You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 20

Hearing those exact words, Sylvia finally let her tense body relax. The massive weight on her chest lifted, and exhaustion quickly pulled her under, her breathing steadying as she fell asleep.

But Ashton was wide awake.

Leaning back against the headboard, he grabbed Sylvia's phone, used her fingerprint to unlock it, and started scrolling through her call logs and text messages.

He was actively doing the one thing he had always mocked other men for doing—checking his girlfriend's phone.

He had never felt the need to check up on Sylvia before because she had always given him complete confidence and absolute security.

The way her eyes instantly lit up the moment she saw him wasn't something you could fake. Even the tiny mole by the corner of her eye seemed to dance with pure joy, intoxicating him like a shot of sweet, burning liquor.

But her sudden, absolute determination to break up made it impossible for him not to suspect she was screwing around with someone else.

"Stupid jerk... go away..." the woman mumbled incoherently in her sleep.

Ashton looked down, tightening his grip on her as he playfully pinched her nose.

"You better pray I don't find anything."

Even though he let out a soft chuckle, his tone was laced with dark hostility.

The harsh glow of the screen illuminated his face as his long fingers scrolled rapidly.

In her call logs, there was an unsaved number showing a conversation that had lasted for nearly an hour, right before he arrived.

No saved name usually meant a recent acquaintance, but Ashton distinctly remembered how incredibly sweet and cheerful Sylvia had sounded through the door.

What pissed Ashton off the most was discovering she had actually unpinned his chat from the top of her messages and replaced him with some guy named Dr. Julian Sterling.

There was only a single message in the chat log:

[You can come to the clinic for a checkup tomorrow.]

He had been added just yesterday, and the first message was sent today.

Ashton sneered. It had only been two days, and she was already flirting around with another man.

He didn't explode right then and there. Instead, he simply dragged the woman deeper into his embrace, angrily biting down hard on her ear.

It wasn't until the woman frowned uncomfortably in her sleep that he finally, bitterly let go.

She was entirely more adorable when she was asleep. Her mouth hung open slightly, her lips looking impossibly red, soft, and inviting.

Ashton had always forced himself to exercise extreme restraint when tasting that sweet, intoxicating flavor. He usually only kissed her deeply when she was asleep, rarely doing it when she was awake for fear of becoming hopelessly addicted and spoiling her completely. Whenever he did, it was usually just a brief, fleeting peck.

The same applied now. After pinching her chin and holding her in a deep, bruising kiss, he pulled himself out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

The next morning, Ashton woke up exceptionally early and headed downstairs to check out of the room.

The cheap motel barely cost a hundred dollars a night, a tiny, cramped box with an attached bathroom. After just one night, Ashton felt completely suffocated. He was a man with insanely high standards for his lifestyle; things didn't necessarily have to be astronomically expensive, but absolute comfort was non-negotiable.

Obviously, the room Sylvia had booked fell massively below his standards.

When Sylvia woke up and discovered the room had already been checked out, she stormed downstairs, suppressing her absolute fury. "I still needed to stay here! Why the hell did you check me out?"

Despite his devastatingly handsome, untouchable exterior, he was acting so insanely childish that Sylvia almost burst out laughing.

Did he honestly think kidnapping a pillow was going to make her stay?

Ashton maintained his arrogant, icy silence the entire drive, and Sylvia completely ignored him, burying her face in her phone as she rapidly typed away.

Ashton cast several dark, sideways glances in the rearview mirror, silently fuming.

What the hell was so interesting on her phone that she had to stare at it all day?

Didn't she realize there was a living, breathing man sitting right in front of her waiting for her to talk?

But he refused to actually say it out loud, knowing full well Sylvia would just shoot back a devastating insult. The woman's temper was getting worse by the day, and begging for attention just wasn't manly enough for him.

To perfectly maintain his cold, dominant alpha aura, Ashton forced himself to stay completely silent the entire ride.

He just kept aggressively clearing his throat until it felt like it was going to start bleeding.

When they finally arrived at the hospital, Sylvia finally spoke up. "If there's something wrong with your throat, get a doctor to look at it."

She shot Ashton a completely baffled look.

Ashton stayed dead silent for two agonizing seconds before pulling a pair of dark sunglasses from his pocket. In an instant, he morphed right back into the untouchable, emotionally unavailable bad boy, coldly firing back, "Mind your own business."

Sylvia: ...