Chapter 1

I drop my drink and watch it splash on the surface of the desk. No, no, this can’t be happening! Why would Maverick contact this private investigation company? Why would he reach out after burning us to ground?

I’m not freaking out. I’m cool as fucking cucumber. I watch as Maggie quickly comes over to mop up the mess with a wad of napkins like it is that easy and simple. Everything keeping me together is falling apart and I can’t stop it.

“Are you okay?” she whispers.

My eyes drift to Darius and his eyes are narrowed in suspicion. He knows. He knows that something is up. I want to pretend that this doesn’t affect me. I want to pretend that his name isn’t causing me having a mental breakdown. Even though it is. It totally is.

I mean to tell Maggie that I’m fine… that everything is fine. But the moment I look up at her, I shake my head while I get up to rush to the bathroom in the corner of our office. I end up throwing up my breakfast in the toilet.         

* * *

“So it’s him, huh?” Darius asks me as I sit on the bathroom floor with a bottle of red wine.

I glare daggers at the paper copy of the email Maverick sent me… well, technically the company. My body is shaking. My hand trembles and the wine sloshes back and forth. I’m a mess. I know I’m mess, but this isn’t anything new. I’ve been a mess for a long, long time way before Maverick decided to fuck me over.

Darius sighs, sinking down to sit crosslegged in front of me. “You can’t hide away in the bathroom for the rest of your life, Tempest.”

I take a sip and force myself to swallow the liquid. I glance over at Darius and Maggie lingering in the doorframe of the bathroom. Their concern is a punch in a gut. I hate showing weakness and this is definitely weakness. I never want to feel as shattered as I did that day. I hate I’m still that sad, pathetic girl that found out the love of her life ran over with a Mack truck.

“Fuck,” I grumble, squeezing my eyes shut to prevent the tears from falling. “Fuck him. Fuck him for just…” I shake my head. “He can’t do this again to me. He-He can’t.”

“Vixen,” Maggie whispers to me.

I quickly wipe away the tears escaping down my cheeks. “Damn it. I’m not the same girl he left two years ago. He doesn’t get to come back into my life to fuck with my peace of mind.”

More stupid tears fall. More emotions I buried years ago surface. You’re weak. You’re fucking weak. I shake my head before I take a swing from the bottle of wine. That’s when Darius quickly reaches over and pries the pretty much emptied wine bottle from my hands. I reach down, grasping the printed out email in my hand.

“He has to know I’m a co-founder in this company,” I gasp in frustration. I draw my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them. “He literally told me that he never wanted to see me again and to have a good life while he settles down with his first love.”

Anger immediately flares in Darius’s eyes. Maggie’s mouth drops open in shock. My most humiliating secret bleeds out of me. I never healed from the wounds he left on me. My soul has never forgotten him.

“This-This was our dream,” I mutter, looking at the ground. “Our dream was to start our own private investigation company together.”

His eyes are steel. Determined. “That’s it. We’re going to take this case, Tempest. We’re going to show that asshole exactly what he’s missing.”

“You don’t understand,” I gasp. My eyes I’m certain show my fear. “I can’t face him. Not now. Not ever.”

“Yes, you can.” Darius smirks. “You’re going to go home. Get some rest then pack your bags. You’re going to go there, show him that you’ve moved on and get your closure.”

Move on? Closure? Ha! That’s funny. Is he mental? Has he seen Maverick Warrick? You don’t get to move on after that. You don’t get closure. Darius sighs and crosses his arms. I hate the pity that washes over his face.

“If you can’t see it as an opportunity to show your good for nothing ex up then think of it as a business standpoint,” he suggests with a shrug of his shoulder. “Silver City Moon pack is highly influential client. This will put us on the map.”

“We already are on the map,” I argue when he reaches down and pulls me to my feet.

He rolls his eyes. “You know it would help. As a co-founder to our wonderful little company, this is a huge deal. We can’t afford to turn it down. You know deep down that I’m right.”

I do know he’s right. That’s what I hate about this! I know that us getting a case like this from a prestigious client will help us in the long run cement other clients.

Everything in me screams at me to not go back to the place that left me to bleed out in a fucking motel room. I barely made it out the last time. What makes me think I’ll be able to do it again?

But I look at Darius then at Maggie. Maggie chews her bottom lip nervously. These two have become my little family after Maverick tossed me out like trash. I can’t let them down.  I can’t let myself down. We have to take this.

* * *

“Where are you?” I growl into my smartphone when I see his name pop up.

I hear Darius take a deep breath in and out. “Don’t kill me, okay?”

“Nope, no, I’m not falling for that!” I toss back angrily, eyeing our bus that just arrived to take us to Silver City. “Tell me what I’m killing you for.”

People begin to load their bags and luggage underneath the bus and board it. I squirm in my seat, looking around in hopes that Maggie and asshole would pop up. Where the fuck were they?

“We got a case from one of our regulars, Tempest,” he says and absolute terror floods me. He is not leaving me to deal with my ex by myself! “You know we--”

“No! I’m not going to Silver City by myself!” I shout at him. I don’t even care that eyes snap to me. “You can kiss my ass, Darius. This isn’t going to happen unless you and Maggie join me.”

Darius sighs. I can already see that fucking eye roll. I eye the bus, noticing the last several people were boarding. I refuse to step towards it. I’d rather eat shards of glass then deal with this by myself.

An idea pops into my head. “I’ll suck your dick.”

“Wait. What?” I heard him choke and cough.

“I’ll give you a blowjob. Multiple blowjobs,” I offer hopefully. “If we drop this case.”

It’s silent for a moment. Is he actually considering it? I’ll totally suck his dick if he goes through with it. He chuckles through my smartphone and I know he’s idiot.

“I’m probably going to regret this,” he tells me. My eyes shut in defeat. “You have no idea how this pains me, because I want to shut up that snarky mouth of yours and have your lips wrap around my dick.”

“Multiple times,” I remind him. “My lips around your dick multiple times. You can stuff my mouth multiple times until you come. Multiple times.”

He growls. “Get on the bus. Fucking get on the bus before I…” he trails off and he sighs in frustration. “Our client is set up to pick you up there. We are already told them we’d take this case. Maggie and I will get there as soon as this case is done. I promise.”

“Your promises mean shit.”

I hang up on Darius and glare down at the smartphone before I force myself to get up. As much as I want to say, fuck you and to hell with it, I suck it up and wheel my suitcase over. I hand it over to the guy loading them into the bottom of the bus.

The moment I board and take a seat, I know that I made the biggest mistake of my life. Before I can get up to leave, the bus moves and I’m on my way to hell.