I tried calling her once more before I boarded my plane, but it went straight to voice mail, which was odd. Unless she’d started turning her phone off at night. It was almost midnight, which would have me getting into Nashville near two in the morning. Maybe a horrible idea to show up on her doorstep in the middle of the night, but I couldn’t sit still any longer, couldn’t be a bum wasting away because I was sad about my relationship failure. Something needed to be done before my time was up.
It was just about two in the morning, as I’d guessed it would be, when the plane touched down and I got a driver to take me to Kate’s apartment building. Her shitty car she wouldn’t let me replace was parked in her normal spot. After I paid the driver and got out with my backpack on, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. That sick feeling in my stomach followed me all the way to her door, and I wasn’t sure why. But I knocked on her door anyway, hoping she would hear me, hoping she would be inclined to answer.
But she didn’t answer. Even though I stood there knocking for about fifteen minutes. At which point her neighbor, who I’d seen a few times, stuck her head out the door, glaring at me. “You know it’s almost three in the morning, right?”
“Uh, yeah. Sorry.” I shrugged. What the hell am I doing here?
“She isn’t home anyway,” she told me. “Saw her leave with some guy after she got home from work. Super hunk. Super fancy car. Hasn’t come home since.”
My fury was instantly raging. I fisted my hands at my sides, snarling “Thanks” at the poor lady.
She disappeared behind her door, slamming it shut. Should have known that at the first sign of things not working between us she would go back to doing what she did best. Apparently not even being pregnant slowed her down.
Fuck. I’d come all the way to Tennessee to try fixing things at two in the fucking morning, and she wasn’t even home. She was out with some guy with a fancy car. Which explained why her phone was off.
I didn’t know what to do. I could always go to Ava’s and crash there until I could fly back home the next day, but she and Cade probably wouldn’t appreciate me showing up in the middle of the night either.
Right when I took my phone out to get another driver, it started buzzing, Kate’s name on the screen. But that wasn’t her real name. And she was with some other guy. It took me a few long seconds to decide to answer, and I wasn’t even sure what pushed me to do so. Pure curiosity as to why she would be calling me? Maybe I was a masochistic bastard who enjoyed the torture. Who knew?
“Hi” was all I could think to say that didn’t make me sound like a dick.
“Kai,” she whispered. My stomach turned.
“Why are you calling me when you’re with someone else?”
“What? How do you—”
“I’m standing outside your apartment,” I interrupted her. “Your neighbor told me you left with some guy in a fancy car.”
“You went to my house?” she choked out. I couldn’t even respond. I wanted to break something, like the face of the asshole she was with. “I didn’t leave with some guy. Kai, I need your help.”
“Seriously? You ran off with another guy, and you want my help?” I took a deep breath, unable to control the rage flowing through me. My skin felt too tight, my eye twitching. “I came all the way back here to work something out with you, and you aren’t even here.”
“Kai. Would you shut up and listen please? I only have a—”
There was a loud banging noise in the background, followed by someone shouting, “Hurry the fuck up, Chloe. I want to be home for breakfast.” The voice was muffled, but it was a guy, and he’d called her Chloe.
“I said give me a fucking minute, asshole. Let the pregnant woman take a damn piss in peace,” she screamed back, sounding pissed as all hell.
“Who the fuck was that?” I demanded, but based off what Mia had said, I had the feeling I knew exactly who it was. Exactly why she needed my help. My stomach churned.
“It was Jared,” she whispered even quieter. “He found me. He’s taking me back home. I can’t go home, Kai.”
My mind reeled. “How am I supposed to help you from here, huh? And why the hell would you leave with him anyway?”
“I can’t explain it right now. You don’t understand what he’s like,” she hissed. My chest hurt, my hands curling and uncurling. The implications of just the one sentence made me want to rip him to shreds. “I’m sorry I kept things from you. But the me I was with you is the real me. I need you to believe that, and I need you to trust me, despite everything. I’ll tell you everything. Every. Single. Thing. But right now, I need you. The twins and I need you so desperately.”
For her to even say that alone cracked something inside me. She could do shit on her own. She liked controlling just about everything in her world. But she needed me just then. I wanted to be there, no matter how mad I’d been or how hurt I was. And the twins. Those were my twins.
“Where are you?” I demanded. There really wasn’t much I could do from where I was, but I had to try.
“We’re at a gas station a few hours out of New—”
The banging cut her off again, followed by Jared’s muffled yell. “Chloe, so help me, I will come in
