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“Goodbye, Carly.” She hangs up before I can say another word and I drop my head as more tears fall. Now what? I look down at my phone again and sigh. I could call Dottie but this new information will only stress her out more.

As I scroll past Chance’s name, I pause. Closing my eyes, I picture him wrapping his arms around me and telling me everything will be okay and I’m dialing before I can stop myself.

“Hey, gorgeous,” he answers on the second ring and I suck in a stuttered breath – a clear sign I’ve been crying.

“Chance, listen, I’ve got to reschedule tonight,” I say and smack myself in the forehead. Why the hell can’t I just tell him the truth and say I need him right now?

“Is everything okay, Princess?” he asks and my lip wobbles as the tears start to build in my eyes again.

“Um, yeah,” I reply, hating the way my voice is shaking. “I just got some bad news and I’m heading home from work early. I just need to be alone right now.”

Jesus Christ.

Can I get out of my own damn way for once?

“Okay, baby. We can go out tomorrow night instead. It’s no big deal.” His words sting for some reason and I bite back more tears, forcing a smile to my face.

“That sounds good. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I hang up the phone before he can say anything else and a sob rips out of my mouth, amplified by the enclosed space of my car. I can’t decide if I should be angry at Ivy or worried about her but my heart aches and if this is really coming from her, I don’t know how I’m supposed to go on with my life. She’s been my best friend, glued to my hip, since we were babies and I never thought I’d be without her. She was my constant – the one thing I could always count on. Losing her just may ruin me.

With tears trickling down my cheeks, I pull out of the parking garage and turn toward home, my mind blank and my chest heavy. The drive passes in a blur and as I pull into my parking spot at the apartment, I wonder how I even made it this far without crashing. Once the car is in park, I flip the mirror down and try to do some damage control on my face. I may be slowly dying on the inside, but the doorman and my neighbors don’t need to know that.

When I feel like I’m as presentable as I’m going to get, I climb out of the car and head inside, avoiding the gazes of everyone who passes me. In the elevator, I slip my sunglasses on to hide how red and puffy my eyes are. A few people give me weird looks, but I ignore them. Who gives a shit what they think anyway, right? The elevator stops on my floor and I shuffle past the woman in front of me as I exit the car and step into the hallway.

“Excuse you,” she huffs but I don’t have the energy to bother with her. With my head down, I walk to my apartment and stop when black boots come into view. My head snaps up and a soft gasp slips past my lips.

“Chance, what are you doing here?” I ask, eyeing the bottle of my favorite wine in his hand.

“Sweetheart, you didn’t really think I was going to leave you alone after that call, did you?”

God, what did I ever do to deserve this man?

Another sob tears through me and his brow furrows in concern as he closes the space between us and wraps his arms around me. I feel more secure than I have since Julian left my office and I cling to him, hoping he never lets me go.

“Baby,” he whispers into my hair, squeezing me tighter.

“You didn’t have to come here but I’m really glad you did,” I tell him, my voice hoarse from all the tears I’ve shed this afternoon. His lips press against my forehead.

“I always know what you need.”

“You really do, don’t you?” Even when I was fighting every single thing I felt for him, Chance always knew the truth.

“Why don’t we go inside and I’ll get a fire going? You can curl up on my lap and tell me what happened. That sound like a deal?”

I nod against his chest and I feel rather than hear his chuckle as he takes the keys from my hand and opens the front door with me still wrapped up in his arms. He navigates us inside and closes the door behind me before setting the wine down. I finally pull myself out of his grasp and kick my heels off.

“Let me just go change really quick,” I say, scooping my shoes up, and he nods. Leaving him in the kitchen, I pad into my bedroom and drop my heels in the closet as I go to the drawers on the back wall. I quickly strip off everything but my panties before grabbing Chance’s shirt that I stole from the clubhouse and pulling it over my head. For a second, I consider putting shorts on before deciding that I’m most comfortable like this.

Chance is sitting on the couch with a fire roaring in front of him when I walk into the living room and he glances back at me, his eyebrows shooting up.

“Love the threads, Princess.”

I offer him a smile. “Me, too. It still smells like you.”

“Oh, yeah?” he asks, holding his hand out to me. “What do I smell like?”

I take his hand and let him pull me into his lap as he wraps his arms around me. “Cinnamon gum.”

He throws his head back and laughs. “And you like that?”