“Look, Ashley. You seem to be doing really well, and I’m glad to see that, but—”
“Jada!” Lucy said brightly, coming around the corner. I jumped at the sound, accidentally bumping the door. “I didn’t know you were coming in this morning. It’s so good to see you.”
As I stood upright, I looked to my side into Cane’s office. Our eyes found each other immediately, as they always did. Panic filled Cane’s eyes when he realized I had heard everything.
Bile rose in my throat as I felt wave after wave of sorrow, anger, frustration, jealousy, and loneliness roll across me, drowning me in despair.
It was just too much.
Turning on my heel, I bolted toward my car.
And Cane didn’t follow.
That was the loudest thing I heard all day.
CANE
I jumped from my chair and stormed past Ashley, going after the one person in my life I couldn’t live without. The look on her face, knowing what she must be thinking, ripped a hole into my soul.
I have to get to her. I can’t let her walk away. Hurry the fuck up.
“Cane, baby,” Ashley said behind me.
“No, Ashley,” I said, turning to leave. “I am not your baby.”
Her face fell as her lips pouted together. “Cane? What’s going on?”
I laughed as my voice rumbled with the anger that I couldn’t unleash. All of the stress, the fucking torment, I had been dealing with all came to a nasty head.
“It’s pretty fucking easy,” I said, looking into her eyes for some sort of warmth, something to make me feel like she wasn’t the cold manipulator I knew her to be.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” she said, standing up in front of me, her hand grasping the arm of her chair for support.
“Oh, I bet you do. As a matter of fact, I’ll bet that Nicole called you the other night and let you know that she ran into me. And you decided to make an appearance because I ignored your calls.”
Ashley struggled to keep her composure. “Well, no. I just … I’ve been thinking about you. That’s all. I had a dream a few nights ago that we were getting married, and I couldn’t shake it. It just felt like an omen or something.”
I took a step toward her, my blood searing.
“The answer to every dream I’ve ever had just ran out that door, pissed as fuck at me,” I seethed.
Ashley’s eyes grew wide. “What is that supposed to mean?”
I strode over to the door and swung it open, holding it in place. “That means you need to get the hell out of here and forget that we ever knew each other.”
“So because your little girlfriend is mad at you that I was here, you want me to forget our history together? I don’t think so, Cane. How can you forget something as magical as what we had?”
“Magical? For fuck’s sake, are you serious?” I laughed in disbelief. “She’s more than you could ever hope to be, and by some fucked-up chance, she likes me. She may even love me. And if you’ve fucked my life up again, so help me God, Ashley.”
Ashley whipped around to face me, her eyes wild with fury as she realized that her plan was crumbling. “How could I fuck your life up, Cane? Huh? You’ve always managed to let everyone down on your own.”
My body shook angrily, and I took a step back, not trusting myself to be so close to her.
“You have no idea who I am. You never knew me because you were too fucking worried aboutyou. I have someone for the first time in my life who I would do anything for.”
“That hurts,” she whispered, her face falling.
“Nothing hurts you. You don’t have a fucking heart. But the love of my life does, and now I have to figure out how to explain this bullshit. So get out of my office and book yourself a flight back home.”
