Page 50 of Love Lies Bleeding

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing. I’ll grab lunch and be back.”

Turning, he strides for the door, just as a client walking in distracts me from the tension that always seems to be in the air when he’s close.

Everything between us feels unfinished, like we’re hurtling toward something that could blow up our lives and I want so much to put the brakes on, but Jake is like a runaway train.

He isn’t the boy I’d loved so hard I’d lost all sense of danger and perspective. He’s a man who wields power now, who controls everything and everyone around him like they’re all carefully maneuvered chess pieces. A part of me mourns the boy I’d loved, the boy I thought loved me. He’d made me feel safe, adored, like I could be myself, that I could let my true self shine, but it was all a lie.

A bigger part of me is glad that Jake has hardened, that he’s different because I can never forget what he’s done. Not even for Lexi.

17. Jake

After that first day, Cherry and I find a balance working together. I took on most of the manual jobs like moving furniture, hanging pictures, and changing displays, and she spends hours designing and talking with clients so she understands their every need. She also lets me help her out with the things she was delegated for the baby shower. Her work ethic is damn impressive, but it doesn’t surprise me. Cherry has always worked her ass off for what she wanted.

She’d created something impressive here, something she can be proud of, but I can never forget that I was the one who took her original dream away and I’m sure she’ll never be able to either. I’d almost told her everything on that first day in her shop when she’d demanded answers, but a part of me wasn’t ready, wasn’t willing to risk her hatred when the truth of what happened came out. I need more time for her to see me as the man who adores her as much as the boy she’d loved did.

Gathering up the box of cupcakes iced in white and pale blue and decorated with tiny booties and pacifiers, I head into Hank and Vivian’s home. This place hasn’t been my home in a long time but every time I step inside I feel the love and comfort of family surround me.

“Hey, Jake.” Vivian kisses my cheek, as she takes the top box.

“Hey, Viv. Where do you want these?”

“Take them through to the back. Hank is sorting out the drinks and the caterers with Cherry. Frank and Darla left to go home and change but should be back any minute.”

Cherry. Just her name is enough to make my dick harden. I thought I could handle being around her and not touching her. I’d done it before when we were younger, when she’d had me firmly in the friend zone. But that was before I’d tasted her and before I’d felt what it was like to sink my cock into her. To have her consume me in every way.

The second I step outside, my eyes find her. I look around the patio, which is decorated with baby blue streamers and cream and blue flower bouquets that, on closer inspection, are made from tiny socks rolled into roses. White balloons are tied to the end of a table that’s filled with baby-themed canapes, with a huge white cake covered in pale blue and lemon ribbons and a tiny fondant elephant in the middle, but I only have eyes for my Blossom.

Fuck me, she’s beautiful, more beautiful than ever, and less attainable too. She thinks she hides it from me, but I see the hurt in her eyes, the betrayal in the bright smiles she fakes my way, and the careful control she uses to keep me at a distance.

She’s dressed like a fifties pin-up, with a wave in her pink hair and a full, pink, polka dot dress with some kind of netting beneath the skirt. She looks hot as fuck, but it’s her smile that she turns on Hank so easily, that makes me lose my breath.

“She’s a knockout.”

I twist to see Vivian has stepped up beside me. “Yeah, she is.”

“I hear she slapped you in the elevator at the Lungo office.”

My surprise must have shown because Vivian laughs. “You don’t honestly think anything happens in that building that my husband doesn’t know about, do you?”

“I guess not. Does Hunter know?”

Vivian shakes her head. “No, but I see the way you look at her. Whatever is going on between you could be good for you if you let it.”

I have a reputation as a womanizer, as a man who never wants to settle down. They all think I’m just commitment-shy, but nobody knows it’s because the only woman I’d ever wanted to lock down had ended up broken because of me, and now hates my guts. “It’s not me that won’t let it this time, Viv. I took something beautiful and broke it, and she won’t forgive me.”

“Then fix it.”

I huff a laugh. “If only it were that easy.”

“Nothing worth having is easy, Jake. Love isn’t easy, but if you think she’s worth the fight, then fight for her. Or with her, whatever you need to do.”

I don’t respond because at that moment she must sense me watching her and captures me in her heated gaze that’s like a poison barb beneath my skin reminding me of what I’ve lost.

Walking up to her it takes everything in me not to take her in my arms and kiss the pink gloss from her lips.

“Thanks for bringing these.”

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