Dirty Addiction (Dirty 2)

I turn around glaring at her. “I’m done, Lily.”

Her lips curl up into a sly smile. “No, you aren’t. We are just getting started.”

“No, I quit.”

“You can’t.”

“I just did.”

She shakes her head and places her hand on my chest. I grab it and remove it.

“You’re mine, remember? If you want me to keep paying you and Victoria, you will do exactly as I say. I’ll ruin your careers if you leave.”

I smirk. “I have a feeling Victoria negotiated her own contract that doesn’t include me behaving.”

Lily narrows her eyes and her smile falls. I know I’m right about Victoria.

“You’ll never work as a fixer again.”

“I don’t plan on fixing anyone’s problems other than Victoria’s ever again.”

“It’s too late. If you leave now, everyone will just think you’re running out on this baby.”

“No, because there is no baby Lily. You’ll tell them you miscarried and the pain was too much for our relationship. We couldn’t stay together. You might actually get some sympathy votes.”

I turn and walk away not caring if she follows the miscarriage plan or not. I don’t care if every person on the planet thinks I walked out on a baby that doesn’t even exist. And if the baby does exist, it’s definitely not mine. The only person I care about is Victoria.

“She doesn’t love you,” Lily says, trying to get one last punch in before I go. “That’s why she came up with this plan. To send a message that she hates you. That she wants you out of her life. She wants you with me.”

I hesitate for just a second. Lily’s right. I’m sure that Victoria hates me. But we’ve hated each other before, and somehow also loved each other. The hate can still be there, I just hope the love isn’t gone.

I walk out of the building and straight to the bar that I found her in last time, eight months ago.

I look into the window and find her sitting in a booth, her back to me.

I smile and take a deep breath. She may hate me, but she wanted me to find her. She wanted me to fight for her. So here I am.

I walk into the bar and take a seat across from her at the booth. The table is high, and she leans on her folded arms that rest on the table. She looks different when she looks at me. Her eyes glow brightly. I can’t read her emotions, whether that’s a happy or sad look. Of anger or joy. I can’t make sense of her expression.

“I missed you, Victoria.”

She looks down at her hands. “I missed you, too.”

My heart beats wildly at that. I still have a chance. But this is probably the last chance that I will ever get.

“Can I get you something to drink?” I ask, hoping that if I get her a drink, then maybe she will stay long enough for me to convince her that she still loves me.

She shakes her head.

I run my hand through my hair trying to figure out where to start, but there is no good place to start. So I start with the truth.

I place the engagement ring that I gave her months earlier onto the table in front of us. I watch her eyes look at it and I swear I see the desperation that she is fighting back. She wants to take back the ring, but something is holding her back.

“I’m sorry. Truly. If I could take it back, I would. I would take back every drop of pain I ever caused you. Every heartache. Every fear. Every anxiety. I would take it all away, but I can’t.”

I watch her suck in a breath as she continues fighting her real feelings.

“You should just go, Carter. There is nothing you can say that will make this any better. Just go.”