Chloe gave a sharp nod. “Yup. I’m not even sorry.”
Reid wasn’t sure whether to laugh or feel guilty. When he looked at her face, her skin flushed from alcohol and her eyes filled with apprehension, he decided it didn’t matter. Everything would be out in the open soon enough.
“Okay. Let’s head to the lobby and check in. After we eat, I’ll tell you everything.”
When they entered the lobby, they found Tom waiting with their room keys. “Here are the keys for both rooms. I ordered some food for the both of you and told them to deliver it to Chloe’s room. I’ll have someone send her bag up in a few.”
Reid paused, wide-eyed, before he took the room keys and grinned. “Even drunk you’re on top of your game. Are you a machine?”
“He’s clearly a droid. He’s C-3PO!” Chloe exclaimed before clamping her hand over her mouth and scanning the lobby. “No, he’s R2-D2; he’s so much cooler. Jesus, I’m loud. Reid, it’s almost midnight.”
Tom looked between them, confusion written all over his face. “It’s nine.”
Reid chuckled and shook his head. “I need to feed the Mogwai before I have a Gremlin on my hands.” Waving off Tom, who still wore a perplexed expression, Reid turned and led Chloe to the elevators. “Do you remember that one time you showed up for rehearsals so hungover you couldn’t even have a real conversation?”
Chloe groaned and dropped her head to Reid’s shoulder. “You said you wouldn’t cut me any slack next time.”
Reid nodded and rubbed his hand over her arm. “That’s what I said, but you know what?”
“What?” Chloe asked, her voice meek.
“I lied,” he whispered, pulling her into the hallway of their floor.
Once inside her room, Chloe excused herself to the bathroom, leaving Reid alone. He tried to figure out how to tell Chloe everything that happened, the reasons why, and what he wanted, but all he could see were the flashbacks of his conversation with Jess the night before. He could still hear the sound of her voice as she called him a liar and stormed out of the room.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Opening the door, he sighed gratefully when he saw the rectangle-shaped box. Pizza was exactly what Chloe needed. After signing for the food and leaving a gaping delivery boy at the door, he walked to the table and opened the box. As soon as he did, Chloe burst out of the bathroom.
“Oh my God, pizza. Give it to me.”
Reid chuckled and handed her a slice. She took a bite and moaned, her eyes falling shut. Reid cleared his throat and handed her a bottle of water. “Do you need anything else?”
“No. This is perfect.” For the next several minutes, they ate in silence. Once Chloe finished off her second piece and drank the last of her water, she slid onto the bed and crossed her legs before pulling a large pillow against her chest. “Okay, this is the go-zone. I’m still buzzed, but I’m well on my way to sober and sleepy. Whatever you need to say, now is the time.”
Reid smiled at the serious expression on her face. Deciding to give them both a little space, he opted to move a chair beside the bed so they were facing each other. Pulling in a deep breath, he dove straight in.
“Jess and I broke up last night.”
Chloe blinked several times, her brows dented with confusion. When she finally processed his words, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “What?”
Reid nodded. “I have a lot of things to say to you. I’m going to ask you one more time if you’re sure you want to have this conversation right now.”
Reid watched as Chloe pinched her eyes shut and balled her hands into fists before taking a lungful of air and releasing it slowly. After a couple of seconds, she opened her eyes and nodded.
“After the show last night, I confronted Jess about what she said to you.” Reid could still see Jess’s face clearly as she’d stared at him in confusion.
“What do you mean you’re not moving back to Memphis? I thought that was always the plan.”
“Why would you think that, Jess? When have I ever given you any indication that I wanted to give up music?”
“When you told me you wanted us back! What did you think was going to happen? You were going to live in LA and I was going to stay in Memphis? When we saw each other again for the first time, you said you hated LA. You said you couldn’t write and you weren’t sure you ever would again.”
“My life is in LA.”
“And mine is in Memphis.”
Reid shook his head to wipe away the memory. “What she told you at the studio, about me moving to Memphis, she really thought that was the plan. I should have realized sooner. She’d hinted over and over again, but I just . . . I didn’t.”