I don’t want to leave her, and even though we are just a county apart, I don’t want our time to come to an end. It’s totally not like me, but I don’t give a shit about the past. The way Sasha makes me feel is unreal—amazing.

“What’s the matter?” she asks me as we walk out of the airport together.

“Nothing, I’m good.”

“Okay. Thanks for switching your flight so you could fly back with me.”

“Of course,” I answer because it’s the truth. I wasn’t about to let her fly away without me. Hell, saying goodbye right now is hard enough.

“So, when do I get to see you again?” she asks me.

“Baby, you can come home with me now if you want.”

“Could I now? ”

“You could, in fact, I’m tempted to demand it.”

She smiles only the way that Sasha can, and my phone chooses that moment to ring. Taking it out I see it’s Dex, again. Something must be going on. When I got off the plane, I had three missed calls from him.

“I need to take this,” I tell Sasha as we walk to the parking garage.

“What’s up, pussy?”

“Dude, where the fuck have you been? Your cousin is in labor.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“I swear to God, and I’m freaking the fuck out!”

“Well, don’t do that,” I tease him and chuckle, but he doesn’t seem to think I’m funny.

“Can you get here?”

“Nah, man . . . I’m still in New York,” I lie only to fuck with him because it’s what I do.

“Sonofabitch,” he mumbles.

“You’ll be good. Text me when the little fucker is here.”

“Fuck you!” he says and then hangs up.

“Everything okay?” Sasha asks me. With my hand on her lower back, I don’t think anything could be better.

“My cousin is in labor. So, what do you think about going with me to the hospital?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to intrude.”

“Fuck that, it’s the last thing you’ll be doing.”

“What if your cousin feels that way, though? This is her big day.”

“She won’t. Plus, she probably won’t have the baby for hours. I’ll just check in on her, and you can meet both her and Dex.”

“Okay, but after that, I have to get home.”

“Fair enough, I won’t keep you hostage forever.” She smirks at me, and even though I’ve spoken those words, she has no clue what’s really going through my mind. If she wanted to stay with me forever, I’d have it. The line that was so faintly there between us is now one hundred percent gone.

* * *

“Hi, we’re here to see Ally and Dex Williams. They should be in labor and delivery,” I tell the woman at the front desk of the hospital.

She types into the computer then responds, “They’re in room three-fourteen. Third floor and to your right.”

“Thank you,” I tell her as she points down the hall to the elevators, but I know where I’m going. I can still remember every step I took the night my parents died, and I had to identify them.

I have a firm hold on Sasha’s hand as we ride up the elevator. I lean over and kiss her on the lips. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“Of course. I can’t lie, though, I’m nervous as hell to meet them.”

“Why?”

“I told you why, plus I know how my family is when it comes to meeting new people, and they can be rough.”

“Ally and Dex are great, you have nothing to worry about.” The doors open to the third floor, and I can’t stop myself from nuzzling Sasha’s neck as we exit. She giggles, and as we approach the nurses station, I try my best to be professional; all the while I’m only thinking about one thing.

“Westin?” The woman behind the desk says, pulling me out of my clouded Sasha daydream.

Shit, it’s . . . What’s her name.

No, really, that’s what I called her after we hooked up once and then she kept calling me for months on end. I even programmed her number into my phone as What’s her name.

“Yup, that’s me. The front desk tell you we were on our way?” I act cool, trying to play off the fact that I’ve fucked this girl. “We’re here to see Ally and Dex Williams.”

What’s her name doesn’t say or do a thing. Instead, she sits back, arms crossed over her chest waiting for me to respond.

Fuck, this looks bad.

“Should we just go back?” I ask the girl, and she says, “Don’t act like you don’t remember me.” Her words make the tension in the air very thick. Sasha looks up at me with a perplexed look on her face, obviously wondering what is going on.

“I should go,” Sasha says out of the blue and tries to pull away from me.

“No, you shouldn’t. I don’t know this chic, so the last thing you should do is leave.” I try and lie my way out of it. But before I can, What’s her name turns her cell phone toward Sasha, and when I see the string of text messages, including some graphic photos that were sent between us, it reminds me we did fuck and sext.

Motherfucker!

“You can read it, if you’d like,” What’s her name says to Sasha, and she yanks her arm away from me.

“Please don’t. I can explain.” I try and stop her, but I’m too late as she slips into the elevator. Standing here, I’m torn between running after her or chewing this psychopath a new asshole. I mean, how the fuck dare she? Turning my back on the elevator as adrenaline courses through me, I know she’ll be in a cab before I can get down the stairs. I prepare to let out an unleashing of fury on this woman.

She is still sitting there with a smug expression on her face.

You’d think she's enjoying this.

“What the fuck was that for?”

“It’s called payback.”

“For what?” I shout.

“For what you did to me,” she snarls, and I have no idea what she’s talking about.

“I didn’t do shit to you.”

“No? You didn’t make me fall head over heels in love with you, string me along for months on end sexting me, then blow me off? All for what, her?”

“You’re fucking crazy, you know that?”

“I wasn’t crazy the night you took me home to your apartment.”

“I was obviously drunk because I barely remember you.”

“Were you drunk when you sent me these messages, too?” she asks showing me her phone again. When I see my name, I do remember texting her. And if I’m honest, it was more than once. She was easy, though, and now I can see why. The fucking woman was in love with me.

“Let me give you a little advice. The next time you fuck with me or even think we had anything real, don’t! Because we didn’t. And if I can’t get that girl back because of this little stunt you pulled, I will make your life fucking hell!” She sulks back in the chair, seemingly shocked by my outburst, which is exactly what I was going for.