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“I’m busy here, Lex, as you can see.” Her voice is calm as she speaks the words, her eyes directly on mine, not flinching for one moment. “Perhaps we’ll discuss this another time.”
Julian stands, creating a barrier between Charlotte and me.
“Okay, Edwards, she told you to leave.”
Oh, so he finally found his balls, I think. Yeah, soon you’ll be fucking choking on them for trying to steal my woman.
My temper gets the better of me. The room is stifling hot, my blood pumping like a volcano ready to rupture. There’s nothing left to do but the obvious. I swing my arm punching him right in the face as he stands there before me trying to take my world away from me. If he didn’t exist, she’d have come back to me, that murderous thought flashes before me.
The rage is overpowering as I try to swing at him again, the blood bouncing off his face as he screams my name, yelling at me, the voices around me in a panic. The image of Charlotte as she pulls Julian back caressing his face only adds to the violent behavior consuming me.
Kate is calling my name, pulling my arm back begging me to stop. “Mr. Edwards, please don’t do this. You will regret it and lose her forever,” Kate begs, holding me back.
If there’s anyone who knows how Charlotte really feels, it’s Kate, her new confidant. With the adrenaline still running through me, I turn to face Charlotte, ready to apologize for my behavior. Beg her to talk to me, at least to give me that. I really have no other option, I can’t lose her again.
“Lose me forever? Too fucking late, Lex. You lost me a long time ago. I was just stupid enough to think it was fixable.”
The apology is devoured now by rage again rearing its ugly head, the hurt and pain of her words stabbing me in the heart with a freshly sharpened knife. I need to let it out, how I really fucking feel. But people are watching, waiting for my reaction. This isn’t some soap opera. This is our life, and I don’t want them to hear the words I’m about to speak.
“¿Quieres lastimarme por lo que te hice, Charlotte? Bueno, has ganado. Para citarlo, he terminado. You want to hurt me for what I did to you, Charlotte? Well, you’ve won. To quote you, I’m done”.
It’s the only way I can say how I really feel, what is deep inside eating away at me. It isn’t my fault. Call me arrogant, call me whatever the fuck you want. I know when I’ve fucked up, but this isn’t one of those times. I lost my trust in her. I no longer want to play this sick, twisted game. Lex Edwards never gives up, but he also doesn’t settle for second place. If only she didn’t run to him, if only he didn’t touch her, and if only I di
dn’t see a slight spark in her eyes as he leaned in to kiss her.
Charlotte continues to stand there, smothering Julian until he angrily walks away. She starts to follow, but stops, turning back to face me one more time. “I was actually here to tell him it was over.”
Her sullen expression gives away the words I needed to hear only minutes earlier.
As she walks away from me, the restaurant patrons busy themselves pretending to ignore the scene I caused. Mr. Berkshire stands in front of me, a look of confusion on his face. Fuck! Now I have to deal with this. Thankfully, Kate takes over most of the dinner meeting because I can barely think straight. She knows what she’s talking about, and every so often Mr. Berkshire asks me a question which fortunately I’m able to answer. By the end of the night, Kate has him signing the contracts, which for Lexed is a huge deal.
It’s a little after nine when we’re done, and Mr. Berkshire shakes my hand congratulating me on hiring such an intelligent assistant.
Outside the restaurant, I know Kate will finally ask me what I’d said.
“What did you say to her?”
“Kate, drop it. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Are you fucking serious, Lex?” Her tone throws me off, her abusive language and her calling me Lex all in one sentence. Since when did we cross the line from boss to friend? “For the past month, I have watched both of you in agony. She loves you so much. All along it was you that she’d go on and on about. Had I known, maybe things would have turned out differently. You actually love one another, yet neither of your stubborn fucking heads can seem to comprehend that. I don’t know what you said back there, but believe me, if you want her then go after her. You need to shit or get off the pot and fight until you’re blue in the face. Show her you can’t live without her.”
“What the fuck do you think I’ve been trying to do these past weeks? Sitting around, watching TV, scratching my ass? It’s over now, Kate… I’m done. I have no more fight left in me.”
I walk into the liquor store next door and purchase the strongest whiskey they have in stock. The clerk looks at my blood-stained hands until I pull out my black Amex. Without a single word, he scans my card and passes me the receipt to sign before placing the bottle in a brown paper bag.
As I exit the store, Kate stands there watching me take a swig from the bottle. The whiskey is smooth with an almighty kick.
“Why are you doing this to yourself?”
“Because I fucking love her, and it hurts like hell.”
“And that bottle is going to fix it.”
I don’t answer her, raising my hand in the air to say goodbye and make my way to my hotel a block away.
As I enter the lobby, I run into Victoria who’s checking in.
“What do you want, Lex? Don’t worry, the New York Times is retracting that statement, so you can keep your pornographic shots of me to yourself,” she hisses.
