Lahat ng Kabanata ng Asking for a Friend: Kabanata 101 - Kabanata 110

LAYTONI totally stood her up. Stood Annie up. There was no doubt in my mind there would be hell to pay for that. Before I went home, I was going to have to come up with a solid plan and a fucking good apology.The hotel the receptionist told me about was a plain looking brick building with a faded red awning over the entrance and an actual red carpet outside. A doorman with a black hat on stood outside, opening the door with a sweep of his arm, a smile and a gruff, “Welcome to the Ideal, sir.”As I walked into the lobby, I didn’t know if the place was—as the name suggested—ideal. But it was very nice. It was an old world charm kind of hotel, complete with golden curtain rails and a sweeping staircase covered by a plush emerald carpet.There were modern elements incorporated as well. I knew without having to ask that the nightly price tag was going to be steep. Such a place in this part of town was sure to cost a pretty penny. But I didn’t mind. I just wanted to get to my room so I co

MARISSADenise let out a low, sad sigh. The corners of her full mouth turned down. “I know what you went through, hon. And I’m not trying to make excuses on Layton’s behalf, what he did was wrong. But Marissa, he’s not your ex. He might have a perfectly valid reason for not showing up.”“Aside from bleeding out somewhere in a gutter, there is no reason why he couldn’t just have sent me one damn text to tell me he wasn’t going to make it. He didn’t even need to give me a reason, he could’ve just given me heads up so I could have prepared Annie. If he’d done that, I would’ve waited to hear why he didn’t show. If we’re not worth one text, he’s not worth our time.”She placed her elbows on the table and crossed her arms, her head slightly tilted. “You’ve been hurt before, babe. Trust me, I get it. But I think maybe just this once, you should consider letting your guard down. Just hear him out before you make a decision.”This time, I was the one who wanted to object, but she gave me a loo

LAYTON“Drop me?” His eyes widened, even as he shook his head from side to side. “They won’t drop me. I’ve always done great work for them. They love me.”Yeah, I was sure they did. But disagreements happened. It happened that sometimes your ‘great work’ still wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t here to give him career advice, though.I shrugged and changed the subject instead. “How are your folks?”“I don’t know,” he said lightly. “It’s not like I have time to catch up with them all the time.”Boy, he really was a douche. “You haven’t managed to carve out time to speak to them in so long you don’t even know how they are?”“You know how it goes,” he shot me a ‘you understand’ smirk. “Life gets busy. You lose touch with people. But hey, I heard about your dad passing away. I’m sorry.”“Thanks.”Brice’s gaze shifted from mine to out the window behind me. “He came to look for me once, you know.”“He did?” Yet another nugget of information that would have been handy to have known. My dad really

MARISSAPressing my lips together, I dropped my chin to my chest and took a deep breath. “Well, actually. Um, about that.”“You’ve spoken to him?” Lines formed on her forehead as her eyes shot wide open. “Why didn’t you tell me?”Shifting on my feet, I kicked out my heels and stared deeply into my wineglass. “I didn’t speak to him, exactly. I just heard what he had to say.”Denise buried her head in her hands, groaning. “Uh-oh, that’s a ’guilty Marissa’ face if I ever saw one. What did you do?”“I didn’t do—” seeing the way she was reacting, I knew she already knew I’d done something. Might as well tell her. “I listened to a message he left for me.”“Oh,” she visibly relaxed, lifting her head and taking her glass back into her hand. “That’s not bad. Why did you look so guilty for listening to one of your own messages?”“It wasn’t actually mine, well it really was, but—it was on the machine in his office,” I admitted, taking a big gulp of wine. It was crisp and cold, exactly what I nee

LAYTONHearing that I’d received another video made Marissa frown, but she was still not looking at me. “I wasn’t even going to watch it at first, but then I saw I had a few minutes to spare and popped it in to get the gist of it. Just so it didn’t bother me all day and distract me from you guys.”Her frown deepened. I could see the retort forming on her lips, but I jumped back in before she could say anything. “If the video were about business or me or my dad, I would have stuck to the plan. But it wasn’t about us. It was about you.”Confusion replaced some of the anger in her eyes, but she still refused to look directly at me. I saw the muscles in her legs unlock, though. I didn’t think she was poised to run anymore. She was actually listening. “You and I never talked about Annie’s father and that was okay. As it turns out, my dad knew who he was and sent me on a mission to talk to him.”“Talk to him?” Her eyes became the size of saucers. “Please tell me you didn’t.”“I can’t do tha