Damaged Queen (Darkness Within Duet 2)

“Sounds like a good guy. What’s his name?”

Before Stephanie answered, the door went and Harper cursed. She’d forgotten to lock it.

When she glanced back at her boss, Stephanie shrugged. They weren’t due to open for another few minutes, but there was no point kicking out a customer.

Heading to the man, who looked completely lost, she offered a smile.

“Can I help you with anything?”

He lifted his head, and he looked genuinely happy to see her.

“Yes, I need to apologize to my fiancée about missing dinner. Do you recommend groveling of that kind?”

“What did she make?” Harper asked.

“Beef Wellington. She took the day off work for our anniversary.”

“Ouch, not only did you miss the anniversary but also dinner.” She winced. “I think we’ve got something for you that will have the right tone of grovel without being too desperate.”

“I don’t mind desperate,” he said.

She laughed.

“You got it.” She spent the next twenty minutes helping him to pick the right flowers to make it up to his woman.

Once she made the sale, Stephanie was with another customer and two more were in the shop.

This was what she loved about Stephanie’s Flowers—she never had a dull moment. When all the flowers were purchased, all she had to do was fill up all of the empty spots.

By lunchtime she was starving.

Stephanie dealt with a customer, so Harper headed out to get them something to eat. She grabbed two vegetarian kebabs and coffees.

On her way back to the shop, she noticed a really expensive-looking black car. She paused, as it looked vaguely familiar. A man leaned against the car, arms folded, looking all serious. In her mind, it flashed back to Stonewall and to Marseille and Naples and the kind of vehicles she had to lead unsuspecting girls to, but she pushed it aside, and figured she must have been mistaken. Alan had always told her what city to go because of the kind of girls he wanted to get. It always sickened her what he made her do.

There’s no way she would see someone from Stonewall here.

She lived far enough away that no one would ever find her. She couldn’t believe for a second that she’d tempted fate in some way.

Just as she was about to step back, she saw a man leave the florist shop. She couldn’t get a good look at him. His head was bowed over his cell phone, and he looked really deep in thought. Only when she saw them drive off, whoever they were, did she approach the shop.

Stephanie looked so happy as she walked inside.

“Who was that?”

“Oh, you saw him.” Stephanie gasped. “He was right here, and he’s going to take me out on a date tonight. He wants me to look all pretty, and I think I’m in love.”

Harper chuckled. “Go you. You should totally take it.”

“My heart is racing. My lips are tingling. I feel like I’m on top of the world. Is this how you feel with Ethan?”

Harper paused and had to keep the smile forced into place. “Yes.”

“Women who are in love are so lucky. I can’t think right now. I need food.”

Harper laughed, only this time it was more on the verge of a little hysterical. Stephanie didn’t notice, her attention on the kebab in her hands.

For Harper, she wasn’t thinking about Ethan.

No, about an entirely different man.

The one she’d left ten years ago so his own father wouldn’t kill him.

She pushed aside the bitterness, the simmering rage that bubbled beneath the surface as she took a bite of her kebab.

There was no point in thinking about all that could have been. At the end of the day, nothing could change what had happened between them. She couldn’t wave a magical wand and pretend her life was normal or that her meeting with Alan in his office hadn’t occurred.

It had.

Her life had changed forever.

Throughout lunch Stephanie talked nonstop about her new boyfriend, only pausing when a new customer came in. By the end of the day, Harper just wanted to head on home. Hearing about Stephanie’s new love interest hadn’t exactly filled her with joy. If anything, it only served to remind her of what she’d lost.

With Draven, she’d fallen in love. With Axel, Buck, and Jett her feelings had been different. She cared about them, but with her and Draven, she’d felt a spark. Even when he was pissing her off, she’d been drawn to his green eyes and that smile. It always reminded her of doing bad things.

She stopped off at the grocery store as she said she would, and made her usual trip, picking up the ingredients Ethan always liked to cook with. She cared about him, but was it enough? She knew deep in her heart that staying with him would be a huge mistake. He deserved someone who thought about him all the time, who didn’t see his constant love confessions as a pain.