Unbreak My Heart (Unbreak My Heart #1)(9)

“No, no, I know that,” she replied before going quiet. I could picture her so clearly in my mind, biting at the cuticles on her nails anytime she was worried.

“What do you need me to do?” I asked finally, standing up and grabbing a pair of pants from the floor.

“Do you know where he’d go?” she asked. “He said he wouldn’t be back until the morning.”

Shit.

“I have a pretty good idea,” I mumbled back, putting the phone on speaker so I could get my bra on. “I’ll see if I can find him and call you back.”

“Are you sure?”

“Isn’t that why you called me?”

“Well…yes.”

“Then, yeah. If you’re worried, then I’ll check on him.”

We hung up a few minutes later, and I was on my way downtown shortly after that. I had a pretty good idea where he was, and the closer I got to the hotel, the more nervous I became.

Rachel and Shane had a silly tradition to meet up after every deployment at a certain hotel downtown. Before they got back to daily life, with kids and bills and taking out the garbage, they’d take one night just for themselves. And every year, I’d keep the kids for the night while they met up and had marathon sex with no interruptions.

The first time it happened and Rachel had come home bragging about it, I’d felt sick to my stomach. I knew they were having sex. They were married and had Sage by then, but knowing it and hearing the details were two very different things, and that had been the first time I’d been thankful that Rachel ignored me while Shane was home.

I’d needed to get my head on straight. They were married. Married. And I was just the wife’s best friend. He might have been my friend first, but by that time he definitely wasn’t my friend any longer. I had no right to feel anything about their sexcapades, and it had been ridiculous that I had.

I’d overcome my jealousy and hurt feelings years ago, but parking in the garage to their hotel had me fighting that same sick feeling in my stomach. I didn’t belong there, and I so badly wanted to turn around and go back home.

I got Shane’s room number from the front desk—not very safe of them to give information like that out—and strode toward the elevator.

He was going to be pissed. No doubt about it.

*



“The f*ck are you doing here?” Shane growled as he threw open the door I’d been knocking on for a solid five minutes. I hadn’t driven all the way down there for him to ignore me.

“I was in the neighborhood…” I answered, falling back into the awkward teenager I’d been trying to leave behind me for years.

“Kids okay?” he asked, walking across the room and pouring what looked like Jack Daniel’s into one of the hotel coffee mugs.

“Aunt Ellie said they’re already asleep.”

“She called you?”

“Yep.”

“I told her I’d be home in the morning.”

“She worries.”

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” I replied, finally stepping into the room and letting the door swing closed behind me. “Want to share?” I asked, nodding to the bottle on the table.

“Not especially.”

“Will you share?”

“I guess.”

I sat on the edge of the bed as he poured me a mug of whiskey and nodded my thanks as he handed it over. Crap, I hated the smell of whiskey. Ever since Rachel and I had gotten wasted on some bottom-shelf shit at our first party in college, I smelled it and was reminded of whiskey-tinged vomit coming out my nose.

“You couldn’t have splurged on the good stuff, huh?” I asked, taking a small sip.

His startled laugh made me smile, but I didn’t look at him as he landed on the bed next to me with a small bounce.

“Figured it didn’t matter if I was just using it to get shitty.”

“That’s your plan for the night?” I asked, eyeballing the mostly empty bottle as I felt my limbs begin to heat. Shit, it had been so long since I’d had a buzz that the feeling was almost euphoric.

“Get shitfaced, jack off, and sleep,” he announced with a smirk as my eyes shot to his face. “Aw, look at you. Still blushing at the mention of masturbating.”

“You’re drunk,” I spat back, finishing my whiskey and jumping to my feet. I was not talking about masturbation with him, for f*ck’s sake.

“That was the plan,” he replied lazily as I stumbled a little while grabbing my purse. “I gave you three shots, Katie. You’re not driving.” Without any warning, he grabbed the purse from my hands and threw it across the room.

“Don’t throw my shit! You probably broke my phone, you dick!” The words felt thick in my mouth, and I immediately regretted having anything to drink.

I didn’t want to be stuck in a room, drunk, with an equally drunk Shane. I loved everyone when I was drunk—I knew that about myself. I was emotional, and over-the-top, and everything that I tried so hard to suppress since I’d lost my best guyfriend in my freshman year of college. Maybe the hotel had another room to rent that wouldn’t completely obliterate my food budget for the week. Losing clients so I could take care of the kids had left me a little tight on cash.