The Risks we take

Twenty Three

Sloane

"You need to let me up princess."

"But I like being down here with you."

"And you're also hungry."

"Am not."

"Sloane, I can hear your stomach rumbling babe." I pouted. I really didn't want him to move from down here. "Let me cook for you. We'll eat and then we can lay down in whichever room of your apartment you want."

"Promise?" He nodded and I slowly sat up, watching him walk over to the kitchen as I slowly pulled myself up onto the sofa.

Today had been amazing. We'd stopped at the office on our way over here just so I could grab my pills. I hadn't taken them today. We hadn't picked them up until 1pm and it usually messes me up if I take them that late so we'd decided to have a chilled out date and I had them here if I needed them. There had been a few times when I could feel a panic building in my chest. Mostly when he was being too sweet and I caught myself feeling too relaxed. It's like I was waiting for the part where he lets me down. I guess that's just a trust thing though. Hopefully it fades over time.

I sat on the couch, watching him scowl at my messy cupboards, hunting for things I probably did have somewhere. I didn't cook that often.

"You have like nothing." I chuckled, crossing my legs and resting my face on a closed fist. "How do you cook?"

"I don't really. If the girls are over we tend to do something easy like a stir fry or something frozen we can just throw in the oven."

"And if the girls aren't here?"

"Then I'm usually either out or working."

"So, you only eat dinner if your friends are here?" I nodded. Reed raised an eyebrow, slicing and dicing and chopping whatever he bought at the store whilst I was showering earlier. I had no idea what he intended on making but I was excited either way. I'd never had a guy cook for me before. "What about breakfast and lunch?"

"Depends on the day. If I'm at the gym, breakfast is usually a protein bar and some fruit at the office."

"If you're not at the gym?"

"Whatever I fancy."

"Which could be?"

"I don't know, toast, cereal, something from Starbucks."

"Okay. Lunch?"

"Are you trying to see if I eat enough?"

"Sloane, you've just told me you skip an entire meal a day if your friends aren't here babe. Yeah. I am."

"I eat. I just don't cook. It's a lot of effort I don't have time for. If the girls aren't here and I'm usually swamped I probably won't get back from the office until like 9pm so I end up ordering something in. Or I'm here working and I'm just snacking on whatever's quickest. Life of owning multiple businesses. I'm always busy."

"You aren't today."

"I don't work weekends. It's one boundary I keep with myself. No matter how manic it is, how far behind I am, what needs my urgent attention. If it's on my desk when I leave on Friday, it can wait until Monday. My dad's the same. Always makes sure he leaves at 5pm on a Friday too and when I was home I was the same. Even if I was at Eden's place for the day, I left at 5 and we have family dinner at 7."

"Every week?"

"Yeah. I see them every day but we make the effort to catch up on personal lives every Friday. No work talk allowed unless it's about events." I wanted to know about his family life. But I wasn't sure if the whole dad topic was still a sore one so I'd decided to avoid it unless he brought it up first.

Both our eyes moved to the door when 3 taps interrupted our conversations. No one had rung our buzzer tonight and we weren't expecting anyone either. I slowly stood up, pulling my tee-shirt down at the back and tiptoeing over to the door, looking through the spyglass. I rolled my eyes and pulled the door open.

"Hello."

"Hi-" Paige narrowed her eyes. "Open the door then."

"I will but I'm not alone before you come in here." She smirked, slapping Logan in the chest when he scowled. Honestly. So over protective. I pulled the door open and the pair practically leapt in, staring at Reed who was still cooking in the kitchen. A navy blue tee-shirt and light jeans was almost the polar opposite of what anyone usually saw him in and I can imagine it was a little shock worthy. Lord knows it had taken me all day of staring at him to realize it was indeed still him.

They both turned to look at me. Last they knew, I'd called it even with Reed but was still mad about the past and didn't necessarily want him close by. They had no idea about us sleeping together the night at the hotel. Or that we were even talking outside of that.

"Can I speak to you? Alone?" Logan didn't give me a choice. Grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall to my room, slamming the door and pushing me away from it. "What the fuck is going on?"

"You tell me what you think is going on and I'll tell you how close or far off you are."

"You think this is a joke Sloane? The guys dad-" He sighed. "Where's Zac?"

"What has Zac got to do with this?"

"Zac's why we're here. Paige spoke to one of the guys today. Zac's been talking to Calvin. Paige knows it all but - why is Reed here Sloane?"

"Because Zac tried to rape me last night and Reed was the only person nearby that could save me from standing in the middle of the Bronx in Zac's tee-shirt and my underwear."

"You - wait- Zac- What?"

"You know the night at the hotel? When Reed told me about his dad and everything?"

"Hmmm."

"I slept with him."

"With-"

"Reed." Logan stared at me. "I left the next morning, told him it was a mistake and didn't talk to him again but then at the Carmichael wedding we had this really deep heart to heart where he opened up about some stuff and I spent all week thinking about it and then last night and we were outside his and we were talking and he told me he loves me."

"Who?"

"Reed."

"Reed loves you? As in Reed Reed. Reed Lawson. Reed who doesn't believe love exists?" I nodded. "Bull."

"I'm not going to sit and explain it to you Logan but apparently I hurt him when I told him us sleeping together meant nothing to me and he spent 6 weeks thinking and he realized it in the middle of that and we talked about that at the wedding and I left with Zac."

"So what? You and Reed-"

"Are together. Yes." He blinked.

"His dad is trying-"

"He's not. His dad dropped him. Not working for The Echo or his dad in any capacity. He's set up his own consulting thing no relation to his dad. He left because he didn't want to hurt me just to buy Rise."

"So, we can trust him?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

"No. But it's a risk I'm willing to take."