“I swear to God, Ellie,” he begged. He pointed to Finley. “Nothing happened! I have no idea why she was in the bed naked.”

Finley winked at Tyler and then stopped next to me in the doorway. “How does it feel?”

I let out a faltering breath, feeling my eyes burn with tears. “Like death.”

“Then we’re even. Marco is waiting for us outside. He’ll give you a ride home.”

She shouldered past me, and I looked up at Tyler. He dropped the sheets, furiously looking for his clothes. “Don’t leave. Ellie,” he warned. “Don’t you fucking leave with her. We need to figure this out.”

“I deserved this,” I said, my face crumbling. “But you didn’t. I’m so sorry you were mixed up in this … in my fucked up universe. I really did think…” I blew out a slow breath, trying not to sob. “It doesn’t matter.”

Tyler found his boxer briefs and yanked them on. “Ellie, wait.”

I turned on my heels, rushing down the hall and pushing out the door. As promised, Marco was waiting for me in a rented Lexus with my sister looking freshly fucked and content in the passenger seat. I slid into the back, and Marco pulled away just as Tyler burst through the door with just a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Don’t stop,” I said, hearing Tyler scream my name until we turned the corner a block away.

“You might as well turn off your phone until you can change your number,” Finley said. “That’s what I had to do with Sterling. Are you going to your apartment, or the chateau?”

“My apartment,” I snapped, staring out the window.

My phone buzzed, and I scrambled to turn it off.

“Told you so,” Finley said. She sniffed her hair and made a noise, disgusted. “Agh, I still smell like him.”

“Shut the fuck up, Fin. Just shut up.”

Marco drove me to the MountainEar. By the time I climbed the stairs, put on a T-shirt and sweatpants, and washed my face and brushed my teeth, Tyler’s truck had slid into a parking spot, and he was banging on the back door.

I looked down at him from my window. He was wearing just a T-shirt and jeans, his boots on but untied. I could see his breath puffing out in white clouds, and he rubbed his hands together between knocks.

“Ellie!” he yelled. “I’m not fucking leaving. Open the door!”

I unlatched the window and pushed it up without effort, leaning on the windowsill as I peered down at Tyler. “I’m not mad.”

He looked up at me. “Then let me come up.”

“Go home, Tyler.”

He held out his hands. “It’s fucking freezing out here.”

“Then get in your truck and go home.”