She holds the keys out to me, and I snatch them away before she can change her mind.
“Thank you. Now, which room is yours?”
She opens her mouth to tell me, but I shake my head.
“Not out loud. Show me, Clover.”
She nods in understanding and leads us up to the third floor. If I thought the lobby was rough, it’s nothing compared to the rest of the areas. There are doors that can’t even close all the way, held in place by a chain, and more than one room has piles of trash sitting outside. There’s a housekeeper’s cart, but given the state of the hotel, I’m not sure it’s ever been used.
We’re in and out of her room in a flash, then we stop at the front desk. After having to ring the bell three times to wake the old lady up, we get Chloe checked out early, and then we’re on our way back to my apartment, her measly two bags of luggage in my hands.
“What the hell were you doing there?” I ask once I’ve calmed down a bit. “That place was a shithole.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” she says quietly, but she can’t even keep up the pretense. “All right, so it was. But I don’t know. I was trying to save some money. I wasn’t sure when I’d get my next paycheck, hence the whole me-applying-for-a-job-with-a-paper thing. I was looking for something a bit steadier than freelance.”
“What about the money I send you every month?”
When she doesn’t answer, I look over at her. Her gaze is trained on the ground, and I already know her answer is just going to piss me off more.
“You are getting the money, aren’t you?”
She nods. “I’m getting the money.”
“Okay, and what? I mean, it’s okay if you’re blowing through it. I know you’re traveling a lot, so it would make sense. But if that’s the case, all you had to do was ask for more, and I would have gladly sent it. You know that, right?”
“I know,” she says quietly. “I, uh…” She scratches at her nose. “It’s not that I was running out ofyourmoney. I was running out of mine.”
“But…my moneyisyour money. It always has been. That didn’t change just because…”
You left, I want to say, but I leave the words unfinished.
“I know. But… Ugh, I don’t know, Callum. I just didn’t feel right spending it, okay? I left you. I walked out with a promise to come back, and I didn’t. And still, you took care of me. You sent me money and cards and gifts, and I…I…I just couldn’t do it. I-I’m s-sorry.”
She’s crying, and right there in the middle of a busy Seattle sidewalk, I drop the bags and gather her in my arms.
“Hey, hey,” I say softly, stroking her back. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You don’t need to be sorry. I get it, all right? I get it.” I pull back, running my fingers over her cheeks to wipe away the tears streaking down them. “I get it. I’m sorry I got upset. I just… Shit, I wanted to take care of you, that’s all. I love you, and you’re my wife. It only felt right to be helping you in some way. Do you know what I’m saying?”
She nods. “I do. I understand, and I appreciate it. I truly do. I just needed to do it on my own terms. I needed to do it alone.”
I want to scream and tell her she wasn’t alone, I was always there, always in her corner, even when I was mad at her, but it’sbeen a long day. Hell, it’s been a long three years, and I’m tired. All I want to do is take her back to my apartment and hold her. That’s it.
“Come on,” I say, pressing a kiss to her forehead before releasing her. I grab her suitcases, one in each hand, and nod in the direction of my building. “We’re this way.”
I lead her back to my apartment, and after ordering a pizza and devouring the entire thing, we crawl into my bed, and I hold her the rest of the night. It doesn’t make up for everything I want to say to her, but it’s all I can give her right now.
We’ll deal with the rest later.
CHAPTER 17
CHLOE
“You did what?!”
Talia’s screech is so loud I wince. “Uh, I moved in with him.”
“And…” my best friend prompts. “Say that other part again, too.”
“Slept with him.”
