“I know,” was all she said.
“I can tell something’s up. Please, just tell me. I’m worried—”
“I had a visitor today,” she interrupted, chewing on her bottom lip in the way she did when she was anxious.
“Okay…” I drew the word out, not understanding.
“Did I tell you about the woman I met when I went shopping with Whitney?” she asked. I shook my head. “She had just moved to town. She was really nice. We had a lovely talk about you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “About me?”
“Yeah. I was talking to Whitney about you while she was picking out shirts for Web. I was feeling like you were keeping things from me. Not opening up. I was talking about how scared I was of being hurt by someone again after Mac and his lies. How I wasn’t sure I could trust you.”
My heart started to beat fast, and my palms began to sweat.
“Anyway, this woman jumped into our conversation and I found myself chatting with her and she seemed to have really good advice about trusting my instincts. I liked her. She was refreshing.” Sky rubbed at her eyes. “Then I saw her again when I was waiting for you at Sweet Lila’s. I should have known then that something was off about her. Particularly when I said I was waiting for you.”
My gut told me where this was going. I felt my insides grow cold. “Skylar…”
“Her name was Tiff.”
There it was. My worst nightmare.
“Skylar,” I said again, but she wasn’t listening.
“She said she came to town to reconnect with a man she used to be with. She had high hopes they’d be together again. I didn’t think anything of it. I wished her luck and that was the last I saw of her until today.” She looked at me finally, her eyes chilled. “Turns out you’re the man she was in Southport for.”
“Sky, please, let me explain—”
She shook her head. “And that wasn’t all she told me. She shared a fun story about how you used to work as an escort for wealthy older women. How you met her when you were working at a strip club. And the best part? That you’re still stripping on the internet. Can you believe it? What a tale!” She slapped her thighs and got to her feet.
“Skylar, let me explain,” I called out.
She reappeared a few minutes later with her laptop and sat back down beside me. “Then she gave me this.” She held up a flash drive and put it on the laptop. She clicked a file and I already knew what I was going to see. “Talk about a show,” she remarked blandly as the sight of me dancing naked to club music filled the screen.
I reached over and closed the file, ripping the flash drive from her computer. “Stop it. You don’t need to see that.”
“Don’t I? It’s nice to know what your boyfriend gets up to in his free time. Especially since this Tiff woman knew all about it and I didn’t have a clue.” She bared her teeth at me.
“I should have known she’d pull something like this,” I muttered, feeling sick to my stomach, close to a full-blown panic attack.
“Why? Because you went to see her last night when you told me you were working late?” she added, her eyes filling with tears. I had never seen Skylar cry before. I hated myself.
“Skylar, baby, can I please explain all this to you? I know it looks bad. The worst. I planned to tell you tonight. Remember I said we needed to talk?” I said frantically, feeling like I was losing her.
I couldn’t lose her.
“Fine. Tell me. Make me understand why you kept something like this from me. And maybe while you’re at it you can tell me why I should forgive you for lying to my face over and over again.” She backed away from me, putting space between us.
I wanted to touch her. I needed to. I wanted to hold her and make her forgive me. I couldn’t bear this icy anger between us. But I knew if I tried to reach out to her she might bite my fucking hand off.
Skylar Murphy was a force to be reckoned with when she was furious.
“I’m sure Tiff told you all about how we met,” I started.
“Sure did, Billy the sexy barrister.” She didn’t sneer or say it sarcastically. She actually seemed amused.
“It really was the dumbest name,” I conceded.
“The dumbest. It sounds like a bad porno,” she snorted before narrowing her eyes again.
“That’s how I know Will, by the way. He was a dancer as well. He went by Wolfgang.” I raised an eyebrow. “Wolfgang Fuck.”
Skylar covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. “You’re messing with me. Wolfgang Fuck? Who the hell came up with these names?”
“Darla the manager was the one that named us. Michael was Bobby the Buff Builder. It was supposed to be a play on Bob the Builder—”
“I get it. No need to explain,” she cut in. “So that’s how you know the guy who built my sunroom. It seems your former dancing buddies are everywhere.”
I ignored the barb in her voice and kept going, needing to get this all out there. “Tiffany came in one night and paid me for a private dance.”
Skylar held her hand up. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told her, spare me the details of your sexual past, please.”
“I would never—my god, Skylar, I wouldn’t do that to you. What did she say?” I was sickened at the thought of what Tiffany may have shared with Sky. She really was a heartless witch.
“She didn’t get the chance to say much about any of that,” she smirked.
“Good. I’m sure you put her in her place.” God, I loved this woman. She was fierce and strong and put up with no shit from anyone. Not even me.
“Go on,” she waved me to continue.
“Even though I worked as an exotic dancer,
