Chapter Thirty-six
Ashton
If Sadie believes ducking into the women’s restroom will save her from me, she’s mistaken and only delaying the inevitable. As long as she’s hanging out with the pretty boy across the club, who’s now immersed in an animated conversation with my sister, I’m not going anywhere.
I lean against the wall outside the bathrooms and settle in for the wait, all the while trying to ignore the burning throb of betrayal in my chest. I have no fucking right to feel betrayed—not after asking her to give me time while I pretend to be committed to someone else.
But fucking hell, my commitment to Corinne is nothing more than a facade on my part, and Sadie knows this.
A few women leave the restroom, and one of them I recognize as Corinne’s sister. She’s too focused on her phone to notice me lurking in the dim hallway like a creeper.
If Sadie doesn’t come out soon, I’m going in after her.
Five minutes later, I’m seriously considering it when she finally emerges. All it takes is one glance at her ashen face, and I know something is wrong.
I push off the wall. “Sadie?”
“Can we get out of here? I need to talk to you.”
Her complete turnabout is cause for a raised brow, but I’m not complaining. I usher her into the thick of the club, one hand warming the small of her back. “Let me tell Bryce we’re outta here.”
“I should let Mandy know, too. Plus, I left my purse and coat over there.”
“Meet you at the front?” I ask.
She nods before taking off in the opposite direction, and I stand motionless for a few moments, dazed and a little confused as I watch her make her way through the crowd. Twenty minutes ago, she was ready to get rid of me.
Now she’s leaving with me. But she’s acting odd, and that’s got me concerned.
I say a quick goodbye to my roommate before snaking my way through the crowd. Sadie joins me at the front entrance five minutes later, and we duck out into the cold. It’s started to drizzle since our interlude in the alley. We rush through the rain, and only after we’re inside the dry warmth of my car, and no one’s around to overhear us, do I ask Sadie what’s going on.
“I ran into Corinne’s sister in the bathroom.”
“I thought that was her. Did she say something to upset you?” If Corinne is behind this…
“She told me Corinne isn’t pregnant.”
Whatever I was thinking stops dead in its tracks. Long heavy moments pass, raindrops furious on the windshield.
“What?”
“Natalie’s pregnant. She said she was the one at the hospital. Corinne was only there to offer support.”
“Natalie was nowhere around when I picked up Corinne.”
Sadie shrugs. “I’m just telling you what she told me. She was adamant that Corinne isn’t pregnant.”
I rub a hand down my face and consider the possibility that Corinne’s been lying to me all along. The timing is suspect, her news coming on the heels of her wanting more than I was willing to give. Muttering a curse under my breath, I turn the key in the ignition and crank up the heat.
Sadie shifts in the passenger seat, huddling inside her jacket. “Did Corinne give you any proof?”
“Yeah, an ultrasound picture.” I peek at Sadie and find her brows drawn together.
“Was her name on it?”
That night is a blur in my mind, overshadowed by the way things went down between Sadie and me, but I focus on the moment I gazed at that photo, overcome with a sense of awe at what I was looking at.
“I remember the date and her last name.”
“So it could have easily been her sister’s.”
Holy shit, she’s right.
“I guess so.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to drag the truth from her.” What else can I do? The waiting game is drawing closer to the finish line with each new day. If she is lying to me, then time is not on her side. There will come a point when she’ll either have to fess up, or fake a miscarriage.
The thought makes me sick.
“I can’t believe she’d go to these lengths,” I say.
“Me either. A sane person wouldn’t do something like this.”
I take Sadie’s hand in mine. “Thanks for telling me.”
Carefully, she withdraws her fingers from mine, and my heart takes a nosedive to the bottom of my sickened gut.
“We’re friends, Ash. That’s all we can be right now.”
Even as friends, we used to hold hands all the fucking time. Sadie and I never held back when it came to displaying our friendship in a physical capacity.
Hugs, hand-holding, piggy back rides. It’s been a while since we horsed around like that.
But none of that matters now since everything has changed, and the only way we’re going to find our way forward is by fixing what needs to be fixed.
The situation with Corinne is first on the list.
“I’ll drive you home.” I shift the idling car into gear, and Sadie doesn’t say anything until we’re a few blocks down the road.
“Are you going to talk to her tonight?”
There’s a hopeful lift in her tone, and I can’t help but respond to it on a visceral level. Her hope gives me hope.
“This isn’t something that can wait until morning. If she’s lying, it’s ending now.” I give her a meaningful look. “She’s already caused enough damage.”
Sadie turns away, and neither of us speak for the rest of the drive. Once we reach her apartment, she tries dodging me on my offer to walk her to her front door, but I don’t give her the chance.
“Can’t wait to get rid of me, huh?”
“That’s not it.”
“What is it, then?”
“Being around you is…”
I drag a hand through my hair. “I’m not trying to upset you.”
“That’s not what I was going to say. Being near you is too tempting right now.”
My heart leaps at her words, and I have to bite my lip to keep from saying anything as she unlocks her darkened apartment.
She flips on a light and stalls just inside the front entrance. “Will you let me know how it goes?”
I fit my palm along her cheek and brush my lips across the other. “You’ll be the first to know.”