Page 40 of Love Lies Bleeding

I feel Cherry’s eyes on me, hatred so strong it is palpable aimed my way. Yet, all I see is the beautiful girl I loved. She has every right to feel the way she does, but there’s so much she doesn’t know, so much I still can’t tell her. But the thought of her walking away and me never having the chance to try and explain some of it or make things right makes every muscle in my body rebel.

As they reach the elevator, I know I can’t let my Blossom walk away. My hand shoots between the closing doors, and they bounce open, allowing me to step inside. Seeing the cold indifference on her face, I suddenly doubt if this is a good idea. Cherry ignores me like I’m nothing more than a bothersome fly and it makes me want to push her, to make her admit that she feels more. That I’m someone to her.

Pressing the button for the ground floor, I turn to her, but she’s looking at her feet like her shoes are the most interesting thing on the planet. Honestly, hot pink stilettoes are sexy as fuck, and on her they’re lethal, and she wears them like a queen.

“Cherry, I—”

My little Cherry Blossom rounds on me so fast that I have to fight the urge to smile at her. Fuck, she’s magnificent.

Pointing her finger at my chest she pokes hard, and my whole body heats at the first contact from her in over a decade. In those seconds, everything falls away except the memory of her hands on my skin. Cherry and I weren’t just hot between the sheets, we were burn-the-world-down lava hot, and I remember every single second of it like it was yesterday.

“No, you don’t get to speak to me. You’re nothing but a lowlife, lying asshole. Stay away from me and stay away from my friend or you won’t like what I do,” she snarls and I have the strongest urge to bite that bottom lip until her tirade turns to moans of pleasure.

In the past, I would’ve backed away from an argument with my Blossom. I would’ve been patient, but she isn’t the only one who was changed by what went down between us. I stood back instead of pushing when we were at Harvard, and look where that got us. Now I have no intention of letting Cherry call the shots or blame me for everything. Yes, I am to blame for a lot, but she walked away without giving me a single chance to explain.

“Me? I’m a liar? You’re the one who promised me forever and then left, not the other way around, Blossom.”

Cherry looks like her head is going to explode, her jaw tight, her face red, her breath heaving. I can’t look away, from her fury, it’s so fucking hot.

“Fuck you, Jake. You can’t even be honest with yourself, and don’t call me that,” she growls as she turns back to face the elevator doors.

I’m half expecting her to stomp her tiny foot, and the image makes me hard. She’s being a brat, and I’d give anything to take her over my knee and redden that delicious ass of hers. She’d hated Blossom at first, or so she said, but I knew then, just like I know now, that she loved it. And even if she doesn’t, it gets a reaction from her.

“If I recall, Blossom, you loved me calling you that. Admit it. Even now you’re wet for me.” I give her a confident grin as she glares daggers at me. I see the change in her instantly, the metaphorical sound of her patience snapping as her friend sucks in a sharp gasp. I glance at Lexi and only see the fist coming toward me at the last second. I could dodge it easily, but she deserves this one. She’d earned it so I let it happen.

For a little thing, my Blossom lands a hefty punch and I feel pride in her as I rub my chin and jaw to hide the grin. The doors open and Cherry quickly pulls her friend into the lobby. I could follow her but Cherry needs some time to regroup and I need time to plan my next move.

I watch from the lobby, my hand in my suit pocket as she speeds away on those ridiculously high heels that make her ass wiggle seductively. My Cherry Blossom got away from me before, but I won’t let it happen again.

Not when for the first time in ten years I feel alive again, and she’s the reason.

She was, and will always be, my reason.

14. Cherry

It’s a week later and I’m still vibrating with the anger and shock of seeing Jake. I always imagined that if I ever saw him again it would be when I was looking glamorous and put together, my confidence and success like a shield around me. Instead, I’d been caught completely unprepared at a time when I was worried sick and filled with guilt over everything that had happened with my best friend.

It didn’t help that the selfish jerk had gotten more devastatingly handsome in the last ten years. Was it too much to ask that he’d developed warts on his face, or perhaps a beer belly and receding hairline? But, of course, his suit fit him like a second skin, his broad shoulders filling out the custom fabric, his biceps visible when he moved his hand to rub the spot where I punched him. Of course, the letter I got in the mail this morning doesn’t exactly help my pissy mood.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”

Glancing up, I tip my head for Frankie’s kiss and note the bruises on his face are almost gone. Lexi’s asshole ex had beaten him and left him for dead for no other reason than he was a fucking sociopath. Nobody had known just how deranged and dangerous Dean was until it was too late. I’d known he was manipulative and borderline abusive since the day he hit on me while dating Lexi, and then blackmailed me over it, saying he’d tell Lexi it was all me.

Still dealing with my shattered heart after what Jake had done, I’d kept quiet and never said a word. It’s something I’ll regret until my dying day and one more thing in the ‘why we hate Jake Marshall’ column.

“It’s fine. I just got here. I ordered us Mojitos.”

Frankie bats his eyelashes dramatically, and I thank God he hadn’t had his light dimmed by that asshole.

“Girl, you read my mind. I just had my last doctor’s visit and that nurse I was telling you about was there, and I found out he has a boyfriend.”

“Aww, I’m sorry, honey. I know you liked him.”

“It’s fine,” He waves it off as he takes a huge sip of the mojito, his eyes closing before he grins. “He’s old news. I saw one of the peds doctors and asked him out instead. We have a date on Friday.”

“Wow, good for you.”

“Damn right, good for me. I’m not gonna let that homophobic bastard ruin my sex life.”

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