The Risks we take

Twenty Six

Sloane

2 hours.

2 hours of them shouting and me shouting and crying and calming down only to do it all over again until mum said we all needed a break and I left. I grabbed flowers and wine. 3 bottles of wine. Lord knows I'd be drinking tonight. Fuck the consequences right now.

Now I was stood in front of Eden's office door holding the flowers out at her with a soft smile because I had no doubt she was going to go ballistic too and she knew about me and Reed to some extent. It wasn't completely new like it was with my parents. They'd be fine. They just needed to cool off.

"Amanda, I'm in the mid-" She stopped mid rant about being busy. Probably calling me. "You."

"Me." She was mad. She crossed her arms, standing with her back to the door, letting me past and into her office.

"Thanks for the heads up on selling Rise and coming home." The door closed and I grabbed two coffee cups from the cabinet in the corner, filling them up a little too high with the wine and almost downing it in one. "Sloane it's not even 2pm."

"I've been awake for practically 48 hours, had my parents screaming at me for the past 2 hours, flown across the world, gotten into a fucking relationship, sold a business to back to myself, found out the guy I've been dating for 3 months was out to get information to blackmail me, found out the guy trying to make me leave the US is doing it because my mum broke his heart and had to leave his son and my boyfriend back there. Oh, and just before that 48 hour mark, I was stuck in the Bronx in literally my underwear and a tee-shirt after having to leave Zac's house when he wouldn't take no for an answer. I don't give a fuck what time it is, or if it's going to fuck with the meds I haven't taken in two days. I. Need. A drink."

Eden walked across the room, snatching the bottle out of my hand and refilling my cup before sitting down and drinking straight from the bottle herself. Any frustration Eden had been harbouring had vanished, her best friend instincts kicking in. I sunk into the seat beside her, laying my head into her shoulder.

"How, and I mean this in the most insulting way possible don't be fooled, the actual fuck have you messed up your life so massively in 4 months?" Eden almost laughed like she couldn't believe it.

"I don't even know! It happened all at once too. Like Reed and -"

"Hold on. You said you were in a relationship?" Eden turned, forcing me to lift my head as I nodded, taking a long, hard drink of something I wish was a hell of a lot stronger. Vodka, Tequila, Whiskey. Anything. "Sloane Elizabeth Windsor. In a relationship? Fucking hell."

"With Reed." She choked on her drink.

"LAWSON?" I nodded with a groan. "You've got it baaddd."

"That's a whole thing in itself. We spent all of Sunday together and it was just- I can't- I felt safe. For the first time in years Eden. When I'm around him, nothing else really matters. I called him. After I left Zac's. I don't even know why. But once I was far enough away. Just naturally. I didn't even think about it. Not Logan. Not Paige, or Drew or Stan. Just hit his contact and dialled and I'd been okay. I wasn't crying. I was holding myself together somehow. I was just thinking about how to protect myself if something happened and he answered after like 2 rings and told me to go to this diner that he knew was around the corner and he was there like 10 minutes later and then I was in his car and we got outside his place and he told me I broke his heart and he'd realized a few weeks before that he loves me."

"Woah woah woah woah. Hold up. Reed? Said he loves you?" I nodded, finishing my my cup.

"He's not lying. You should have seen him at the wedding Eden. The guy was flat out depressed. On the verge of tears. Every time I'd seen him, I knew something was wrong with him. He wasn't styling his hair, it was a little messy, his shirt wasn't perfectly tucked in. It was like he just stopped caring. And then we went into his and he didn't even want to have sex. I mean, it started off but he stopped before all my clothes were off because he just wanted me there. Doesn't want me to think that's all he wants. Then Zac showed up and he beat the living crap out of him and I'm just- I don't know if he's lying about all of this as part of some huge scheme or not but if he is- I don't know what I'll do Eden. It's so stupid loving him. I know it is but I just can't stop. He said when I move back at the end of the year he'll come with me. I caught him looking at visa applications before it all kicked off last night."

"You think he will? Move with you."

"If he's not doing all this shit for his dad, I think he might." Eden leaned over the couch, swiping her thumb along my cheeks, removing the tears before they left trails down my makeup. "I just wish there was a way to know you know? Like I could run a fact checker over him or something but I reckon I'd have to break the Geneva Convention to get the truth out of him if he was lying."

"So, you're in a relationship with someone you don't trust?" I sighed, putting my empty cup on the floor and laying my head down in her lap. I missed being able to talk to her like this.

"It's not that I don't trust him. I don't trust anyone right now. Except you, mum and dad. Not even Paige or Logan. Not really. I mean I have enough on them that if they ever did try something I could sink them both in a heartbeat. When did life go from making friendship bracelets and midnight snacks whilst watching Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging to this shit?"

"Sucks balls."

"You can say that again."

"Okay. You've vented. You've drunk half a bottle of wine, cried a little. What's the plan?" I smiled at her. "I knew you had a plan. My Lizzie doesn't let anyone get the better of her."

"We're going out tonight."

"Tonight? It's a Monday."

"Mhm." I nodded quickly. "Celebrating me being home. There's lots to celebrate you know. Including the downfall of a very powerful man that's fucked with my family for just a little too long."