He’s got the oldest of the group by his neck, squeezing until the man squirms in his grips. Then he lifts his other hand and hits him so hard the man goes limp and drops to the ground. The others turn and run, hard and fast, disappearing into the darkness. Reign charges forward, lifting the groaning young man off the floor. With a final punch to his face, the young man slumps to the floor.

I’m staring, wide-eyed, when Reign turns back to me. He charges over, his hands instantly going to my body, sliding over my skin, as if checking to see if I’m okay. My fear is replaced with rage, unadulterated rage. He left me. He left me with no way home, and I went walking and nearly got raped.

I raise my hand before I can think and I slap him so hard my hand burns.

“What the fuck?” he bellows, clutching his cheek.

“You left me,” I say, my voice coming out low and shaky. “I was alone. I couldn’t find you; I waited and waited. You left me again, for her, and I walked.”

His eyes flash. “I didn’t leave, Tiani.”

“Stop lying!” I screech. “You were gone for over an hour, Reign, and I couldn’t find you.”

He looks away, his cheek red. “Shit got complicated with Selena and . . .”

I take a step towards him, glaring up into his face. “You know what? I don’t fucking care about her. I don’t want to continue going on and on about this: you need to get your shit together. If you want to be with her, fucking tell her. If you don’t, fucking leave. I’m done being your little toy. It hurts too much.”

“You agreed to this job; you knew what you were in for. What the fuck did you expect?” he barks.

“What I expected, Reign,” I snarl, leaning in closer, “is to not care for you so much.”

Then I turn and rush off, leaving him standing in shock. I flag down a cab and jump in, not looking back as we disappear down the street.

The moment I get home, I sink to my knees and I cry.

Really cry.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I don’t know how long I sit on the floor, head in my hands, tears dripping down my chin. I’m jerked out of my state when the door swings open and Reign comes charging in.

I need to rethink the key idea.

He stops when he sees me no doubt looking pitiful on the floor, sobbing like a broken child. I’m not a broken child, just a stupid girl who thought she had a dream job. Then I went and made the worst mistake I could have made.

I fell for my boss.

The boss who is in love with someone else.

“You can’t say shit like that,” he rasps, “and then leave. We’re not done.”

I force myself to my feet. “We are done, Reign. I quit.”

“No,” he barks out, following me as I walk towards my room.

“Leave the key on the counter, and get out.”

His hand curls around my arm, spinning me around. “I said, no.”

“And I said, I quit,” I yell, shoving his chest.

“You can’t hate me for this,” he snarls, leaning in close. “You knew what I wanted you for. I made it very clear when I employed you. If you couldn’t handle it—”

Oh, I don’t think so.

“Handle it?” I laugh bitterly. “What I can’t handle, Reign, is the fact that you are chasing a woman who is so far up herself I don’t know where she starts and where she ends. I don’t understand your infatuation, because all I can see is a money-hungry whore who doesn’t like the idea that you might be with someone else.”

His nostrils flare and he backs me up against the wall, his hand going up to rest beside my head. “I’ve told you once, and I’ll tell you a thousand fucking times. My business with Selena isn’t yours.”

“You’re right about that, buddy,” I bark. “Because I’m done. Get that bitch back on your own, but don’t you come to me when you find another man balls deep inside her. Because it will happen again, Reign. Take it from me, it’s written all over her.”

He lifts his hand and slams it down on the counter. “Enough,” he roars.

“Why?” I scream, shoving at his chest. He doesn’t move. “Can’t handle it? Can’t take the fact that she’s only going to break your heart again? If that’s not how you want me to think of her, Reign, then why won’t you tell me otherwise? Why won’t you set me straight? Why won’t you tell me what happened so I can understand? Because I don’t fucking understand.”

“She fucked my personal assistant,” he snaps.

“I know that; tell me something I don’t know. It doesn’t explain your desperation to get her back.”

“She was fucking pregnant when she did it.”

My jaw drops.

“Yeah,” he laughs bitterly. “She was fucking twelve weeks pregnant with our first baby. I fucking adored her, adored that baby. Shit was so hard and that baby was the light. Then she fucked him and lost the baby.”

I stare at him, my heart aching.

“I went wild. I thought I hated her. Then I heard she was moving on. I saw her with other people and I realized how much I still wanted her. Do you think I don’t hate myself for it? I can’t just switch that shit off. I want to switch it off; I want to move on and forget about her. Even now I doubt myself; I doubt her. We fight every time we talk, but then she’ll do something, something so small, and it reminds me that she’s all I fuckin’ have.”