Page 70 of Shifted

"Because I didn't want to sleep with him. He was drunk. I didn't want to sleep with him when he was drunk.” But my reply left her confused, and then it made me think she was asking something different than I thought, not about Reed.

"Or at all," She replies. It changed my thoughts, and her honest ones were the truth, the one that ate me up inside, "You’re thinking about that other guy you fucked every time. That random hookup will bite at you forever?" If only Amartolós knew of this evening, of what he did to me. Reed would probably be a dead man walking. Either because he was trying to kill me before him or because he actually cared if I lived or not.

"Bella, he got mad and yelled at me about how it’s been four months, and I hadn’t slept with him or rather… ‘put out.’" She looked angrier than before. A new type of rage bloomed in her eyes as she hurt for me.

"Maybe we should've let Theo kill him." She scoots herself beside me, and I lay my head on her shoulder.

"I can't believe he hurt me." My voice breaks as I speak again, "I trusted the wicked. I was blindsided." My stomach twists with the thoughts of what could've happened if I wasn't who I was, "Bella," she pulls me into her lap as I sob. I was heartbroken in a way I didn't expect. I didn't love him, and I couldn't love him. Because I didn't know him, his demons, who he really was. But yet again, does anyone really know me?

"I did something really bad, and it led you here," she says, staring blankly at the wall ahead of her. But this scares me because she seems out of it.

"Bella, what?" She shakes her head.

"What happened? What did you do?” I asked, but the look in her eyes was pure pain—like she was reliving something in her head. The silence in the apartment starts to get to me as she no longer responds, and the bruises on my body begin to sting.

"It's not important right now." Her glossed eyes glanced down at me. Something was wrong, and I could see it, but now wasn’t the time to rehash it. But I wondered what was eating at her and how it related to me.

?

Two weeks later

"You look great this morning?" Lucas's sarcasm didn't help my mood. I was swamped with a case that seemed like an endless hole. Every time I found a solution for my client, another secret from his past came to light.

EROS ONASIS

That file taunted me. Eros was an endless hole of hell, and not to mention, he was more than difficult to work with because I wasn't working with him. I was working with his assistant and him over the phone.

"I haven't slept in two days, and I'm running off half a bagel and a vitamin water that I had at 4 in the morning," I said as I handed over his file. Lucas stared at it skeptically, as something about it bothered him. "What?"

"I just think you should drop the case," he suggested, flipping through the papers. With all the charges, it seems like there's no salvaging him. Who gave you this case?" He took the chair across from me, turning to his phone.

"I'm getting you some food from my assistant. You look unwell, Taylor." He handed me his phone with a delicious menu.

"In the morning a few days ago, I came in, and it was on my desk. I figured Mr. Reign assigned it to me." Lucas stared at me like I was joking and shook his head in disappointment.

"Hope, Mr. Reign, would never set you up for failure like this. You're being played, and you know who it could be?" He suggests.

"Not a clue?"

"I saw a certain ex lurking around here a few nights ago, and he wanted to talk to you." My stomach churned with disgust, "I told him to beat it before I beat him, though he looked like he got a pretty good one?" He tilted his head at me with a smirk.

"You honestly think I could cause that much damage, Lucas? Come on, it's me." I handed him his phone, and he nodded in approval.

"That's one hell of a sandwich order. How unique—a bacon and cheese croissant? Who would ever think of such a combination?" I lifted my hand and directed him out of my office.

"Okay, fine, fine... not even a thank you?"

"OUT, LUCAS!" He glared at me, and I hissed as he walked out of my office.

"You don't need to prove yourself as a snake with that hissing Hope; you should know that by now?" I took the shoe from my left foot and threw it at him as he left.

I dug back into the file. I'd been on this for days. Knowing that I wasted my time with it made me more frustrated. All week I've spent on this case, that was nothing but a waste and a question of who would leave me this? A knock came at my door, and as I looked up for my hopeful sandwich, I realized I was no longer hungry. I reached for my phone, but Reed raised his hand to stop.

"Just a moment of your time, please, Hope?" He stood in the doorway, leaving me panicking inside. My heart raced at the sight of him, and my fingers began to shake. The urge to cry as the pressure hung in my chest was overwhelming. I no longer felt safe around him.

"I don't think another back eye would look good on you because surely it won't be on me." He held distasteful flowers in his hand and placed them on the coffee table, keeping a safe distance.

"You should be lucky that your medical license is still intact." He nods slowly.

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