“All right. I’ll see you then,” Angel said abruptly. “Be careful.”

“No, wait,” she said, gripping the phone. “Don’t be mad at me. I swear I didn’t come down here to try and get back at you.”

“Okay, you didn’t. I gotta go.”

“No, you don’t—”

“Yes, I do. I’ve had a long f**king day, and now I’m getting a headache. I need to lie down.”

“I love you,” she said that damn knot in her throat again.

“Yeah. Love you too. Bye.”

The line clicked, and even though he’d said he loved her and said goodbye, it still felt as if he’d just hung up on her—something he’d never done in all the years she’d been with him.

The moment she walked back in the room, Valerie ran back in from the balcony where she and Monica had been drinking wine coolers and apparently flirting with some of the guys down below. Sarah explained about the party in Hawaii and why she hadn’t heard from him all day. Valerie had obviously sensed that, despite the relief Sarah was feeling about finally hearing from him and having the explanation she needed, she still wasn’t feeling good about it. Sarah told her about him being upset that she was there in Havasu.

“It’s not like you’ll be doing anything crazy, Sarah. He knows this.” She giggled. “You’re not me.”

Normally, Sarah would’ve laughed at that, but just thinking about how the call had ended she wasn’t in the mood. Still, Valerie talked her into having a few wine coolers and winding down. A couple of hours later she was feeling a little giggly herself. They’d since moved the party back into the room because some of the guys outside were suggesting they be invited up and were getting a little insistent about it, though Valerie was still walking out there every now and again.

Just as Sarah had begun to get comfortable under the sheets, her phone rang. Seeing that it was Angel had her clearing her throat and doing her best to not sound buzzed, but she answered before it could ring a second time.

“Hello?”

“Hey, baby,” he sounded groggy. “You still up?”

“Yeah,” she said, bringing the sheet and blanket over her head.

Frowning, she wished she’d thought to tell Valerie to lower the speakers still playing the music from her iPad pretty loudly. Valerie and Monica’s loud giggling voices coming back in and out of the balcony didn’t help either.

“But I’m getting ready to call it a night,” she said, trying to muffle the phone. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” he said. “I needed that nap I took. Listen,” he said, clearing his own groggy voice. “I’m sorry about being a dick earlier. I was just—”

“No, Angel,” she said quickly. “Don’t apologize. I understand why you were upset, okay? I know it looks like I came here to spite you, but first and foremost I didn’t. Second, you know me. Like you, I’d never do anything to risk losing you. You know that, right?”

“I know,” he said, his voice a bit lowered. “Just be careful. I hear it can get pretty crazy.”

“I will,” she said just as someone knocked on their hotel door.

Sarah jumped out of the bed and rushed towards the bathroom as Valerie and Monica hurried past her, giggling and speculating which of the guys from downstairs it could be. She locked the door as soon as she got in the bathroom, squeezing her eyes shut. If Angel heard any of it, he didn’t comment. “What, uh . . .” she began to ask, praying Valerie and Monica weren’t stupid enough to let any guys in their room. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

Angel explained about the two-a-days they’d be having tomorrow and how they’d probably be more brutal than normal. Then he told her about how, even after they’d won the game today, the coach still tacked on one more drill for Monday morning, the day they’d be departing, so they were getting zero time to enjoy the island. “Yeah, he’s not gonna go easy on us. We f**ked up, and he’s making us pay for it.”

The giggling and noise outside the bathroom had subsided, but Sarah still dared not open the door. Instead, she slid down against the door until her butt hit the floor. She felt bad knowing Angel was having such a brutal time in Hawaii and here she was partying it up with her crazy cousin and her equally crazy friend.

“I hate this,” Angel said out of nowhere.

“Hate what?”

“I hate being so far from you. I wish you were lying here next to me.” He moaned or groaned she couldn’t quite make it out. “I’d sleep so much better if you were. I miss you, sweetheart.”

She smiled, feeling a little choked up. “I miss you too.” Suddenly she could hardly wait to see him again. “Forever and always?”

“I’m yours,” Angel said, making her smile even bigger but at the same time choking her up even further as he added in a low whisper, “You’re mine.”

“Forever and always,” she assured him as she always did.

Long after she’d hung up with him, Sarah sat there pondering as she often did after having spent an amazing day, evening with, or even just a while talking to Angel on the phone. She wondered how in the world she’d been so lucky to have been blessed with a boyfriend like him. She felt almost ashamed now that for one very frantic moment that morning she’d actually considered the possibility that he might’ve done the unspeakable.