“Please…”
“No,” I snap. “Rico, I hope you’ll be very happy with this gold-digging cow. You might need to get a new job to subsidise her spending.”
I turn, slam the door, and walk back to my car. My head is pounding, but somewhere within me, I know I’ve had a lucky escape. I’ve been trying to get out of this wedding for a while now, and just by luck I’ve been given a get out of jail card.
No woman will ever cross me again.
“Nice place here, Maxi.”
Victoria’s sarcastic voice breaks through my bad vision and I see red. How fucking dare she come here tonight and fuck things up between me and Lexi. She has no right to be here. Trouble follows this bitch around, so no doubt she is only here to cause even more destruction.
“First of all, my mum is right. Why are you here? Secondly, cut the crap with the fiancée bullshit because that ship sailed when you fucked the hired help. Third…” I growl out mydispleasure when I see Lexi talking to Alan Henshaw. At least she has someone else in this room she could escape to. “Just keep out of my way, Victoria. I don’t know what your game is right now, but keep me out of it. You’re not welcome here.”
“I’ll be right back, Mum.”
I excuse myself before I say something I might later regret.
I look back at Alan, but Lex has gone. I gaze around the lounge trying to find both Lexi and Mhairi, but they’re nowhere to be seen. They’re gone.Fuck.Now what am I supposed to do? I have a hotel full of guests, an ex-fiancée who looks like she’s up to no good, and I can’t get away from here to put Lexi straight.
I do all I can do, then take out my phone and text Lexi.
Lexi: Please, don’t run, Lex. What Victoria said is not true. She is not my fiancée, hasn’t been for a long time. Please let me explain.
Lexi: I wouldn’t lie about something like this, Lex.
Lexi: I might be a lot of things, but a cheating scumbag isn’t one of them.
I could send text after text to Lexi, but it isn’t going to do any good until she calms down.
When nothing comes back to me from Lexi, I pocket my phone before I smash it on the ground. I don’t know why I’m getting my boxers in a twist over this because Lexi and I were just having a bit of fun. We both made it clear that we would not venture into uncharted territory… yet, here I am, losing the willto live, sweating in places that I didn’t know I could sweat, and my heart racing in my chest.
I can’t lose Lexi now. I just can’t.
Chapter 12
Lexi
“Ah, Max, darling, be an angel and grab your fiancée one of those glasses, please,”echoes in my ears. Did I hear her right? Has he been playing me for a fool all along?
“You should hear him out, Lexi. He didn’t seem overly happy to see her there. His mum didn’t either. They were genuinely shocked. There’s more to this story than meets the eye.”
I keep walking towards Alan. I’m going to make small talk with him for a few minutes and then make a quick exit. I need time to think about me, Max, everything in between. I feel hurt and betrayed that he never once mentioned someone called Victoria, and I’ve poured my heart out to him in snippets as we’ve fucked and got down and dirty. Why did I not see something like this coming? I’m angrier at myself for allowing this to happen. I knew what Max and I were doing was too good to be true. Skeletons had to start falling out of his closet sooner or later. I just never expected a blonde bombshell named Victora.
“Alan, hi. Nice to see you outside of work. How are you?”
Alan leans in and kisses my cheek. “I’m good. How are you? I’m glad Max took my recommendation for your company.”
“He did. Thank you for speaking highly of me. Word of mouth in business is where it’s at. Are you here alone?” I look around, but no one seems to be approaching us.
He nods playfully. “I am. Flying visit to support the friend. He’d never let me live it down if I didn’t show my face tonight.”
I look over at Mhairi who isn’t even looking at me or Alan. She’s watching Max and his family in the middle of the room.
“It’s a flying visit from us too. I’ve been unwell this week, but I just wanted to show my support to the business. We actually have somewhere else to be… Mhairi,” I grind out, and my friend snaps her attention to me. “We have somewhere else to be.”
“Right. Of course. We do.”
“Have a nice night, ladies,” says Alan.
