DIRTY ALPHAS: The Alpha Bad Boy Collection

by Franca Storm

  He proceeds to explain the extent of the damage to her and what his guys will need to do to fix it up. She listens attentively, nodding every now and then to let him know that she understands what he’s telling her.

  “Shit. The entire roof?” she gasps, “Expensive,” she murmurs under her breath. She shifts her weight uncomfortably and asks, her voice barely above a whisper, “Dan said you might be able to work out a payment plan?

  J’s gaze snaps to mine. I see the assumption there. He thinks I’m gonna stand by and let her pay for it. Let my girlfriend foot the bill? Fucker. What does he take me for?

  Wait. Of course! He probably assumes I won’t get involved financially, because of the shit I went through with Isabella, where she fucking manipulated me into throwing my goddamn money away on her.

  Well, Em is not Isabella. And, besides, she didn’t ask me.

  She’s incredibly uncomfortable with the fact that I have money and she’s already made it clear that she hates the idea of me spending money on her. The whole bikini debacle was proof of that. She’s the farthest thing from Isabella in every fucking way.

  Em notices the look passing between J and I and she says, “No, Dan.”

  “What?” I ask, feigning innocence.

  “This is my problem, not yours.”

  “Em, it’s a drop in the ocean for me. Don’t worry about it.”

  “No!” she yells.

  Right then, I notice that her anxiety at having J in her house is completely gone. Interesting. So, her anger transcends that then? Her words to me when she came to confront me at my apartment before come back to me. She’d said she’d managed to leave her house and venture out because I’d made her mad.

  “Do you have the money then? Is it siting in your bank account?” I demand.

  “I have money saved,” she retorts, offended by me questioning her finances.

  “And this will wipe that out, right?”

  “That’s what savings are for. Emergencies.”

  I blow out an exasperated breath. J grins at me, amused at witnessing our argument. He’s clearly getting a kick out of seeing Em throw her spunky attitude at me and not letting me get away with shit.

  And then he shocks the shit out of me by interrupting and telling her, “There’s no cost, sweetheart.”

  “What? I…I don’t understand.”

  Neither do I. What the fuck is he doing?

  “Every year, Harlson Construction takes on a few pro bono projects. Makes us look good, you know? Makes people hate us corporate fat cats a little less. I’ve been looking for the next one for a while, so you’ll actually be doing me a favor here.”

  Lies. All of it. But fuck if I’m not impressed with his quick thinking. Hell, if I didn’t know him and his company so well, I might even be buying his bullshit.

  But I can see Em’s not entirely convinced. “I can’t let you…no…I can pay.”

  “Seriously, you’d be doing me a favor, sweetheart,” he says, giving her those fucking puppy dog eyes of his. It’s that look he brings out to reel in his next fuck. But I can’t even summon any irritation over the fact that he’s looking at my girl like that, because he’s doing me a huge favor right now. I owe him for this.

  “You swear you’re not making this up?”

  I watch him discreetly cross the fingers of his left hand behind his back. Superstitious guy. “Swear.”

  Her entire body relaxes then and she gives him a huge smile. “Okay. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Em, go pack a bag. You can’t stay here while they’re doing the work. We can argue about you staying with me once you’re packed.”

  She hesitates briefly, clearly taking in my words. And then she thanks J again and hurries back up the stairs to start packing.

  “She is beyond cute and a real knockout,” J says, clearly enamored with her. He lowers his voice and asks, “What’s she like in bed?”

  “None of your fucking business.”

  “That good, huh? Shit, you’re a lucky bastard.”

  “Thanks for doing that.”

  “Not a big deal.”

  I glance at the stairs to make sure Em’s not nearby and then I pull out my check book. Thank God I was wearing my leather jacket or the thing would have been soaked through by now. I spot a pen on Em’s coffee table and snatch it up. “What’s the damage?”

  “Fifteen even.”

  I nod and make out the check. He takes it and pockets it.

  He crosses to the door, but stops and turns back to me. “I know you hate talking about it, Dan, but I know you too well. I’m guessing you’ve been driving yourself crazy, second guessing shit with her. Well, I can tell you right now, after what I just witnessed here, Emma is nothing like that bitch, Isabella. Nothing, brother.” He smiles kindly. “You’re good here. You can let go.” And with that, he opens the door and walks out, leaving me standing here, trying to absorb the weight of his words.

  I get my shit together and then I head upstairs to see how Em’s getting on with her packing.

  To my surprise, she’s not packing at all. In fact, she’s unpacking a bunch of shit from the wet boxes that J and I pulled down from the attic earlier.

  “What you doing, babe?” I ask, approaching her.

  “Oh, I’m just laying these clothes out. I don’t want them to go moldy and stink up the place while I’m away from the house for the next little while.”

  “I see. Why do you keep your clothes in boxes in the attic?”

  She looks up from the box, barely able to look me in the eye. Her cheeks are flaming red. “Uh…it’s embarrassing.” I assume she’s not going to tell me, but then she lets out a sigh and says, “You know about my…uh…my issue. Well, as you can imagine, malls and things are a no-go for me. So, if I need things like clothes, I order them online. Obviously, I can’t try them on beforehand, so, sometimes when they get here they don’t fit and stuff. So, these boxes are my mistake boxes.”

  I’m touched that she actually felt comfortable enough to tell me. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, angel,” I say, kneeling down beside her. “Sounds like you have it all worked out. It’s pretty damn amazing how you work around your issue.”

  “He thought it was pathetic. They all did,” she murmurs. Her eyes flash as she realizes she’s just blurted out something she hadn’t meant to.

  “He?”

  “No one,” she says, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

  “Angel, talk to me.”

  She blows out a breath. “My ex. Bryan.”

  “He called you pathetic?” I ask, gently, trying to keep the edge from my voice at the thought of some dick upsetting her.

  “Among other things, yeah. He had a major temper, especially when I told him I was leaving to come here.” She slaps her hand over her mouth. “I…sorry…I don’t know what I’m saying. You make me…say things without thinking.”

  “Like how you really feel, babe?”

  She shrugs and moves away, continuing to lay the wet clothes out around the room.

  I get to my feet. “So, he had a temper?”

  “Yeah,” she murmurs, her back to me.

  “Did he hurt you?” I force myself to ask, the very idea of it churning my stomach.

  I see her entire body tense. Her hand brushes her right side, before she quickly pulls it away.

  It hits me. The scars I saw on her side. Fucking hell. “Your scars? He did that?”

  She doesn’t answer me, she just continues with her task, her back still to me.

  “What’s his last name?”

  Again, she ignores my question.

  “Where does he work?” I can find him without a goddamn last name. “Em?” I press.

  “It doesn’t matter, Dan. It’s in the past,” she finally responds in a small, barely-there voice.

  “You’ve been here five months at the most. It wasn’t that long ago.”

  She spins around su
ddenly and yells, “It was to me!”

  “Em—”

  “No, stop it! I don’t like to think about it. It just reminds me of how fucked up I am. How weak and pathetic I am.”

  “I don’t know why you see yourself that way, angel,” I say, crossing to her. “That’s not how I see you. You’re so brave, so amazing and you don’t even know it. And it’s not just me. J is smitten with you. And he doesn’t like that many people.” I reach out to touch her, but she pulls away.

  “So, you’re going to drop it then?”

  “Once you tell me his last name or where he works, yeah.”

  “No.”

  “Em,” I growl.

  “It’s done, Dan. There’s no need for this. You don’t even know him.”

  “I know he hurt you.”

  “It’s not like he came out of it without a scratch on him. After the table—after the glass—he wasn’t done. I had to stop him so I cut him with one of the shards. The left side of his face. He ran into the bathroom screaming like a bitch. That’s when I called the cops.”

  “So, he’s in jail then?”

  She grimaces.

  “He’s not?” I ask, shocked. “Em, why isn’t he in jail?”

  “I…they wanted me to go into the station to give a statement. I…I couldn’t. It was right in the downtown core and I couldn’t…I didn’t want them to see me. I don’t…people can never see me, Dan.”

  This shit is wrenching at my fucking heart. My arms are around her, pulling her into me before she can push me away this time. I’m struggling to hold back my own emotion here.

  She lets me hold her for a few seconds, before looking up at me and telling me, “I’m fine. It’s in the past. I’ve made my peace with it. It doesn’t matter.”

  And just like that, my anger is back with a vengeance. I let go of her and tell her, “It matters to me.”

  “I don’t need you going all caveman here, Dan. For Christ’s sake, do you want me to track down—what was the name I heard Jason say—right, Isabella?”

  That name coming from her lips hits me right out of left field. I’m so stunned that I feel like she’s just kneed me in the junk. Christ almighty. “What?” is all I can manage.

  “She hurt you, right?”

  “Yes,” I admit. “She did.”

  “So, using your logic, I should track her down and kick her ass, right? Or, why don’t we each track down every single one of our exes and take them all on?”

  “Don’t twist my words, Em.”

  “Then drop it, Dan. I don’t know why you’re so intense about this. Why can’t you just let it go?”

  Between her bringing up Isabella and finding out what that prick did to her, I can’t hold it together. Too many fucking emotions are whirring around in my head.

  I finally snap and the words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, as I yell, “Because I fucking love you!”

  Chapter 15

  ~Emma~

  Dan hasn’t spoken a word during the entire car journey. He won’t even look at me and I know he can feel me glancing his way every now and then.

  I fucking love you. The moment those four words had left his mouth, he’d darted out of the bedroom like he was on fire. I’d decided it was best to give him some time, so I’d packed up my stuff. When I’d finished, I’d found him standing out on the patio, smoking a cigarette. I’d tried to talk about what he’d said upstairs, but he’d just blown me off and started carrying my stuff to his car.

  A sudden ringing cuts through the uncomfortable silence between us, making both of us jump. His phone is in a cradle on the dash, set up hands free.

  “Answer,” he barks.

  “Daniel, finally you take my call,” an upper-crust voice booms through the car. I recognize it from the other week. His mom.

  “Mom, now isn’t a good time.”

  “Then why did you answer my call?”

  “I didn’t know it was you,” he snaps.

  Wow. I’ve never heard him be so abrasive. He must really detest her. I wonder what could have possibly happened to cause such a rift between mother and son.

  “Am I interrupting your date?”

  Dan’s eyes narrow with suspicion. “What?”

  “You’ve been spending a lot of time up at the house on Brook Street. You’re clearly dating the girl who lives there. I’m hurt that you didn’t tell me that you’re finally seeing someone after three years.”

  “Mom! Get that fucking PI of yours off my back!”

  “You won’t talk to me. You won’t allow me to be a part of your life, Daniel. It’s the only way I can know what you’re up to.” I can hear the sadness in her voice, her plea for him to let her in.

  “You’re on speaker phone. We’ll discuss this later.”

  “She’s there with you now?”

  He slaps his hand to his face. “Shit.”

  “Hello Emma.”

  Dan’s gaze snaps to mine. He’s as shocked as I am that she knows my name.

  “Get that PI off my back. Now, Mom!” he yells, before abruptly ending the call.

  Before I can say a word he barks at the phone, “Call Dad.”

  The phone rings once before going straight to voicemail. Dan curses, but waits on the line for the beep. “Dad, when you get this, call me back right away. I doubt she’s told you. We both know how she is. But Mom’s got a PI tailing me. I trust you’ll want to take care of it, before I do.” The threat in his voice is obvious and it sends an unwelcome chill through me.

  He hangs up and blows out a breath. “I’m so sorry about this. I’ll take care of it, Em. You don’t need to worry.”

  “Sure,” I say, nodding absently, awash in my own thoughts of everything that has happened tonight. I force myself out of it, because this is the first time that Dan has spoken a word in a while. I need to take the opportunity while I can. “About what you said upstairs—”

  “No,” he says, quickly, cutting me off. “I’m not ready to talk about it yet. Just table it for now.”

  What? “Table it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Dan, it’s not something we can just—”

  “Em, I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

  That is it! I’ve tried to be patient with this bullshit of his. After how much he’s helped me out tonight, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. But screw that now. He’s being incredibly immature about this. “Please drop me off at the closest hotel.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. If this is how you’re going to be, I’d rather not be at your place.”

  “Em—”

  “Are you going to talk about it?”

  “No,” he growls.

  “Then drop me at a hotel.”

  “Fine,” he mutters through gritted teeth.

  ***

  As we pull up outside the hotel, my breath catches in my throat. Dozens of paparazzi rush towards the car. I launch into full panic mode instantly. My heart thumps painfully in my chest. My hands are shaking. My palms are sweating.

  “Oh my God,” I choke out, instinctively burying my face in my hands.

  “Fucking hell,” Dan curses. “That bitch. She wants a picture that fucking badly?”

  I hear him unbuckle his seatbeat. Then he leans over and unbuckles mine. “Em, look at me.”

  I shake my head.

  “They can’t see inside, angel. The windows are tinted, remember?”

  Right. Yes, they are. I raise my head and look at him.

  “I know you’re scared. I get that this is probably your worst nightmare. But I need you to listen to me and everything will be fine. Okay?”

  I nod.

  He shifts in his seat and pulls off his leather jacket and drapes it across his lap. “I’m going to get out of the car. I’ll open your door and get you inside the hotel lobby. Security will stop them from following us inside. I won’t let them touch you. I promise.”

  “Okay.”

  He gives me
a reassuring smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. And it scares me. He doesn’t seem as confident as he sounds.

  Is it really going to be okay? Is it?

  I don’t even realize he’s gone until the car door slams.

  The next thing I know, my door opens and a thunderous roar of shouts, the violent snaps and blinding lights of photos being taken assaults me. A deafening cacophony. It’s too much...far too much. I hear Dan calling to me, urging me to take his hand and get out of the car. But I can’t.

  I can’t move. I’m frozen.

  Suddenly, I feel arms around me, lifting me out of the car. Something is draped over me, plunging me into sudden darkness.

  “It’s okay, angel. I’ve got you,” I hear Dan’s soothing voice whisper in my ear.

  I have no idea how much time passes before I finally hear silence.

  I’m lowered onto something…a chair?

  And then the darkness is suddenly gone. In my dazed state it takes me a while to realize that Dan is on his knees in front of me, calling my name.

  “Em, please talk to me.”

  “Where…where are we?” I ask, before burying my face in my hands as I try to pull myself out of this near-catatonia. It’s been a while since I’ve completely lost control and shut down entirely.

  “We’re in one of the suites at the hotel. It’s okay now. They’re gone. It’s over.”

  I murmur my acknowledgment.

  “Angel, I’m so sorry. If I’d known she was going to do this…fuck…I should have anticipated it. This will never happen again. I swear to you.”

  “Please go,” I tell him. I don’t want him to see me like this. I can hear how freaked out he is and I don’t want the pressure of having to fake it and pretend I’m okay just so he can feel better.

  “No, I’m not leaving you like this. Talk to me.”

  “You wouldn’t talk to me about you saying you loved me. You didn’t even give me the chance to say it back,” I tell him, still not looking at him, still holding my face in my hands.

  “You…do you…do you love me?”

  How dare he ask me that right now? After the way he’s been acting since he said it. I don’t fucking think so. “Just…go.”

  “Em.”

  “Go! Leave! Now! Just leave me alone!” I scream.