B00BR2BOUU EBOK (23 page)

“Then find out what it is, Luce. I can’t lose her, I can’t
fucking lose her, not now, not ever. Whatever it takes, find out what Claire is
hiding and do it fast. Use whatever you need, spend whatever you need to spend,
just do it, please.”

“Okay, I’ll get on it right now, and Bryce.”

“What?”

“Calm down. Alexis loves you, you know that. Pull your shit
together, give her a little space, then go and fight like hell to get her back.
Tell her about the money Rick is transferring, I bet she doesn’t know about
that.”

“No, I’m not telling her anything until we find out exactly
what Claire is hiding. I’m not going to get caught out without the full story
like that again. I looked like the biggest fucking prick on earth, Lucy. I had
absolutely no comeback, and no way of easing her pain. Just find out what
Claire is hiding and get back to me as soon as possible, please.” I hung up the
phone, feeling as empty as I ever had. I remembered the last time I felt this
empty and that was when I lost three people I loved dearly. I was not going to
suffer like that again.

The pain in my jaw started to ease as the numbness from the
cold ice set into my skin. I wished that numbness could spread to my heart,
because at that point, it hurt the most. It hurt like absolute hell. I pulled
the napkin from my face and threw it at the wall, then entered my apartment and
headed straight for my bed, the very spot I could breathe her in.

Rick

That felt fucking good!
Although my hand was now killing me and probably
broken. I quickly made my way to the elevator in the hope I could catch up to
her, to tell her it was okay, and that I forgave her for sleeping with him.
Deep down, I never wanted her to fuck him. It killed me knowing she was with
him and that he could touch her. I guess I thought that she wouldn’t go that
far, that the fact he was an arrogant fucker would put her off. It didn’t seem
that way, though, when she looked at him so hurt.
Fuck, I hope he’s lying
when he says she’s fallen for him, or all this is for nothing.
I stepped
into the elevator, pulled my phone from my pocket and dialled Claire’s number.

“Rick, how’d it go? Did
Alexis believe you when you showed her all the photos?”

“Yes, so you’ll get your
$500k by the end of the week. Okay?”

“Yes, okay. Gee, I do you a
favour and you’re still pissed off at me.”

“Claire, what do you expect?
You have been blackmailing me for the past five years.”

“I know, but you deserved
it.” I could picture her sitting there with her bottom lip out. Back then,
though, that bottom lip was a turn on.

“Whatever. Listen, we are
done now, no more blackmailing, I’m exhausted. What we did years ago was a
mistake, I fucked up and I’m sorry.”

“Rick, I’ll never think it
was a mistake.”

“I’ve made it more than clear
that it was, I didn’t mean to hurt you, you know that, but I love Alexis, I
always have, and we have a family.”

“I know Rick, but we have a...”
She hesitated for a minute.

“What? We have a what?”
We
don’t have a chance, we never did.

“Nothing.”

“You got what you wanted, so
hold up your end of the bargain or you’ll regret it, do you understand?”

“Yes Rick, I understand. You
don’t have to be so nasty. I didn’t have to warn you about that Lucy chick
remember? I did you a favour.”

I wanted to punch the
elevator wall, but couldn’t now my hand was out of action. There was a very
small part of me that felt terrible for Claire in all this. I fucked up and
made the mistake of sleeping with her knowing that she had feelings for me, and
afterward dismissing her like a piece of shit. She had been pissed off at me
for years, blackmailing and making threats to reveal what we had done to my
wife. I couldn’t really blame her. Although, she has gotten her revenge because
I had to re-mortgage the house a number of times just to keep her quiet, which
was a major pain in the arse.
Thank fuck Alexis has never taken any interest
in our finances.

“Claire, listen. For all it’s worth I am truly sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Let me finish.”

“Whatever.”

I rolled my eyes, she was still quite immature, which is why
I knew I could shut her up for good when Bryce offered me the money.

“I know you didn’t have to tell me about Lucy contacting you
and asking about why I have been paying you, but I’m thankful you did. In a way,
we’d both be fucked if you hadn’t, so both of us win right?”
I still have no
fucking idea how Lucy found that shit out.

“I suppose.”

“Look, I’ll ring you later on in the week to let you know
when the money has been transferred, okay?”

“Sure.” She hung up the phone. My chest was beating a little
more slowly now.
I just might get myself out of this fucking hole, once and
for all.
I hoped so. Ever since the day I gave in to Claire, my life had
been like walking a tight rope. That all changed the day before Bryce came
knocking on my door though, when Claire had rung me, asking if I knew a ‘Lucy
Clark’. When I told her I did, she asked me why Lucy wanted to know so much
about why I was paying her monthly. I nearly had a heart attack. How the fuck
did Bryce’s sister find that out, and why? I panicked. ‘What did you tell her?’,
I had asked Claire. She said ‘nothing, but she doesn’t seem like the type who
is going to leave me alone’. I told her to ‘keep her mouth shut’, ‘say nothing’
or the payments would stop. Then, Bryce came knocking on my door exclaiming he
knew about Claire and offered me five million. It all fell into place. I knew I
could use that money to shut Claire up, get me out of debt, and reveal to
Alexis what an arrogant fuck Bryce was. It was all too good to be true, really.

I had to hand it to Claire, she might be immature, but she
wasn’t stupid. It was her idea to give Lucy the same photos she was going to
bribe me with. It was ‘gold’, and worked to perfection. The look on that rich,
arrogant fucker’s face when I produced the missing photos was priceless.

I sucked in a breath of fresh air as I walked out of City
Towers, a small smile sneaking across my face. Claire would finally be out of
my life for good, and I now had money to pay out all debts and buy a house both
far from here and far from Bryce. Everything seemed great, except now I had to
convince Alexis I did it for her, and that it was okay, and that she shouldn’t
feel guilty over sleeping with Bryce. That was going to be the toughest part.
Although, I had not considered the fact she might now have developed feelings
for Bryce.
Na, he’s fucked that up.
I opened the door to my car, my hand
still hurting like a bitch, but it was the best hurt I’d felt in a long time.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

The noise of the solid mahogany door shutting behind me was
like a gunshot vibrating through my body. My breathing was ragged, and the room
felt like it was beginning to cave in around me. I needed to stop and gather my
bearings, but I couldn’t do that there. One of them, if not both, would surely follow
me shortly, and I no longer wanted to be anywhere near either of them. The only
access to Bryce’s private garage was via his personal elevator, which was in
his apartment where I had left my suitcase.

I quickly made my way through the conference room and into
his apartment, stopping briefly at the entryway wall where we had made love for
the first time. I cried aloud and ran for the elevator and away from that very
spot that had once made me nostalgic. Now, however, it depicted the spot where
I had cheated on my husband. I tucked myself into the elevator and although I
should have felt better as the doors closed, I didn’t. I knew from experience I
was not home free until I was out of the little moving cube. The last time I
had been in the process of making an escape, Bryce had overtaken the elevator
cart manually and forced it to return to the apartment with me in it. I prayed
that was not going to happen again, I wanted out of this building and as far
away as possible.

When the doors reopened, relief flooded my body and the
numerous cars I had grown to love and admire greeted me. I hurried out, putting
my hand up to shade my eyes as I passed the Lamborghini and Charger, the
memories of what I had done on those cars if recalled right then would only
traumatise me more. I climbed into the safety of my Territory and drove out of
there as fast as I possibly could have. I knew exactly where I was going and I
had no plans to stop until I had reached my destination.

***

The amount of tears a person can cry in a short space of
time astounds me. When you think your ducts are dry and dehydrated, they
surprise you soon after by spilling over again. I don’t think it helped my case
that the radio station I had chosen seemed to have their show dedicated to me.
Almost instantly, after turning onto the Westgate Freeway, Sweet Little Lies by
Fleetwood Mac started to play. That tipped off the first and heaviest outpour.
Then, about three songs after that, Love Bites by Def Leppard and Jewel’s
Foolish Games filled my ears, setting my eyes awash again. I thought perhaps my
blubbering had finally ceased when ‘Big Girl’s Don’t Cry’ came on. Well, I
definitely proved that song wrong.

I had been on the road for just under an hour and as I drove
past Seymour, my drowned and traumatised state had thankfully started to die
down. I couldn’t go to my Mum and Dad’s though, there was no way I could allow
Nate and Charlotte to see me like this. So I hit speaker on my iPhone and
dialled Jennifer.

“Hey, Lex, what’s up?”

“Jen have you left for Mum
and Dad’s yet?”

“No, we are about to leave though.
Why?”

“Don’t. I’m 10 minutes away.
I need to speak to you.” I started to sob.

“Lexi, what’s wrong? Is
everything all right?”

“No.”

“You’re worrying me, what’s
wrong?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain
when I get there.”

“Okay, drive safely, and I’ll
see you soon.”

***

Jennifer was the youngest by
a couple of years, then it was me, then our brother Jake. Jen and I looked
nothing alike, I was blonde and average height, and she was a brunette and
towered over me. We were inseparable when we were little, and although I was
older than her, it didn’t always feel that way. She was the smart one, the
organised one, the one I always went to for advice, and her shoulder was the
first one I would cry on if needed. I desperately needed that shoulder, and I
needed it now, probably more than ever had in my life.

I pulled into her driveway
and she was already on her front porch. I switched off the engine and watched
her approach the passenger side door. Jen always did things for a reason. I was
guessing Steven was home and she had requested he stay inside to watch over the
kids, so that she could come outside and console her pathetic, sulky sister.
She opened the door and sat, then waited for me to pour my heart out, and boy
did I pour.

“I’m an idiot. I’m a stupid,
stupid idiot.”

“Lex, you are not an idiot.
What happened?”

“Oh, god. Where do I start?”

“At the beginning, of
course.” She handed me a tissue. Like me, I’m sure she had them stashed in
every pocket and sleeve she could find.

“Thanks.” I wiped my eyes and
blew my nose. “You know I went back to work a couple of months ago right?”

“Yeah, at that big hotel in
the city.”

“Well, I was promoted to be
the Personal Assistant to the hotel’s owner, Bryce Clark.”

“Bryce Clark, the one you
were with at the Tel Vs?”
Of course, the Tel Vs, everybody saw the Tel Vs.

“Well, how can I put this?
I’ve fallen in love with him” I took a deep breath and continued before she
could say anything. “I know it sounds completely far-fetched and ridiculous,
especially after only a couple of months, but Jen, I have never felt anything
like the way I feel when I am with him.” I waited for her to have some input into
the conversation, but she didn’t, so I emptied my nasal cavity again and
continued. “I tried to ignore it, I did. I kept telling myself it was the
excitement of the unknown, you know, a bit of harmless flirting and that it
would just blow over. The problem was, the more and more time we spent together
only confirmed what we felt for each other. It’s like we are soul mates.”
Repeating this aloud now irritated me, because it was true. Regardless of the
stunt the two men in my life just pulled, it didn’t change the fact that Bryce
felt like my soul mate and now that just really pissed me off.

Jen still didn’t interrupt in
any way, she just listened and let me talk until I was finished. I loved this
about my sister, she had to be the best listener in the world. “By this stage,
we had obviously shared a few kisses and I hated myself for that. The first one
was, well it wasn’t a mistake.” I scoffed at myself. “Well maybe it was? Bryce
had taken me by surprise and he was terribly sorry for doing it. The thing was,
that first kiss shifted the earth from under our feet, and it was absolutely
impossible to stop the ones that seemed to follow after that. Then I had the
car accident.” She wrinkled her forehead at me.
Oh yeah, I never told her.
“Don’t worry, I was fine. Anyway, I had the car accident and Bryce came to my
aid, literally, like a knight in bloody freaking armour. He told me he was
terrified of anything ever happening to me, then he said he loved me.” I
remembered lying on his sofa feeling somewhat dazed and confused, and looking
into his handsome face when he said the words, ‘I Love You’. They had been as
clear as crystal, regardless of my slight concussion. “It took everything
within me Jen not to have sex with him there and then, and that’s when I
realised I was in love with him too, and it wasn’t going to blow over or go
away. Looking back on it now, it was obvious really. I would never have found myself
doing what I was doing and being in the situations I was in if I wasn’t in love
with him.”