The Risks we take

Twenty Five

Reed/Sloane

~Reed~

She was mad. Calvin, because lord knows I couldn't call him my dad anymore, had driven my girlfriend insane. It had to be the only reason for this chaotic plan she'd made in the blink of an eye. And Paige and Logan were in agreement it was the best option.

"I don't know about this Princess." The airhostess put the last of her bags onto the back of the plane. "Are you sure this is the best idea? Just leaving everything?"

"It's the only option. And it has to be believable. The Critic prints are in like 2 weeks. He'll be overly confident that he got his way by then. If it all goes to plan, I'll be back here before July with The Echo back in your hands, ready to jet off somewhere sunny for a break." By 6am she'd be back in the UK, she'd officially 'sell' Rise to Dave Green and Calvin would call me screaming the second it broke online 'accidentally'. Paige already had everything in motion. That girl had way too many contacts for her own good. Logan's paper had an 'inside scoop' on how New York was too much for Sloane and she just wanted to go home, not feeling like she'd ever be able to make a home here.

Which was bullshit. I was her home. She should be here, with me. Not half way across the world forcing me to take Paige on a date tonight just so it looks like I don't care she's gone. Demolish anything Zak will have told Calvin about the 4 of us. Logan's posting something that would have inevitably trashed their friendship and I'm with Paige so any rumours about them two together would be shattered.

Honestly.

The three of them when they put their heads together are like chaotic masterminds. Plotting and scheming. I'd be lying if this slightly evil side to Sloane wasn't a turn on.

"2 weeks Reed." She placed the ghost of a kiss on my cheek. "That's it."

"I didn't even get 24 hours with you Sloane. 23 hours and you're having to leave because he can't handle your mom leaving him and being successful." She raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"You did the same thing." She let out a slow breath, eyes flicking up to my hair, pushing it off my face. "He's allowed to be upset about it not working with my mum."

"How do you do this? The guy sent 5 guys into a bar to terrify you, had a guy try to get with you just so he could get something to black mail you with and you're still saying his reason makes sense." She shrugged.

"I know where it's coming from. Love drives people mad. Watching them move on and forget about you when you're still stuck on it. It hurts. A lot. But there's a difference in being hurt and processing it and moving on and sticking with it and intentionally hurting people who had nothing to do with it." My hands held on tight to her thighs, not wanting to let her go.

She had the biggest heart I'd ever known anyone have. No matter how wrong someone had done to her, she always found a way to not justify their actions but find a way to understand them. To connect herself to whatever pain was causing it and tackle it from the source.

"Don't let some British boy steal you from me whilst you're gone." I wanted to beg her to stay. I couldn't save her from across the ocean. I couldn't be her 3am call when something goes wrong. I wouldn't be bumping into her at her coffee shops and making sure she was okay. But I knew she had to do this and I had to let her go. In a minute.

~Sloane~

I sat down in my seat, watching Reed through the rain covered window. The ground crew told him he had to leave and I could see the tension in his shoulders as he forced a smile and blew me a kiss. It sucked. Leaving him here. This whole thing sucked.

I tried to catch some sleep on the flight. Knowing it was going to be a long day the second I got off the plane at the other end. I had a lot of secrets I now had to out to my parents and the sooner they knew about it all the better. I had to be home, back at work at The Connection, we had to look like a happy family for the cameras. But I know the second they see me walk through those doors without any warning they will be beyond worried. I just hope I get to them before they hear about me selling Rise. I need to tell them about Dave and the other papers and that I've been with Reed. That I have a past with Reed. Everything. I wasn't ready for it. I wanted the privacy right now. I wasn't used to it yet. It was so fresh it was still bleeding. But I didn't have time for it to heal over before I could tackle these things one at a time. And desperate times call for desperate measures.

I climbed off the plane, immediately into the back of the private hire car my parents used. One last minute call and they'd assured me someone would be there when I land and be able to take my bags to my parents' place so I wasn't carting them around.

It was 11am when we pulled up to the office and I had to take a deep breath of the muggy London air, not completely believing it was real. I grew up in these offices. Everyone was family. So, walking in when I was supposed to be across the world meant I had every single pair of eyes watching me from first glance until I was out of sight.

"S-Sloane?!" Amara almost fell out of her seat in front of my parent's office.

"Are they free?" She nodded and I swallowed. "Anything booked in this afternoon?"

"A few-"

"It'll need rescheduling. I'm about to cause some major shit for them."