“I do love her, Barbie.”

His words hit me hard in the chest, much harder than I thought they would ever hit me.

How did he get the power to do that?

I didn’t give him permission to have any pieces of my heart, yet with each word he’s just said, it hurt. Much more than it should have.

That’s twice now he’s broken pieces of my heart. Hopefully, it will be the last. Because I don’t want to feel this type of pain again. It hurts. It really fucking hurts.

“Stop it then, Ryken. Fucking stop it!” Pulling open the door, I step out, my feet halt as I almost run into her. Livia looks to me then behind me to Ryken. I can see her heart breaking before my eyes. It’s almost unbearable, even more so seeing as I’m the one who put that pain there. Me. One of her biggest cheerleaders, now most likely her worst enemy.

“Livia…” Ryken says from behind me, stepping up to me. He doesn’t look at me, his eyes this time stay solely on her. “It was nothing, Livia.”

Livia looks at me, tears in her eyes as she looks back to him. “You told me you loved me.”

He nods his head. “I do.”

She looks back to me. When she speaks, she says it to me, but it’s most definitely directed at him. “Do you love her?”

“No! She’s nothing to me.”

Boom. Another crack. He’s eating away at my heart. Why am I letting him? This crack was barely hanging on and now has entirely fallen away. Second time’s a charm.

“Tell her to leave, Ryken. Tell her now.” Her eyes look down to the floor, to my feet. Looking at him, I wait for him to tell me, but before he can open his mouth I reply, “I was leaving anyway. You two deserve each other.”

Walking out, I try to not look back, but I hear the door shut as I walk down the stairs. When I get there, Robert and Stiles are in the kitchen, and Stiles has his phone to his ear as he looks around. When he spots me, he hangs up and walks to me.

“You disappeared.” He looks down to my limping foot and helps me. “What happened?”

“Glass.”

Robert looks to me then up the stairs. He knows it’s more than glass. But right now isn’t the time to tell him more.

Chapter 19

Ryken

“What did you decide?” Father stands at my door while Livia sleeps next to me. It took a lot to convince her that it was her I wanted. Somehow, I even started believing my own words as well.

“I’ll start tomorrow.”

He nods happily. “Good! I’ll cancel school. Quinn will show you everything.” He turns, placing his hand on the rail, his voice echoes through the hall. “I’m proud of you, son. You’ll do great.” Then he walks off taking one step at a time.

“You’re not really quitting, are you?” Livia asks. Turning around, she’s naked in my bed, but she’s sitting up now with the sheet not covering her breasts.

Pulling a shirt on, I answer, “I am.”

“Okay…” she says, laying down.

“Now you’re fine with it?” I ask, pulling my boots on.

She shrugs her shoulders. “Maybe being at school isn’t the best option for you.”

“I’ll still see her, you know that, right? Our town isn’t the largest, Livia.”

Her eyes squint at me. “I want to hate her, but I can’t.”

Walking over to Livia, I kiss her softly on the lips. “It’s why I love you.”

She turns away from me as I leave the room. Quinn is waiting at the door when I walk out, coffee in hand and a smirk on his face.

“Boss.”

I shake my head, taking the coffee. “You still have your own boss, my father.”

Quinn shakes his head, following me down the stairs. “Wrong, Boss. Now I’m all yours.”

Stalling, I face him.

“Now if you had an ass and tits that may be taken differently. Since you don’t, I’ll take it as business.”

Quinn doesn’t laugh, he just smirks at me. Walking down, everything is clean, and the house is back to how it was before the party. My father’s servants don’t mess around.

“You ready to start playing?” he asks.

I nod my head, he presses his cell to his ear, and our day is full.

Just like that.

LIVIA’S GONE BY THE time I get back. She hasn’t been blowing up my cell all day either which is a surprise. Usually, I put my cell down for ten minutes, and I have at least one message from her.

Quinn spent the day introducing me to all our employees, even the strip club ones. Some weren’t impressed being managed by someone younger than them. Lucky for them they don’t have to stay if they don’t like it. They can fuck off and find another job. Some of the women, though, fuck, they’re beautiful. I now understand why my father’s been single for so long.

Tags: T.L. Smith Dark Intentions Duet Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net