Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
It was a wonderful experience while it lasted.
But it can’t go any further. My heart is already broken.
I can’t imagine how much worse it would be if I’d stayed any longer.
Chapter Twenty
Bobby
I’m a Manghini. I like to think I have balls of steel. But this week is fucking killing me.
I haven’t been able to see or talk to Lexi at all. I stopped by Stylz, but the girl at the front desk tells me she no longer works there.
I tried her number, but she blocked me.
I stopped by Swank to talk to her friend, Gina, but she wouldn’t tell me where to find Lexi. She wouldn't even give her a message for me. She said Lexie was trying to make a clean break and didn't want me to come after her.
I think that part killed me most of all. Sometimes a woman breaks things off to make a point. Because she wants to be wooed back. Or won back.
But not Lexi. She's not trying to punish me. She's trying to move on.
I'm gutted.
I keep going over and over in my mind where things went wrong. How things went wrong. It couldn't have just been not inviting her to a wedding, could it? Is that a reason to end a good thing?
Of course, I know it goes far deeper than that. That represented something to her. Same as me not taking her phone call when she called me at the office. I showed her that she doesn't matter.
Damn it!
I stay at the office until midnight every night telling myself I'm managing the situation with the feds and the IRS. But really I'm just trying to distract myself.
On the fifth night, I come home at midnight and pick up a slice of the cold pizza from the box the girls left on the counter. I plunk down at the table to eat it over the box.
I want to be alone. I definitely don't want to talk this over with anyone. Especially not my daughters.
But of course, this is the week where I don't get anything I want.
“Hey, Dad.” Janine appears in the doorway. “We haven't seen you all week.”
“Yeah. Been tied up. Where's your sister?”
“On a date.”
When I don't respond, her brow wrinkles, and she comes to sit at the table with me. “Is everything okay?”
“No, baby. Not really.”
“Anything I should be worried about?” There's a quietness in her voice that tells me she knows I’m in a dangerous business. That we belong to the La Torre family. That not everything in my business is legit or safe.
“No. I'm under investigation, but it's nothing I can't handle. No, I'm actually nursing a bit of a broken heart.”
Juliana's jaw drops. I'm sure it surprises her to hear me admit any form of vulnerability. It's not my style. I also just admitted to her and to myself that I loved Lexi. Love. Present tense. It's not over yet.
“What happened?”
“Well, it seems my busy-body daughters paid Lexi a visit.”
Juliana's eyes round. “But—I don't understand.”
“Yeah, me neither, really. I didn't invite her to that wedding, and I think it was the nail in my coffin.”
“Oh my God, see? I told you, Dad. You should have invited her.”
“Not helping.”
“Right, right. I'm sorry. So…does she feel like she wasn't important to you?”
“Yeah, I guess. Something like that.”
“Well, what are you going to do?
“I don't know,” I say heavily.
“It seems to me that she’s worth fighting for. I mean, I’ve never seen you like this before over a woman.”
I've never felt this way about a woman before. Not even my ex.
Fighting for Lexi would mean changing what we are. Were. Lexi wants more from me. Maybe a traditional relationship.
I liked to play sugar daddy because I enjoyed having the power over her—loved having her beholden to me. Without that power dynamic, would I feel the same about her? No. Not really. I don’t want a vanilla girlfriend and vanilla sex. I don't want another boring wife I never come home to.
Except Lexi would never be that.
Even without the sugar daddy arrangement, Lexi was the yin to my yang. She liked it the way I wanted to give it. She submitted when I dominated—not for my money, not for the apartment. No, she submitted because it turned her on. Just as much as it drove me crazy to demand her submission.
I blink with the realization. Maybe if I’d explained things in this light, she would have understood.
“You have to show her how much she means to you,” Janine advises. “Maybe you should propose or … something.”
“Lexi won't even take my calls or see me. I don't think she's open to a proposal.”
“Well, I’m just saying you should go get her back. Do whatever it takes.”
I stand up. Swank is still open, which means Lexi’s best friend Gina should be around. I tried with her before, but I’ll have to try harder. She knows where my girl is, and I need to get her back.