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I looked her in the eye. “She’s been kicked off my tour, and I was trying to spare you.”

Her eyes flashed. “Okay. How about this? How about the next time an ex-boyfriend shows up here to have sex with me and grabs my ass I’ll spare you and it’ll just be my little secret.”

Jealousy pulsed through me like an instant shot of adrenaline, and my temper ignited. “If anyone ever puts their hands on you, you better fucking tell me.”

She gawked at me. “Oh, so now you get it, do you? That’s not okay, but this is?”

“It’s not the same thing,” I said through clenched teeth. “She’s a fucking mess. She’s not worth any of this. You need to get over it.”

She blinked at me. “Get over it?” She laughed dryly. “Wow. You’re right. I should just ‘get over it’ so you don’t have to be accountable for anything you just did. How inconvenient for you to have a girlfriend who demands honesty. I guess you’re happy we’re breaking up in two weeks so you can continue on with your double life without anyone nagging you about it!”

“That was you who wanted that! I don’t want to break up, I never fucking did. It kills me that you don’t want to be with me!”

We stood there across from each other, both of us breathing hard.

I combed a hand through my hair. “Look, I understand this is upsetting for you. I’m not thrilled about it either. This whole thing with Lola has been a fucking nightmare. She’s been harassing me for months. She kissed me. This tabloid shit is going to happen. It comes with my career, and I can’t do anything about it. None of this went down the way they said it did, and even if I told you every single thing, all the time, I cannot possibly prepare you for every story they might make up. They spin things, it’s what they do. You’re going to need a tougher skin and you’re just going to have to trust me.”

She let out a mirthless laugh. “You know, I was actually considering what you said the other day. That we should wait for each other.”

I blinked at her. “You were?” I breathed.

“Of course I was. You think it’s any easier for me to lose you? You think I want to see other people? I thought maybe you were right and we could just agree to focus for a year on our careers and stay faithful to each other and wait.” She scoffed. “But I can’t live like this. I don’t even know what you’re doing here and you wanted me to stay behind and wait for you while you do God knows what out there? You want trust? You don’t even talk to me.” Her chin started to quiver. “Jason, I think you need to leave.”

My heart plummeted. “Sloan—” I took a step toward her and put out a hand. She smacked it away from her.

“I need you to leave before I say something to you that I’m going to regret.” She hugged her elbows to her stomach and her eyes filled with tears.

Alarm bells went off inside me, all systems responding. I swallowed. “Sloan, let’s just talk. Please. No fighting, let’s talk.”

“Jason, I want you to listen to me. I do not want to see you right now. I do not want to talk to you. I want you to leave this house. And you should know that if I’d understood how little respect you were going to have for this relationship, I would never have dated you.”