don’t want to hear it.”
“Where did she go?” he asks, and I glare at him.
“Probably somewhere to stop you from staring at her all night.”
“She wants my advances. She likes me. It might be hard for you to fathom because you don’t care about anyone but yourself,” Bram says.
I rear back.
“Man, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t matter. Where did Sloane go?”
“The bathroom,” I tell him, wanting him to get away from me.
As far as encounters go with him, this isn’t the worst but probably the most confusing. What does he mean I don’t care about anyone but myself?
I’d leave the event if it weren’t for needing to know Sloane’s okay. Plus, she still may want me to do something on the live stream.
I play it safe by taking a seat next to Ahonen.
“Good game tonight,” he says, and I nod in agreement.
