Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 60940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Tomorrow was a new day, and I’d deal with the repercussions of what this night meant for our relationship. I wasn’t letting her go again, even if it cost me my best friend. But I held on to the hope that Chance would understand.
Well into the night, she fell asleep in my arms, and I watched her at peace. I was happy for the first time in what felt like forever. While she was on my chest, I took in her long, messy, unruly hair, partially covering her face, to her pouty, pursed lips swollen from my relentless and insatiable assault on her mouth. Her flushed, bare skin only reminded me of how many times I’d lost myself inside her with the scent of sex hanging heavy in the room.
Her beauty held me captive.
She glowed.
Serene.
Fucking breathtaking.
I fell asleep, holding her closer to me. She was the only woman I ever cared for. I woke up excited for the future, reaching for her. Except she wasn’t there, and her side wasn’t warm.
I groggily opened my eyes, searching for her. “Hazel!” I hollered, waiting for a response.
It was only then I noticed a note on her pillow. Smiling, I reached for it, expecting her to tell me she’d be back later or giving me her address. It was none of those things.
Instead, it read…
Payback’s a bitch. Go fuck yourself.
Ten
Ledger
Now: Three months later
I roared to my father, “They stole one of our best clients!”
“Ledger, you need to calm down.”
“Calm down?! You want me to calm down?! I’ve been busting my ass trying to—”
“We’ll make up for it. We don’t need their restaurant.”
“Restaurants! It’s a fucking franchise!”
“Ledger…”
I pulled my hair away from my face. “I can’t believe you’re taking this lying down.”
“Chance is family. I’m not like his parents. I won’t stoop that low.”
“Yeah, well if I was in charge—”
“You’re not,” he snapped. “I am.”
“This is bullshit!”
“You don’t think I’m pissed? I’m furious, but I won’t let them get the best of me. Especially when we have a house full of people for your sister’s graduation party.”
With a sigh, I shook my head, disappointed he didn’t want to take them down.
I was seething.
Seeing only red.
Bright. Fucking. Red.
“This isn’t over.”
He stood from his desk. “It is for now.”
Over the past few months, it seemed to be one thing after another. Starting and ending with Hazel fucking Blakely. I hadn’t seen her since the night she fucked me over.
I tried calling her, but she changed her number. I even went to her apartment that morning, ready to put up one hell of a fight. However, she didn’t live there anymore, and it wasn’t like I could ask her brother for her new address.
As far as he was concerned, we’d lost touch after she moved to New York. Thinking about what she did to me only fueled my anger toward the direction my life had shifted.
I thought…
Fuck. I thought she was mine.
I couldn’t believe she played me like a fool. Now all I could feel for her was hatred. She went from being my lover to my enemy. At this point, I wouldn’t put it passed her to be behind this takeover her parents wouldn’t give up on with our ranch. She obviously hated me that much.
I tried to compose myself, but it was no use. I was too far gone in my rage, which was never good. I never thought she’d stoop so low to get back at me.
Payback is a bitch.
Looking out the window, I watched Haven walk into the office that was on the property, closer to the stables than the house.
By the expression on her face, whatever she had to say wasn’t good.
“What?” I bit, unable to control my temper.
“Umm…” She swayed back and forth, weighing her words.
“Everything okay?” Dad asked her, aware something was up as well.
“Define okay?”
“Haven…” I warned, ready to fucking snap.
She inhaled a solid breath. “You promise you won’t flip out?”
“Too late for that.”
“Ledger, I’m serious.”
“So am I. What did you do now or is it Cove again?”
Haven and her best friend put my family through the wringer these past few months. Between Haven’s boyfriend, Hayes, and our eldest brother, Jace’s fiancée, who just happened to be Cove, they were trouble. What could I say? Jace loved nineteen-year-old pussy. They were twenty years apart, but who was I to judge.
“Actually,” Haven exclaimed. “It’s neither of us. Now are you done being an asshole?”
“Out with it, Haven, or you’re going to see much more than just an asshole.”
“Sweetheart,” Dad chimed in. “Now’s not the time to mess with your brother.”
“Yeah, I noticed, but what I’m about to say isn’t going to help his attitude problem.”
My eyebrows pinched together.
I never expected her to announce, “Hazel Blakely’s here, and she specifically asked to see you, Ledger.”
I jerked back, stunned.
“See,” she acknowledged. “Told you.”