Page 72 of Ravaged By Lust

She huffs, but I see that smile. I like making her laugh.

We order a whole table of really nice food. Lobster and caviar.

“I’ve never tried caviar,” Chloe tells me.

“Like I said, it’s my treat.”

As we wait for our food, I pull out my phone.

“Sorry, I just have to do this,” I excuse.

“What are you doing?” Chloe asks as I start typing.

“I’m sending an email to Mickey Miller to say we’ve been practicing and that I think you’re totally ready for tomorrow. A full recommendation.”

“You don’t have to do that, Bishop.”

“I know. I want to, though.”

The food comes and we tuck in.

“Are you going to be there tomorrow?” she asks me.

I laugh. “You keep saying that. Of course, I’ll definitely be there, Chloe.”

“This restaurant is a lot different from anything you’ll find in Crystal River.”

I raise the glass of wine to my lips. “Yep.”

Chloe gestures around the room. “Did you ever think any of this was going to happen to you when you started with Ravaged? Truly?”

I think about it for a moment. “No,” I say. “Not in my wildest dreams. When Ravaged started, I didn’t even think I would see you again.”

Chloe looks down at her own glass of wine. “Do you see now that maybe what you did to me seven years ago was wrong?” she quietly questions. “That you should at least apologize?”

I lean back in my chair. This is a conversation I’ve been afraid of having. I really don’t think what happened was that bad. Besides, she humiliated me by telling my best friend and her brother about our relationship, so I exacted my revenge.

But that was all seven years ago. Why can’t she forget it?

“It was all the actions of a stupid teenager,” I say. “But I’m not going to apologize for feeling what I did and doing what I did. I felt angry and needed to do something back to you. Sure, it was an idiotic thing to have done, but the past is the past, right?”

Chloe shakes her head. “Bishop…”

I lean forward and take her hand. “I love you, Chloe Stoll. I’ve always loved you.”

There is not one lie in those words. It’s what I feel. What I know I feel.

She seems to be accepting of that, and she’s about to say something – her mouth opens and closes – but then she pulls her hand back.

And it’s like all the affection she has for me disappears in that one moment.

“If you truly loved me, then why did you betray me?” she asks curtly. “In such a public way as singing one of my songs and pretending it was one of yours?”

I shrug. “There’s nothing I can say. It happened.”

“You’re just going to sit there and shrug?”

“Yeah. Like I said, there’s nothing to say.”