Page 44 of Love Lies Bleeding

He gets me, my friend gets me, so I follow him into the bar area, where we find a spot in the back corner.

“I’m not sure all the liquor in the world is gonna help this situation, Frankie.”

“Well, not with that attitude it won’t. You gotta put some effort into it, girl. So down the hatch and when you’re good and drunk, we’re gonna discuss what the hell just happened between you and sexy suit.”

“Can we skip that bit, please?”

“Oh, there is no chance on this earth we’re skipping that. I almost orgasmed on the spot from the sexual energy buzzing off him.”

“Eugh, Frankie. Don’t be gross.”

“Oh, please, don’t tell me it didn’t get your lady garden all of a flourish with his dominance. I’m pretty sure he turned half the straight men in here, he was so hot. Seriously, tell me, is he the sex god I think he is?”

As the shots hit, my lips and brain give up the fight and blab all the details. “Better, even ten years ago he could make me come so hard I almost blacked out, and that was before he put his hand around my throat and choked me.”

Frankie squeals so loud we start to get annoyed looks from others in the bar.

“I just knew a man who looked like him would be a freak in the sheets.”

“That’s the problem though, Frankie. He ruined me for other men. He used me, played games with my heart and body, and left me with nothing.”

Frankie grips my hand tight as the weight of my words fall around us. “You’re not ruined. He may have banged your heart up a little, but you’re the strongest person I know.”

“I don’t feel like it right now. Lexi could have died, Jake is back, and I got this in the mail this morning.”

I sober up fast as I pull my bag close and dig through to find the letter I’d been doing everything in my power to ignore since I opened it. I hand it over to Frankie and watch as his eyes widen before his head lifts and he looks at me.

“What are you going to do?”

“Hire a lawyer I guess, but I can’t imagine me winning a compulsory purchase order against a company like them.”

“Does your mom know?”

“No, and I don’t want her to, either. The salon is in my name, and I’m going to handle it on my own.”

“You know I hate to say it but Jake is a lawyer.”

“Absolutely not. I’d rather lie down in the street and let the bulldozer roll over me than ask him for help. I’ll find a lawyer who can help me. There has to be someone willing to take this on.”

Frankie doesn’t look convinced but I am. I have to be, I won’t let Jake break me, not again and I sure as hell won’t let a company like KLM Holdings take my mother’s livelihood. It’s time to pull up my big girl panties and go to war.

15. Jake

Three Months Later

Scrubbing my hands over my face, I try and force some of the exhaustion from my body. The last few months have been grueling, partly because this deal with China is so important to Lungo, but also the intricacies involved. At least I’d managed to get it done in under three months, working my team to the bone to get it done. Hunter should have been there, but his priority is his very pregnant girlfriend. I understand it, and I know the part I’d played in making things harder for them.

I’m not a man who regrets much in my life, but the way I’d treated Lexi was one of them. It seems like I’m doomed to fuck up with the women who mean something to me. My sister, my mom, Lexi, and most importantly, at least to me, Cherry.

I’ve never forgotten her, never gotten over her, and always assumed I’d spend my life living the Playboy lifestyle because I knew there was no replacing her. She’d been it for me, and it had gone so badly wrong, I hadn’t known what to do at first. Now, though, I knew. I have to make her see what I did was for the best for both of us. The only issue with that is I’ll have to lay myself bare for her and pray like hell she can forgive me.

Pulling up outside Hunter’s penthouse, I look up with a feeling of doubt I’ve never experienced around my best friend. We’ve had countless calls in the last few months and I’ve apologized for what happened with Lexi, but some things need to be handled in person and this is one of them.

If I’m going to get back on track with Cherry, I need to fix things between me and Hunter first. I nod to the doorman as I stride toward the elevator, but I’m stopped when my card doesn’t work.

Nausea rolls through me at the thought he doesn’t trust me like he used to. Turning to the concierge, I wave my keycard and raise my brows in question.

“Sorry, Mr. Marshall, all visitors have to be announced, without exception.”

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