Page 10 of Black Lace

“I was thinking about taking her out to the Hamptons. Mom and Dad are in Italy, so she’ll be away from everything. I’ll try and get her phone off her so she won’t have to see any gossip for at least today.”

A pause before Daisy responds makes me wonder if she has more of an idea of how I feel about Tiff than I’ve ever tried to let on.

“I mean…” Daisy sighs. “Yeah, I suppose that makes sense. Wouldn’t it be better for her to be with Jazz, though?”

“You know there’s no way in hell she’ll leave the city if someone isn’t here for Milton. Hell, she might not even want to leave because of his heart attack.”

“Fuck. I’d totally forgotten about that,” Daisy says with a groan.

“I figured. Look, I’ve gotta go. I’ll let you know if we end up heading upstate.”

“Cool. Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

I press the button to end the call before she’s even finished the final word. I stare out of the windscreen, watching blindly as a couple waits for the elevator to go upstairs. The shorter woman reaches up on her toes to kiss the taller woman, who wraps her arms around her partner as their lips meet.

It’s strange watching people so clearly happily in love when I’m about to see the woman I love who’s justhad her heart broken. I need to set aside my feelings for her and just be her friend.

I pick up my phone and check to make sure she hasn’t replied to my messages. There’s nothing, so I make my way up to Tiff’s apartment. I can’t count the number of times I’ve made this journey. Either visiting for dinner parties she threw with Ben or just hanging out.

As I stride toward her door, I get a wave of guilt. It’s inappropriate for me to be the person visiting her, mostly because everything in me is screaming that I love her.

I knock on her door even as my brain tells me I should walk away and get Jazz to come to visit instead.

I’m relieved when she doesn’t come to the door, but my stomach churns as I still unlock my phone and dial her number despite being sure this is a bad idea.

As it begins to ring, the door opens, and my heart shatters at the sight in front of me. Tiff’s face is streaked with tears. Her beautiful eyes are red and puffy, while her hair is a mess on one side, telling me she was lying down before she came to the door.

Seeing her hurting like this is painful, and I can only manage to say, “Oh, Tiff.”

“Please don’t, Dec.”

Her voice cracks on my name as her eyes well with more tears. She wraps her arms around her stomach, and her body begins to shake when the tears start to fall.

I step into the room and close the door before I pull Tiff into my arms. I hold her tightly to me, inhaling her sweet scent and wishing I could take away all the pain she’s feeling. I’d give anything to make her happy. All I want is for her not to be as miserable as she is right now.

My inability to do anything to change her circumstances makes me feel so useless. I hate Ben with every fiber of my being because he had the power to not let this happen, and he chose to hurt her.

My anger coils into a tight knot in my stomach, and I spit out, “I’ll kill him.”

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER NEVER

(TIFFANY)

I situp at the sound of insistent knocking at my door. Very few people can get up here. If it is Ben coming back, I don’t think he would knock. That narrows it down to less than five people. One is on the other side of the country, and another is in the hospital.

I wipe away the tears from my eyes. Whoever it is clearly wants my attention badly. As I reach the door, my phone starts buzzing and lights up on the coffee table near where I was sitting a moment ago.

I glance at it and see Dec’s face on the screen. Opening the door, I see Dec himself standing on the doorstep, his phone up to his ear as he calls me.

“Oh, Tiff.” His face is full of sympathy, and I can barely stand it.

“Please don’t, Dec.” I feel the tears start to fall afresh,and I know I won’t be able to stop them so I don’t even try.

He sweeps into the room, closing the door behind himself. He puts his arms around me, hugging me tightly to his chest.

“I’ll kill him,” he says fervently.

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