Page 39 of Exposed

“I can’t look at her and not feel guilty. Fuck! I should have protected her,” I shouted, sweeping everything off my desk. I knew they trusted me and because of our friendship in the past and knowing Danielle needed someone that was an expert in reading people and the signs, I completely missed Carol being the stalker because I was too wrapped in my feelings.

My phone rang and I saw it was Emmanuel.

“What’s the news?” I asked, taking the sip of the scotch.

“She’s awake and she’s asking for you,” Emmanuel said.

“Thanks, Emmanuel, protect her for me,” I replied, hanging up the phone.

“You do this, Shooter, you’ll regret it, brother.”

I turned my phone off from everybody, sliding it in my pocket.

“I need some time to think. Keep an eye on them for me,” I stated, leaving the glass on the desk and walking out of my office.

I hopped in my car and drove home to lock away the events from the past few hours. I was even considering possibly flying out of the country for a few days to get away from everything and everyone. Pulling into my driveway, I shut the car off, staring at the car garage.

“Fuck! Fuck!” I shouted, beating my palm against the steering wheel.

Stepping out and heading inside, I turned the alarm off and on, locked the door and stripped out of my clothes before throwing them in the trash. Turning on my voicemail, I heard a call from my mom.

“Son, I know you're hurting, but that's the way to fix things. Lauren needs you and you need her just as much. The second she woke up, she asked for you. Don’t let your fear cloud your judgement,” Mom said. Grabbing the bottle of scotch off my counter, I walked upstairs to the shower. Seeing Lauren covered in blood while dying in my arms was a sign that I got too complacent and sidetracked. Love would only destroy me in the end. Working was the only thing that I knew would never cause pain like what I saw earlier today.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lauren

Three months later and I still hadn’t heard from him. I was in Paris for the launch of Raven Cosmetics with Danielle, Zoe, Novah, and Emmanuel. He was there as my personal security guard from Cole Security that Mark requested. From what they told me, Dominic was still working cases, only he handed everything over to Emmanuel that had to do with Raven’s accounts. They didn’t think I was ready to get back to work, along with the doctor, but I was healing and doing my physical therapy. Most of the events we had were scheduled out in a bi-weekly setting so I could rest up. Today was a small gathering of buyers for local stores looking at the products and interviewing me for the local newspapers. I heard Carol was in jail and the rest of the lab personnel were replaced. Danielle didn’t take any chances on someone else leaking or tampering with the products. I had already finished my breakfast for the day, so I was getting ready. I stepped out of the shower and was drying my hair with a towel when I heard knocking on the door and Novah asking to come inside.

“Are you decent, L?”

“Yep, is Emmanuel here?”

She came inside with a bouquet of flowers and placed it on top of the counter.

“Who sent the flowers?”

“Danielle and Zoe sent them to cheer you up,” Novah said. I bent over and smelled the roses, smiling at the cute greeting card that said Queens rise above. I chuckled. Since I’ve worked with them over the past few months, we’ve become closer and created a bond, a really strong friendship.

“Tell them I said thank you. Are they downstairs?” I asked.

Novah nodded, jumping up on top of the counter, picking over my hair products as I picked up the hair dryer and comb.

“Yes, and Emmanuel is waiting in the living room when you're ready to go.”

“Thanks, now tell me. How bored are you in Paris? I can see it all over your face,” I mentioned, because mostly I’ve been working and have had less time to hang out with her than I normally would like and she’s stuck either coming along with me or eating out at some restaurant and shopping alone.

“Not too bad, but I’m fine. You're more important and making sure the star is ready for her close ups,” Novah stated.

I chuckled before replying, “No star over here. After the shooting craziness, I’ve become even more popular and that tells how crazy our society is that they’d pay more attention to a disaster than the positivity in my life.”

“He still hasn’t called?” she inquired.

“I think it’s best we both move on; we wouldn’t have gotten far in a relationship. Not only the age difference, but the little we had in common was outlawed by outside interference. You remember what I went through with Raymond.”

“Please don’t compare Dominic to Raymond,” Novah chastised.

“Why not, it’s the same when you think about it. Honestly, the moment things get hard, men run away. Let me change and I’ll meet you out there, drop the subject please.”

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