The Thief: Wicked Ink - Friends-to-LoversSecond Chance Romance by J. L. Perry

Author:J. L. Perry [Perry, J. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

I drop the cigarette to the ground, stubbing it out with my foot. I bought a packet when I stopped off at the bottle shop on my way here. This is one of those stressful times that requires smokes and plenty of alcohol. I’ll take anything I can if it helps calm me the hell down.

I knock on the door. “Who’s there?” I hear Beau call from the other side.

“It’s me, Jax.” Don’t even ask me why I’m here, but I had nowhere else to go. I need someone to help me wrap my head around this clusterfuck.

“Jax,” he says when he opens the door. “Is everything okay?”

As shitty as I’m feeling, I smile when I see he’s wearing the striped flannelette pyjamas Candice bought him. She picked up a heap of clothes in his size from the op shop, as well as buying new shoes, socks, underwear and a warm winter jacket. He looks like a different man from the one I first met. Candice gave him a haircut and his beard is now trimmed and tidy. Everywhere I look, all I see is pieces of her. She did well for a lying, deceitful bitch.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” I say, looking down at my feet. I shouldn’t have come here. He has enough shit to deal with, without being burdened down with my drama. “I—”

“Don’t be silly. Come in.” He moves to the side so I can enter. “You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, Son.”

Am I that transparent?

I feel bad when I see the covers on the bed turned back. “You were in bed. I should go.”

“Sit down, young man,” Beau says sternly. He points to the nightstand. The lamp is on and there’s a pair of reading glasses sitting on top of a newspaper. I notice the glass in one of the lenses is cracked and there’s tape keeping the arms attached. I make a mental note to get them fixed for him. “I wasn’t asleep; I was reading the paper your little lady left for me.”

Little lady.

I usually like it when he refers to Candice as mine, but not tonight. Just the mention of her is like a sucker punch to the chest. She’s not my little lady, she’s … I don’t know what she is anymore. She’s certainly not the person I thought she was. For years I kept her on a pedestal. I’m a damn fool. I don’t think I’ll ever get over this betrayal.

The moment I try to speak, my voice cracks.

“Sit down,” Beau instructs, guiding me to the end of the bed. Once I’m seated, he takes the brown paper bag out of my hand and shuffles across the room to grab a glass. “By the looks of it, you need one of these.” Once he pours a decent amount of amber liquid into it, he places it in my hand, before sitting beside me. “Drink, then talk,” he adds, pointing at the glass.

I down the Jack Daniels in one gulp.

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