Talon

I wander around the club and finally find Talon about fifteen minutes later, sitting in a smoky lounge room with a bunch of guys I don't recognize and a few girls. Thankfully, none of them is hanging on him. However, my eyes hone in on a few joints and some coke on the table. Shit.

"Hey," he says when I approach him. "Where ya been?"

"Looking for you."

"I've been right here." His eyes look glassy to me, and I don't like it. I quell the bad memories of the alcohol and drug abuse I witnessed growing up. Talon's not an addict, that much I know, but apparently he does like to party, and that is something I definitely did not want to have to deal with.

"I'm getting really tired… Do you think we could go?" I ask quietly, not wanting to embarrass him in front of his friends, who all seem to be having a good time just chilling here. I suppose this is normal for this type of event, but I'm not used to staying out this late at all.

He grabs my arm. "No, babe…not yet. Hang out with me. Do you want a little weed? It's good stuff."

Ugh.

"No, I don't."

The guy sitting next to him jokes with him about something I can't hear and they both start laughing. He seems to completely forget I'm sitting there. Annoyed and hurt, I get up and leave, expecting him to follow me, but he doesn't.

Screw this. I don't want to be here anymore, and I certainly don't want to be around him when he's stoned. I make my way through the sea of people to the entrance of the club and find our limo still in the lot. I cross the dark parking lot and lightly tap on the driver’s side window of the limo. Max puts the window down and looks at me questioningly.

"Are you all right, Mrs. Valentine?"

"Yes… Are you allowed to take me home?"

"Of course." He steps out of the limo and opens the back door for me. "Will Mr. Valentine be joining us?"

"No, you can come back for him. I would like to go home now, if you don't mind driving me?"

"No problem at all, Mrs. Valentine. That's what I'm here for."

"Thank you, and please, call me Asia." I feel silly being called Mrs. Valentine.

I fall asleep in the limo on the drive home, jolting awake when Max opens the door for me.

I step out, my legs wobbly from wearing heels all night, and Max takes my hand. "I'll walk you to your front door. It's very dark here in the woods, even though it is beautiful."

"That's very sweet, thank you," I say and let him walk me to the door. Thank God I have my key with me and the code to the security system or I'd be sleeping on the porch. "Max, please accept my apologies, but I don't have any money on me… I don't know how this works for payment."

A warm smile touches his face. "It's all taken care of, Asia. No worries for you at all. Have a good evening. I'm sure I'll be seeing you again. I'm usually the driver Talon requests."

"Oh, that's very nice. Thank you again for bringing me home. I'm sorry to make you have to make an extra trip."

He waits for me to enter the house and close the front door behind me before he leaves, which is a nice gesture I'm sure is part of his job. I kick off my boots as soon as I get into the foyer, and Pixie comes running, her little bell jingling. Picking her up, I hold her against me and kiss her soft fur.

"I missed you too, sweetie," I whisper and carry her up to the bedroom with me.

As I get undressed, I keep checking my cell phone, hoping Talon will either text or call me, but he doesn't. I wonder if he even realizes I'm gone? And now that I'm home, I'm a little mad at myself for leaving him there, stoned, drunk, and surrounded by sexy women. Did I just inadvertently give him an opportunity to spend the night with another woman? How stupid am I?

No. He wouldn't do that. He wants our marriage to work.

This house has a high-tech alarm system installed, but I still feel scared all alone here for the first time out in the woods, so I turn the hallway light on before crawling into the bed, which feels amazingly empty without him next to me.

Even though I'm so mad at him that tears spill down my cheeks and onto the pillow, I miss him so much my heart aches.

Chapter 19

Asia

The ringing of my cell phone wakes me, and I find it next to me on the bed, the screen flashing Kat's name. I ignore it, not wanting to talk to her at the moment.

Right now, I'm way too distracted with the vacant side of the bed where my husband should be, but isn't.

He never came home.

Checking my phone, I'm shocked and gutted to see there are no messages, no phone calls. Nothing.

Does he even care where I am? Does he know I made it home okay?

Where is he? And where the hell did he sleep?

Stress-induced nausea comes over me in quick waves as my mind scrambles to all sorts of sordid scenarios, from him starring in an orgy to being in a car accident to serving divorce papers. Any one of those things seems realistic to me right now.

Biting my lip, I call his cell phone and it goes straight to voice mail, which means his battery is probably dead. Or maybe he rejected my call to avoid talking to me.

I rifle off a text, just in case.

Me: Where are you?

I stare at the little glowing screen, waiting for it to tell me it was read, and hoping for a reply.

Nothing.

Ah! Maybe he actually did come home and slept on the couch downstairs so he wouldn't wake me up. I jump out of bed and dart down the stairs, praying that's where he is, but my heart sinks even lower when I see the couch is empty. He's nowhere in this house.

Panic hits me again and I pace aimlessly around the room like a mouse in a maze. I have no idea what to think or do. This is entirely new territory for me, to be putting up with a missing partner. I debate calling Dr. Hollister or Kim, but I'm embarrassed and I don't want it to seem like I'm tattling on him in some bizarre way. Maybe he has a really valid reason for not being home, like a car accident. Oh my God. What if he's hurt? Would anyone call me?

I wander around the house, like somehow he's just going to appear. He doesn't.

I take a long shower and wash off all the makeup, sadness filling me that even though I spent all that time and money to look pretty for him, in the end, what did it matter? Something else obviously caught his attention. Probably something blond with big, bouncy, balloonish boobs.

A flash of fear bolts through me when I see the shower drain filled with dark water and for a quick moment I think it’s blood, but then I realize it’s the hair dye. Jesus. My mind is going nuts.

I rinse my hair and shower as best I can and then go through my routine of blow-drying my hair, brushing my teeth, and getting dressed, hoping if I just act normal, he'll show up. He doesn't.

Realizing it's now noon, I rationalize that I should call someone, in case something has happened to him. I can't just sit here and ignore it, so I call Evie's cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Evie… It's Asia. I'm so sorry to bother you."

"It's okay, you can call me anytime. What's up?"

"Um… I'm a little worried. Talon never came home last night, and I tried his cell, but there's no answer and—"

She cuts me off. "Asia, he's here with us. He's fine."

My heart leaps. "He's there?"

"I thought you knew, I'm so sorry." The tone of her voice tells me she's being truthful.

"No, I had no idea. I've been freaking out all morning."

"Oh, Asia, I'm sorry. I honestly thought you knew he came home with us or else I would have texted you last night to let you know."

"Why didn't he come home? I left at about three. He was stoned and I couldn't get him to leave, and I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to come home and go to bed, and I thought you guys had left already."

She sighs into the phone. "No, Storm had this bright idea of fooling around on the roof. Don't even ask. Anyway, when we finally were getting ready to leave, we found Talon and he was kinda wasted but said you went home. We didn't want to leave him like that, so we brought him home with us and he slept on the couch."

"Was he with someone? Please tell me." I brace myself for her answer.

"No, he was pretty high and I think had a little too much to drink. I swear to you, I did not see him with another girl. He was hanging out with two guys when we found him."

A small amount of relief comes over me and I blow out a breath. "I don't like this at all, coming home alone and waking up not knowing where he is. I've been a wreck."

"Well, yeah, I would be too. Here, Storm wants to talk to you…" I hear her pass the phone to him.

"Hey, Asia." Storm's voice comes over the phone, and he actually sounds a lot like Talon.

"Hi…"

"Look, I know you're upset, and this shit isn't cool. I'll have a talk with him, 'kay? I'll set his ass straight that he can't pull this shit now that he's married."

"Well, he's an adult, so I can't tell him what to do. But honestly, this is not something I want to deal with, and he knows it."

"Trust me, he needs a kick in the ass. He's partied enough; it's time to grow up. Letting you leave the club in the middle of the night is shitty. He's going to get an earful over it."

"Yeah, it kinda was. I've been freaking out all morning. I thought something terrible happened to him or he went home with someone else."

"No, he was just stoned stupid and drunk."

"Terrific."

"Do you want to come get him? He's asleep on the couch. Or I'll bring him home."

Taking a deep breath, I switch the phone over to my other ear. "Ya know what? If you don't mind, you can bring him home. I don't think I want to be in a car with him when I'm still so mad at him."

"Good call, sweetheart. Don't worry, okay? He really cares about you. This is just a bump in the road."