Chapter 51 CHLOE

Chapter 51 CHLOE

I know I said we were done. I know I returned the ring — but somehow, when Jason thundered that question, I felt it reverberate through the entire hallway. And I realized then exactly how it looked to someone like him.

Down the hallway, one door cracked open, and a middle-aged man in a bathrobe peered out, his frown defining the wrinkles.

“What’s with the ruckus?” he asked, now frowning at us.

“Just a little accident,” I said before the waitress began sputtering an incoherent apology. “Sorry for the noise.”

He harrumphed and disappeared, the door clicking shut behind him.

Tiny, completely unfazed by the chaos she’d caused, tore down the hallway in a blur of black fur, screeching at full volume.

“Tiny!” I whisper-yelled furiously, and then lunged for her once… and missed, nearly slipping in the mess. She darted past the waitress again, then circled back, and finally slowed enough to wind herself around my ankles like nothing had happened.

The waitress, face bright red, picked herself off the floor daintily. Crouching carefully to avoid the shards, she began gathering the larger pieces of broken china.

“I’m so sorry,” she said without looking up. “I hate cats. Wasn’t expecting that one to come flying out like that. Startled me.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. And it was indeed — I wasn’t the one to clean up the mess after all. “I should have warned you.”

She got up, deftly side-stepping the tinier pieces scattered around. “I’ll be back with another plate of everything,” she said, stacking the broken plates on the trolley. “And a vacuum for the floor. I won’t be long.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

She wheeled the wrecked trolley away, and the hallway went quiet again — except for Tiny’s quieter moans. And the deep breaths of the man behind me.

Dreading the fact that I still had to face him, I bent to pick Tiny up, stalling. A thin red line cut across the pad of her left front paw — nothing deep, but enough to make me wince. The floor around us was a disaster: shards of white china, tuna melts and toast lying amidst the spreading puddle of coffee. I stepped around the worst of it, and nudged the door open with my hip, carrying Tiny inside.

Jason followed and shut the door, the soft click of the lock too loud in my ears. He stood by the door — almost still — watching me with narrowed eyes like he was trying to find answers to a question that made him angry.

If I had to take a wild guess at that, I was sure I’d be right.

I went straight to the bathroom, wet a clean washcloth under warm water, and sat on the toilet lid with Tiny in my lap. She squirmed before settling while I cleaned the cut and checked her other paws just to be sure.

It wouldn’t be nice if she got hurt under my care, especially seeing as I took her without permission from her owner.

Derek!

Oh, he must have seen Tiny here when he brought me back. Was he mad? Why hadn’t he taken her back?

I shook the thoughts of his brother off as Jason came to stand by the bathroom door, still watching me with narrowed eyes as his gaze flicked from the cat to my face and stayed there.

“Did you break up with me so you could be with him?” he asked, after a moment. There was no need to clarify who the ‘him’ was — and I refused to pretend I didn’t understand what he meant.

Instead, a fleeting anger passed over me, tightening the features of my face.

I already knew that’s what he thought after seeing Tiny with me… but how dare he say it out loud? Especially after frolicking around with Stancy.

I stared at him in disbelief. For a second, the only sound in the room was Tiny’s quiet purring against my sweater. I dropped her on the floor. Watching as she padded around Jason’s feet and exited the bathroom. Standing up, I mirrored his posture — feet spread apart in a confrontational manner — and my arms crossed over my chest.

“You’ve got some nerve,” I began, the words coming out quiet but sharp. “How dare you accuse me of that after you had your tongue so far down Stancy’s tonsils?”

Jason blinked once, twice as his mouth fell open — like he was genuinely confused. Like I’d switched languages on him mid-sentence. Before either of us could say another word, a soft knock sounded at the door.

It was the waitress.

She stepped in, wheeling another trolley laden with my food. We watched her in silence as she worked, laying out the spread on the coffee table. When the door shut behind her, I busied myself laying out the tuna melts for Tiny. Not ideal for a cat’s meal, but it would have to do before I got proper supplies.

“Why do you think I kissed Stancy?” Jason asked more calmly now. “Did Derek tell you that?”

“He didn’t have to tell me anything I didn’t already know. Or saw.” I said, lowering myself into the chair to eat. Somehow the rapid turn of events — coupled with the pills — had helped cure the remnants of my hangover, but now, I could feel another headache brewing and for an entirely different reason.

“What does that me—”

Another door on the door interrupted him. Jason turned to the door, scowling. Marching over, he pulled it open. A young male porter in a white vest stood there with a luggage cart half-angled toward the room, a polite smile locked in place.

“Miss Davis? I’m here to assist you with your luggage if you’re ready.”

Jason went completely still.

“I’m not ready yet. I’ll call down the front desk when I am. Thank you.”

The porter’s smile didn’t falter. “Of course, Miss.”

Jason closed the door slowly and turned back to me.

“You’re leaving too?” His voice was subdued with a trace of hurt.

And what did he mean by ‘leaving too'?

Who left before?