Page 59 of Love Lies Bleeding

Now, though, I found myself missing my setup on the end of Cherry’s counter at the shop. With no need to worry about Dean hurting anyone, she and Lexi have hired help until Lexi goes back to work.

Taking out the worn file on my desk, I look at it and wonder how my life would’ve been if I’d just had access to this ten years ago. Would Cherry and I be married with a couple of kids? Would she still look at me as she had that day I told her I loved her, like I was the moon and she was the sun.

So many what-ifs and none of them matter because I’d let my fear and cowardice win. I should’ve told her when I found out. I should’ve gone to her and explained everything and let the chips fall. But I hadn’t, I’d caved thinking I was protecting her but in truth, I was protecting myself.

Fingering the file, I placed it back in the drawer and locked it away. The time will come when I’ll let her read every wrong deed I’ve done that has led us here, but not until I’ve fixed her future in stone. But first, I need to talk to Hunter.

Walking down to his office, I smile at Ruth, his secretary. “He free?”

“He is if you call harassing his girlfriend every ten minutes free.”

I knock and wait for him to call enter before pushing inside.

Looking up, he gives me a half nod in greeting before frowning at his laptop screen. “What’s up?”

“I need to tell you something.”

I’m not sure if it’s my tone or just that he knows me so well, but Hunter pushes away from his desk and walks towards me, ushering me towards the couches where he has a fridge and decanter of whiskey.

“Drink?”

I shake my head. “Nah, I gonna take the bike out after this.”

“What’s on your mind?”

“Do you remember me telling you about that girl from college? The one that got away?”

“I’m not senile, Jake, it was only a few weeks ago and, by the way, I’m still pissed you didn’t tell me before.”

“Yeah, well, you’re gonna be more pissed when I tell you who it is.”

Hunter groans. “Please don’t say Lorelei.”

“God, no.”

“Then who?”

“Cherry.”

“Cherry who?” Hunter frowns looking confused until I see the realization on his face. “No way.”

“Yep. We met when you were out with your leg. I fell so hard, man. She was a whirlwind, beautiful, smart. Shit, you’ve met her.”

Hunter dips his head silently. “What happened?”

“She friend-zoned me. She wasn’t interested in getting involved. She’d worked so hard to get into Harvard. She was doing her degree in Architectural History, so I agreed to be friends. I knew she was it from day one, man. We became friends and eventually more. Honestly, I would’ve married that girl on the spot, but I knew we needed our degrees first and she needed to trust me. Losing her father had a huge impact on her.”

“Lexi mentioned that. It must have been tough. How did it go wrong? You cheat?”

I shake my head, kinda pissed that he’d assume that, but compared with the truth, it was better. “Never. I loved her. She was my entire world just like Lexi is yours.”

Hunter holds his hands up. “Yet here we are.”

“Nick Kendrick called me one night and told me he wanted me to steal the exam papers for the course Cherry was doing.”

I see his lip curl at the mention of Kendrick. Hunter hates him almost as much as I do. “Oh fuck. Please tell me you didn’t.”

I stand and begin to pace angrily. “Of course not. I’ll never do that to her. I told him no. He said I’ll regret it and I called his bluff. The next day I got a call saying he’d had someone else steal the papers, but that he’d framed Cherry.”

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