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up. Can I call you?” he asked.
    Ellie bit back the lump in her throat and grabbed hold of the security of him. “I’d like that.”
    Dex opened the door and hesitated, sending Ellie’s heart into another flutter of confusion. Stay. Go. Take me with you . Somewhere over the last four years she’d buried the truth of how much she’d needed him. How much she’d wanted him. She’d had to in order to survive. As he closed the door behind him, she felt the same sinking feeling in her gut as the last night she’d crawled back out his window as a teenager and the same heart-shattering desperation she’d felt four years earlier, when she’d come back full of need and empty promises and then left when her need for him was too immense and the fear of hurting him—and herself—became all consuming. She’d sucked away his strength to use as her own and then snuck away like a thief in the night. Now, the same gut-wrenching, inescapable pain that had followed her back to Maryland four years earlier returned, and it was, without a doubt, the worst pain in her life.
    When she was finally able to force her legs to move again, she went to the bathroom to wash her face. She had to stand beside the toilet to close the door. The tile floor was made of one-inch-by-two-inch blue and white squares, circa 1965. The mirror had a warped haze going on, morphing Ellie’s face into even more of a mess. To her left was a small shower. The shower curtain hung lopsided, missing two rings at the top, and the bottom was peppered with specks of mildew. She wondered how Dina managed to live with such filth. Ellie swallowed her distaste. Some of the foster families she’d stayed with had beautiful bathrooms on the main floors of the house, but the bathroom she and the other foster children were forced to use looked much like this one. She washed her face and brushed her teeth. She’d have to shower in the morning, but the idea of climbing into the filthy thing now gave her a headache. Or maybe that was the rum. She wasn’t sure. With a shower out of the question, she cast off her bra and slipped into a pair of sweats and a clean T-shirt, then checked the alarm on her cell phone. She climbed onto the couch and pulled a throw blanket over herself. She was asleep in seconds.

Chapter Six
    DEX HEARD REGINA and Mitch’s voices before he opened the door to his apartment at the Dakota. Prior to opening Thrive’s formal offices, they’d worked from his old apartment. When he moved into the Dakota soon after he'd seen Ellie four years ago, he'd converted the third bedroom into a workspace. Both Regina and Mitch still had keys. Dex stood with his hand on the doorknob thinking about Ellie. When he’d hugged her goodbye, finally feeling the comfort of her body against him after all these years, he hadn’t wanted to let go. The last time he’d been with her, he’d awoken to an empty bed and a broken heart. That’s when he’d forced himself into the numb state his father had unknowingly helped him nurture. His father wasn’t one to allow any of his children to wallow. It didn’t take many harsh stares or demanding comments— You’re a man; get over it —for Dex to learn how to turn off his emotions. He’d dulled the pain of missing her. Until now.
    The release date pressed in on him, edging thoughts of Ellie to the side. He took a deep breath and went inside. The foyer was as large as the entire living room where Ellie was staying. Jesus. Stop it .
    “Finally. Did you deliver your damsel in distress okay?” Regina asked as she and Mitch carried fresh cups of coffee toward the office.
    Dex rolled his eyes.
    Regina set her cup down beside her computer. Her black tank top clung to her ribs, and her hair was swept to one side, exposing the sharp line of her jaw.
    Mitch sat in a swiveling office chair and propped his feet up on the desk beside an empty bag of chips. He ran his hand through his disheveled hair. “Wanna spill before we get