Let Me Love (34 page)
Authors: Michelle Lynn
I’m out of the old vinyl chair I’m occupying before he can sit straight into his own chair again. Ivy behind the table spots me coming and holds her deal, knowing I’m about to steal one of her players. When my hand wraps around her bare arm, she jolts up. Those gorgeous sky blue eyes swim into mine shocked to find it’s me. Yanking her off the stool, the men whine that I’m taking her away. Ivy does her job and quietly settles them down with a joke, making them forget the whole scene entirely. Once we escape into the dingy cover up bar, she tears her arm out of my hand and whips around to face me.
“What the hell? I had them,” she tells me. I haven’t seen her this angry since high school when I beat her boyfriend at blackjack. She’d begged me to take it easy on him, to let him win, but fuck that.
“You didn’t have them. You’re under by over five bills. You’ll never make it up, and pretty soon Len will come in and stop it himself. Why the hell are you here anyway? Aren’t you the one who hates this scene? Everything and
everyone
who’s involved?” I remind her of heated words she spoke to me not only four months ago.
“I do. Just let me go back in there.” She’s digging into her pockets, no doubt searching for more money.
“Hell no, you stay here.” I signal to Hank to get her a drink and position her on the stool. Since she already appears as though she’s had her fair share of drinks tonight, she’ll probably happily accept what Hank offers her.
I retreat back to the room, walking past the poker tables and through the black curtains. Len’s there like I assumed, eyebrows raised and a tight smile. Digging into my pocket, I toss the bills on the table in front of him, and he picks up the money. Motioning for me to take a seat, I happily pull out a chair and join him. “She’s been here a few times, there are rumors around town,” Len begins to tell me.
“Why didn’t anyone call me before? We know she’s not involved in all this.” I lean up, resting my elbows on the table.
“I thought you left her a long time ago?” he coyly questions, lifting his dark amber liquid drink to his lips.
“We just went different paths. What are the rumors? Ralph?” I question, already knowing the answer.
“Who else? He’s a damn fuck up.” He shakes his head. “She’s in the thick of it, Edge.” He refers to me by the nickname my dad and Ralph gave me the first time I made the right picks when I was nine.
I sit there for fifteen minutes, letting Len fill me in on what I should have been told by either her or my damn dad months ago. Why am I surprised they were covering up Ralph’s fuck up again? Who the hell knows! He’s given her a damn life filled with nothing but heartbreak and poverty.
Len says he’ll alert me if he sees her again, but we both know he won’t. Not unless he needs me to bail her out again. That’s exactly why I’m taking control of this situation whether she likes it or not. She’ll fight me every step, so I’ll keep my new found knowledge to myself until she’s ready to reveal what’s really going on.
She’s slumped over the bar when I return, her dishwater blonde hair splayed across the dirty ass wood in front of her. An empty shot glass rests in her hand. The clothes she’s wearing filthy with stains. Her sandals are missing a strap across the top. She’s a fucked up mess, but my mess to clean up now.
“What the hell, Hank?” I question him, and he shrugs his shoulders.
“Thought she wouldn’t mind forgetting her problems for a while.” He ventures down to the other side of the bar, completely ignoring my now dilemma.
Picking her up, I swing her over my shoulder, and she groans. “If you’re going to puke, you better damn tell me,” I holler at her, but she doesn’t move.
She flops down on my seat when I lift her off my shoulder. Her head falls to the side, and I notice her long mascara stains and smeared red lipstick. I could kick his ass for doing this to her again. Why can’t he just leave her the hell alone, let her live her life without his fucked up problems.
“I’ve missed you,” she mummers, and I wish I could say the same. I do miss her, just a very different version of her.
I shut the door and walk around the truck, and I’m about to climb in when I spot her old Volkswagen. Walking over to the dented car with rush spots covering the whole back end, I shake my head that she still drives it. It’s a miracle the piece of shit runs. I peer through the windows and it reveals what a shitty friend I’ve been to her over the years. Blankets and a pillow are strewn across the backseat, with fast food wrappers and piles of clothes fill the passenger seat. She’s been living out of her car, I say to myself in disbelief. I try the door handle and roll my eyes finding it unlocked. Scooping all her clothes in my arms and a suitcase she has a few toiletries in, I walk back to my truck. Tossing it into the truck bed, I slide into the driver’s side. Her head rests against the window and light snores escape her nose. She’s still beautiful even in this state of dysfunction.
I start the truck up and pull out of the parking lot. I have to keep telling myself, it’s not her I’m upset with, it’s him. Actually a whole shitload of people now.
We pull up to my house, and I carry her up the stairs. It’s dark and quiet as I lay her down in Trey’s old bed. I take off her shoes and shake my head at her filthy feet. She begins to nuzzle into the pillow as I pull the blankets over her body. Man, she’s just as I remember. After she’s tucked in, I go back out to my truck and grab her stuff. I throw her clothes in the washing machine, and take the suitcase upstairs. I’m about to escape the room when I hear the wrestling of her movements on the sheets.
“Dex?” she whispers staring at me at in the doorframe.
“Hey, Chrissy, it’s
m
e. Sleep tight, I’ll just be next door.” When the door shuts, I take a deep breath. My life’s axis just shifted again.
Dex’s Story -
Can’t Let Go
(The Invisibles #4) COMING Summer 2014
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20891833-can-t-let-go
I would appreciate if whether you liked
LET ME LOVE
or not, to please leave a review. Reviews are a key component for spreading the word regarding Indie authors & their books. Thank you!
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18685581-let-me-love
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My first thank you is to Elizabeth Aguilar. This story would have been so much less without your input and guidance. You saw something I didn’t and lead me through Trey and Kailey’s story with patience and unwavering dedication to not only me, but the characters as well. The hands on treatment you give your clients shows how invested you are in their art of writing and storytelling. Thank you for the hours of phone calls and constant Facebook messaging while developing the story of Trey and Kailey.
Next is my family. My husband, who allows his wife to fade off into plotting land, which results in me asking him to repeat himself numerous times. And the man, who brainstorms ideas with me, helping me get into a man’s head at times. I love you! I thank my patient children, who draw me away from the world of books. Two little beings that have the ability to bring me to tears of laughter and love. Without you, I fear my life would be filled behind a computer screen, never seeing the light of day.
Heather Davenport, Book Plug Promotions. Thank you for your tremendous organization skills. My cover reveal, book blitz, and tour for Let Me Love all done flawlessly as normal.
My cover designer, Sommer Stein with Pear Perfect Creative Covers. As with all my others, Let Me Love is beautiful. Thank you for never letting me accept anything less than LOVE!
My street team. Oh, how I love you all. Without all of you, I’d be nowhere. I appreciate all the hard work you go in order to get my name out there and help people discover me and the characters and stories I’ve created.
To all the Bloggers, who have signed up for the release events, thank you for taking on The Invisibles Series and Let Me Love and helping me spread the word amongst readers.
Most of all, thank you to all the readers. If you didn’t take a chance on Indie Authors every day, this book would have most likely never been written much less published. Thank you.
Michelle Lynn
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@michellelynnbks
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Book Peddler’s Editing (Editor)
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Sommer Stein (Cover Designer)
Perfect Pear Creative Covers
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ove Me Back
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et Me In
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