70

ALEX
“My God, he looks so unbearably pathetic.”
“Of course he does. He lost the love of his life.”
“You mean the same woman he’s been lying to?”
“Will you shut up with that?”
“What? It’s the truth.”
I stared up at the ceiling as my friends let themselves into the house, listening to Drew and Jake argue. Jake, who was usually the emotionally unavailable one out of all of us, was defending me against Drew. That said a lot.
One had to have hit an all time low to have Jake standing up for them.
I didn’t move from my spot on the couch. Actually, I wasn’t sure I’d left this couch since I got home yesterday. After leaving Laura’s feeling all shades of dejected, I’d come straight here, collapsed on it and hadn’t left it since apart from that one time I went to the bathroom.
Three faces appeared above me, two concerned and one scowling.
“Hey, man.” Jack gave me a sympathetic smile. “How are you holding up?”
“Not at all, apparently,” Drew answered him. And while Drew’s response wasn’t exactly welcome, it was also the truth so I didn’t correct him.
Not like I had any inclination to speak, anyway. I felt lethargic. Completely disinterested in everything.
I hadn’t showed up at work in weeks. Food had lost its taste in my mouth. Taking showers had become a necessity and not something I enjoyed doing anymore. Worst of all, sleep had completely deserted me.
When Jack and Jake glared at Drew, he shrugged. “I mean it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Then he walked away.
I knewthe reason Drew was so pissed at me was because of Laura and I understood perfectly. In fact, I deserved it. She’d been closer to him than the others, after all. I just hadn’t expected him to be so mad that he’d kick me when I was down and it was beginning to piss me the fuck off.
Anger.
That was the only outlet I had lately, a welcome escape from pain, numbness and intense agony. One I clung unto with all my might even when my fingers grew raw, red and aching.
“If you’ve got something to say, Drew, then fucking say it,” I seethed, pushing up to a sitting position.
The asshole gave me a shit-eating grin as he brought a bottle of water to his lips. “I’m good.”
Teeth grinding in anger and frustration, I looked away from him.
Jack quickly intervened by changing the topic. “Have you tried to talk to Laura and explain everything?”
I gave a self depreciating laugh at that. He was asking if I’dtried?
Hell, I’d never chased another woman the way I chased Laura. I’d never chased another woman, period. Even my relationship with Claire had been her idea. She’d made the first move and I’d felt obligated to carry on from there.
But with Laura? I’d pursued her from the beginning and I’d never stopped once. Not even now when it seemed like the odds were stacked against me and chances of me getting her back were at an all time low.
I simply couldn’t accept the possibility that I might never get her back even if she did forgive me.
I needed Laura like I needed air. Ever since she left, the air around me had become pretty fucking stale if I was being real.
I wanted to yell at Jack. To tell him that I couldn’t fucking breathe without her. That I was out of my fucking mind and slipping more into the clutches of madness with every single day that passed without her, so yes, I’dtriedto talk to her.
I’d waited outside her door like a loser for two whole hours before she’d finally showed up, glowing and so bloody beautiful, it had physically hurt to look at her. I’d spilled my guts to her in her living room, yet it hadn’t changed anything. She’d kicked me out still.
But in the end, I went with the simple answer. “I came clean to her. Told her everything from the start. But she’s unwilling to give me a second chance because she doesn’t trust me anymore.”
Drew snorted, parking his ass on the couch opposite mine. “Of course she doesn’t.”
We all ignored him.
“Have you thought about doing something different?” Jake suggested. “Like a grand gesture to show her you’re truly sorry. Women love that.”
“And how many women do you know?” Jack lifted a brow.
“Women in the books I read,” he amended.
That had everyone-including me-staring at him in shock, trying to process what he just said.
It was Drew who asked the question running through our minds. “You read?”
The big man shrugged, hating that all attention was on him now as he seemed to have let out a piece of information he’d have rather kept to himself. “How’s that important to the conversation we’re having right now?”
Maybe some other time, I would have pushed him to confess just how long he’d been a reader and the kind of books he liked to read. But right now, my mind was drawn to what he’d said.
“What kind of grand gesture are you talking about?”
I was willing to do anything if it meant getting Laura back.
He frowned like he hadn’t anticipated that question. “I don’t know. You could take her to a fancy restaurant or something.”
Drew shook his head, staring at us like we were dumb. “She doesn’t even want to see his face. She sure as shit isn’t going anywhere with him.”
That stung, and I dragged a hand down my face to mask the hurt. When I looked back up, Jack gave me a pitying look.
“Or you could have a dozen roses sent to her place with an apology note,” he suggested. “I did that once when I hurt Balery’s feelings and it won her over.”
“Yeah, I’m assuming what you did is nowhere near what our boy here, Alex, did so that isn’t going to work,” Jack said.
God, I’d fucked up so bad, they couldn’t even find an apology that equaled it.
“Or,” Drew piped in and I braced myself for whatever he was going to say because it couldn’t be anything good. “You could show up to her workplace like a man, with the dozen roses and maybe a thousand more gifts, fall to your knees at her feet and grovel until she takes you back.”
I blinked.
There was a short silence where everyone seemed to consider what he’d just said. At least I assumed that was what the others were doing because I thought it had potential.
“I’m kidding about the kneeling part,” he added when no one said anything, looking unsure. “Of course.”
I wasn’t completely ruling that out. If it got down to it, I was going to get on my fucking knees. Maybe they hadn’t fully grasped just how desperately I wanted her back.
“That’s actually a solid plan,” Jack said eventually.
“I think so too,” Jake agreed before turning to me. “But first things first, have you completely dissolved this thing you have with the other woman?”
The surge of hope I’d been feeling at the prospect of Drew’s plan working, died a fast and painful death.
I sighed, dropping my face into my palms. “I’ve tried. She’s refusing to sign the papers.”
Every single time I thought I was making progress, I always hit a roadblock.
He gave me a look. “Then you strong arm her into doing so. You could threaten her or introduce something she likes. Make her an offer she can’t refuse.”
Despite the fact that Claire was pushing me to the wall, I wouldn’t want to threaten her. So that left one other option. Making her an offer she couldn’t refuse.
What could that be?
I thought long and hard before it dawned on me, like a light bulb going on in my head.
There was only one thing Claire loved above everything else and it was money. Fortunately, I had a fuck ton of it.
When it clicked, I jumped to my feet, dashing up the stairs to take the fastest shower known to man. Then I grabbed the document from my bedside table and hurried back downstairs.
I didn’t even spare my friends a glance as I left. I was already in my car when I heard Jack yell, “Let us know how it goes.”
Fishing out my phone from my pocket, I texted Claire to meet me up at a restaurant. Thank fuck she hadn’t left town.
Her response came in almost immediately;Meet you there. 😉
One way or another, I was going to get Claire to sign these documents and it had to be today.
***
Less than an hour later, I walked out of the restaurant a free man. Finally.
While Claire walked out millions of dollars richer. I was certain if she smiled any wider, her face was going to split in two.
Before she’d left, I’d told her to go to my mother and come clean. Mom deserved to hear from her. She told me she was going to sell the ring and I told her she could relocate to Mars for all I fucking cared.
I was finally rid of her and that was all that mattered.
Now, I just needed to put my all into getting Laura back. God help me.