Page 55 of Hire A Cuddler

I clench my eyes as it all starts to come back to me. It’s all fake. She played me, and I fell for it.

“What the fuck, King?” Holden says as he falls down in the chair opposite me.

“Please… just leave me alone.”

He picks up the empty bottle, shakes it, and sets it down. “You don’t drink, brother.”

I try to raise my head, but the room starts to spin, and so I lay my cheek back down on the desk. “I did last night.”

“You’re an idiot, you know that, right?”

I roll my eyes and groan at the pain that shoots in my head. “Shouldn’t you be throwing a ball somewhere or something?”

“Yeah, I have to head out for a five-day series, but I wanted to come and help you get your head out of your ass before I go.”

“Fuck you,” I groan.

He just laughs. “So uh, hear me out. Sis called me, and just a note, she’s not happy with you at all. I’ve never seen her this mad.”

I close my eyes. I hate to piss off my sister, and I’m sure by now Haven has told her lies about what’s happened.

Holden blows out a breath. “Anyway, I went and talked to Haven—”

I finally raise my head up. “Where is she?”

Instead of answering, he says, “Anyway, I talked to her and she told me about the pictures.”

I hold my head in my hands. “Did she tell you she broke my heart? That she’s with another man?”I grab one of the pictures and shove it toward him. “See.. Here’s proof.”

He rolls his chair closer to the desk and picks up the picture that I’ve stared at all night. “Hhhmmm… good picture, but I saw it on video.”

I groan. “On video? Of course it’s on video. I can’t watch it… just kill me now.”

“For a millionaire, you’re really dumb, King.”

I don’t have it in me to argue with him.

“Anyway, after talking to Haven, I then talked to Callan and had him pull the video footage outside of the community center.”

He pauses, and I just sit here, concentrating on breathing without the room spinning.

“The video shows two men talking outside. Then Haven comes out, and one of the men knocks her to the ground, and the other man picks her up.”

I raise my eyes to look at him, not believing what I’m hearing. “What did you just say?”

“Two men—”

I cut him off. “Someone knocked her to the ground? Someone hurt her?”

“Fuck, you look like death. Your eyes look like they’re bleeding.”

“So she wasn’t with another man.”

He looks at me worriedly. “No, man. How didyou miss her skinned-up knees and hands and her sprained ankle? She was hurt.”

“Who did it? Who hurt her?”

“Callan’s been working on it all night. He’s identified the two men and the person that hired them.”

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