“Um… yeah,” I say, knowing that if she makes me wait then I’ll probably chicken out of having the conversation I really don’t want to.
“I’m working, Corey,” she fumes.
“I know. I know, I just… I need to explain.”
She turns to look over her shoulder. Everyone is busy chatting, enjoying the drinks being passed around, and a few are heading towards the other room where I assume the silent auction is.
“This is incredible, by the way. You should be proud of yourself.”
“Rylee had to finish it,” she mutters. After a few seconds, she turns to me. “This had better be good.”
Reaching out, I take her hand in mine and pull her back to the door Colton and I entered through only minutes ago.
That last person I was expecting to find at the other end of my buzzer earlier tonight was Colton holding a suit bag.
He’d been sent on a mission by Rylee, and as much as I wanted to ignore him and continue hiding like the little bitch I was becoming, I couldn’t. I buzzed him up and listened to what he had to say.
Safe to say his argument was convincing, because I’m now standing here in a bloody tux, about to rip open my chest and bleed out for the woman who I’ve realized owns my heart.
“Where the hell are we going? Out there would have been just fine.” She points out toward the hotel reception we just walked through as the lift doors close behind me.
“I’m not doing this in public, Harlow.”
She opens her mouth to argue, but when her eyes land on my face, she closes it again.
“W-What’s wrong, Corey?”
“I’m… I’m terrified, okay? There are things I need to explain to you. Things I’ve not told another living soul and…”
“It’s okay,” she says, placing her warm hand on my forearm and squeezing gently.
“It’s not. I need you to understand. I need you to know everything.”
“Okay.” She swallows nervously as the lift dings to announce our arrival.
Pulling the card out that Colton handed me, I look for a room number, only instead I find a name.
That fucker gave me the key to a suite.
Glancing up at the signs, I turn left.
Harlow follows me to the first door and, after tapping the card to the keyless box, I push the door open.
“A little presumptuous, don’t you think?” she asks, looking around at the vast space.
“I didn’t have anything to do with it. Colton gave me the key, told me it was mine for the night to do with as I wish.”
“So he’s the reason you’re here right now?”
“Partly,” I say stepping toward her. “He gave me a push, but the real reason I’m here is for you.”
“Okay so…”
Blowing out a shaky breath, I find the mini bar and locate a bottle of scotch. Grabbing two glasses, I lower them to the coffee table.
“Drink?” I ask, looking up at Harlow.
Her lips press into a thin line for a second as her brows pull together. “I can’t drink, Corey.”
“Oh, fuck. Yeah. Sorry. Do you mind if I…?”
“Knock yourself out.”
Relief floods me that I’m going to be able to take the edge off the conversation that’s about to happen.
I pour myself a glass and down the lot in one before repeating the action with a second.
“Come and sit down, please?” I can’t cope with her hovering nervously as if she’s about to bolt.
She hesitates but eventually joins me on the other end of the sofa.
“Losing my boys and the drama with my family weren’t the only reasons I needed to escape my old life.” I suck in a huge breath, preparing to lay it all out for her. “Carla and I had been friends all our lives. Our fathers served together, and we ended up in the same boarding school while our parents were elsewhere.
“We both partied pretty hard in our younger years, along with everyone else around us. Most of us were army brats with parents all around the world. We thought we were invincible.
“I was never interested in Carla in that way, she was just my friend. But one night we got really drunk and we ended up kissing. One thing led to another and…”
“You got her pregnant?” Harlow says, correctly guessing where this is going.
Unable to hold her eyes, I stare down at my hands. “We were only fifteen. We were so young and naive. She stayed in school as long as she could before she left and had our daughter.” Harlow gasps in shock, but I don’t focus on her. I can’t, or I’ll stop and never get the words out.
“I enlisted the second I finished school. I didn’t have any choice, thanks to my father, but I promised her that I’d support her in any way I could. I had a responsibility to our daughter and I fully intended on being there for her, although we both agreed nothing would happen between the two of us.
“I joined the army, and she stayed home to bring up… our baby” I say, unable to even mention her name without it shattering me. “I’d see them both as often as I could, but I got swallowed up into squaddie life and… I was young,” I sigh, regretting not being a better father, a better friend.
“Things were… fine. L-Layla was growing up faster than I’d ever thought possible. She started school, all that stuff. I missed most of it because I was away, and I hated having to see it all in photographs.
“When I was discharged, I told myself that it was my chance to make things right. To be the father she needed and deserved.
“I hadn’t seen either of them for quite some time, and when I got back from rehab, I barely recognized Carla. She was a mess. I’d been sending them money every month, but I had no idea it was all going directly to her dealer. I had no clue that she’d spiraled out of
