by Wood, Lauren
Enemies To Lovers
A Second Chance Romance Series (Book 3)
Lauren Wood
Copyright © 2019 by Lauren Wood
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
1. Lisa
2. Lisa
3. Frank
4. Lisa
5. Frank
6. Lisa
7. Lisa
8. Frank
9. Lisa
10. Frank
11. Lisa
12. Frank
13. Lisa
14. Frank
15. Lisa
16. Frank
17. Lisa
18. Frank
19. Lisa
20. Frank
21. Lisa
22. Frank
23. Lisa
24. Frank
25. Lisa
Perfect Chaperone (Excerpt)
Also by Lauren Wood
About the Author
Blurb
The many reasons why going back to an old fling, is a horrible idea.
He broke my heart in front of everyone
I never did get over him
Frank’s an old football star, who expects everyone to worship him
I never could say no…
There are many more, like the fact that he’s my boss now.
But none of that matters. I still do the unthinkable.
I fall back in his arms.
I give him a second chance.
Now my enemy is my lover.
I’m in way over my head.
I’ve fallen for him, again.
Worse still, I’ve gotten pregnant.
Our secret baby has to stay just that…secret.
No one can know, not even Frank.
Frank was the only one that could hurt me.
I couldn’t let him do it again.
No matter how badly I still wanted him.
***
1
Lisa
I couldn't believe that Frank was acting this way. He was breaking up with me, but not just breaking up with me. No, he was doing it in front of the whole school it felt like. I was standing there in front of most of his friends and all I could do was look at him.
He had just said some horrible things and they hurt. I wanted to run away if I was completely honest with myself. There was no way that I should have to deal with this. After everything we'd been through and what I thought we were to each other. How could he do this to me?
“You don't get to talk to me like that, Frank. Just because we were together, it doesn't mean that you ever get to talk to me like that. I should have never gotten into your car that night.”
“I am not talking to you in any particular manner, Lisa. I just need you to know that this is over. I don’t want you calling me, trying to get me back.”
I moved in a little bit closer to him and for the first time, his handsome face looked ugly to me. I had never been so repulsed in all of my life.
“And this is how you chose to do it? You chose to do it in front of everybody? You want to humiliate me?”
Frank had a bit of a buzz and maybe I should have given him some slack, but I couldn't. I was trying to get over what he had said to me and the fact that he had done it in front of so many people.
“I am sorry, Lisa. Really I am, but you have to see that we don't fit. You're just not my type. You like to read books and I want to party.”
By that he meant that he was the All-Star quarterback for the college and I was the dork. Most of the time it didn't really bother me. I even used it as a badge of honor, but to have it thrown in my face in such a way, did not make me feel any better. I couldn't believe that he said that to me.
And it wasn't just what he said, it was where he said it and how he said it. He was making a big scene and it felt like he was doing it on purpose. Now all of a sudden, he was a class-clown and he was doing everything solely for laughs. And they were at my expense.
I should have let it go, but I couldn’t. I should have walked away, but I had to know why he was doing this.
“So the last six months meant nothing to you?”
I could hear my voice breaking and I knew that my eyes were getting puffy and red. I hated myself at the moment and I hated the fact that he had affected me in such a way. I wanted to be strong and just walk away. He didn't deserve this conversation with me. I didn't deserve what I was getting back. There was never going to be any closure from this. Not now, not ever.
But there was something inside, that wouldn't let me just walk away. Maybe it was the fact that I really just didn't understand it. I thought everything was going so well and then the next thing I know, he's doing this, breaking up with me in front of everybody. It made no sense to me. If he had any idea what I had to go through because I had chosen to date him to begin with, maybe he would respect me a little bit more.
My mother and father wanted me to marry nothing short of royalty, and while Frank was the All-Star player of the team, it wasn't enough. His family certainly wasn't the type that I was supposed to marry. He did not come from a good blood-line.
“It was just a fling. I had fun, you had fun. Why do you have to make it more than it was?”
A couple of people were laughing, because apparently my pain and misery were entertaining to them. I could feel bile rising up in my throat and it took a moment for me to be able to swallow it down.
“Let me tell you something, Frank. You have never been my type. I had to fight my family just to date you. It's better this way, you're right. You never were really on my level and once you blow out your knee in some game soon, you’ll be back to being nothing.”
Now I was going to walk away. It was really the only thing I could do to save my dignity. Or whatever dignity I could muster, but to be honest, it really wasn't that much.
I could hear people laughing and carrying on behind me, but I refused to allow myself to look back. I didn't want to see the looks on their faces and I certainly did not need to feel how pathetic I had come across.
For whatever reason, I had completely misread the situation. I had fallen for a man that I shouldn't have. Not only had it caused a rift in my family, but it had also made everything else more difficult. I needed to spend time with my studies, but I had spent all of it wasting it on Frank.
I told myself then that I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. It was my own fault for letting myself think that a guy was worth all that trouble. Never again would I put a man before my goals. I knew then that I was going to have to focus on something else. Relationships were highly overrated.
2
Lisa
10 years later
I was more than a little surprised to hear from Dina. The last time I had seen her, I had done almost everything in my power to make sure that she and my ex, broke up. John and I had not really been dating, because we weren’t in love with each other. It was more like dating for convenience, and since he was rich and my parents thought that there was more going on, it made my life easier, because it kept them off my back.
I don't know what had happened with John. I think I kind of lost my mind a little bit and the idea of him getting together with another woman had been too much for me or something. I'm not even really sure what happened, but seeing Dina’s number come across my phone, made me feel even worse. Everything in me told me not to an
swer it, but I couldn't help myself. It was time for me to apologize for my actions.
Over the years I had turned cold. I had heard that several times in several relationships and I figured it must be true. It was hard for me to find connections and it was even harder for me to trust that it was worth keeping. After getting burned with Frank, it took me awhile to trust anyone, and to be clear, I was still working on it. It was easier said than done sometimes.
I took a deep breath and answered the phone, because it was doing me no good staring at the number and listening to it trill.
“Hello?”
I was almost convinced that I had put the wrong name to the wrong number. There was no way that she would be calling me. It did not make any sense. I had a feeling that I was probably the last person that she ever wanted to talk to again.
“Hi. This is Dina. This is Lisa, right?”
“Yeah, this is Lisa.”
My voice sounded hollow and I knew it was because I had no idea what she was calling for. It just did not make any sense to me. There was silence on the other line for a moment and I finally asked her if she needed something.
“No, I don't really need anything. I just wanted to see if you were okay.”
It honestly threw me off and I asked her what she meant by that.
“I am not going to say that what you did was not completely horrible, but I can also understand. Believe it or not, I would do almost anything to keep John.”
It took me a minute to realize that she was actually apologizing to me. It just felt wrong and I told her to stop.
“You would do that because you love him. I did all of that, because I was trying to make my parents happy. And because I was jealous of you. He loves you and he never did me.”
She told me that she understood how families could make us crazy and she gave me a couple of examples of her own family and their impossible demands. She had the same drive that I did, paired with overbearing parents that wanted to run her life. Quite quickly, we started to realize that we had many things in common. Certain things I didn't even expect.
By the end of the conversation, it was strange to think, but I started to consider that we might actually be friends. She wanted to meet up and have lunch sometime soon. There was still a part of me that was wary that this was all some kind of ploy to mess with my head.
I knew that a lot of that came from what Frank had done to me so many years before. It was almost impossible for me to trust anyone, men and women alike.
I hung up with her and felt relief lifting off of my shoulders. It wasn't that it was all done between us. Or that everything that happened was suddenly gone, but I felt like for the first time, I was doing the right thing and it reminded me that it was what I was supposed to be doing at that time. How had I let myself get so far away from who I actually was?
A few months after that first conversation and many coffees together with Dina, I got an invitation in the mail that she had not told me about. It was to her wedding and of course I had to go.
The affair was lovely and I knew many other people that showed up. I also got a few looks from people that knew the situation, that was the complication of me and John at one point being together, but I just ignored it. The real worry that I had, was the conversation that I had to have with John. I had made my peace with Dina, but John was another story.
After a lot of the ceremonies were done and the reception was going on, I found John off by himself for a moment and I took the opportunity to walk up to him. I was so damn nervous and I knew it was because of my own guilt.
When he saw me, at first he was a little surprised. I could see it in his face, but he also backed it up quickly with a smile. I'm sure that he knew that Dina and I were friends now. I'm sure that that had thrown him for a loop, just like it had done to me.
“I just want to tell you that I'm sorry. I know that things ended rather badly for us and I did some really stupid stuff. I shouldn't have gotten in between you and Dina. I know that what the two of you have together is real. What we had, wasn’t. We both know that.”
“It is good to hear from you, Lisa. I was wondering if you were ever going to speak to me again.”
I told John that the only reason I had done all of those things was because I had been afraid of losing him. It wasn't because I loved him or anything like that, but he was the ticket that I needed to get my parents off of my back. They wanted me to marry someone rich and powerful like John. The idea of having to go back to them empty-handed again, was just too much for me.
“I just don't want you to hate me, John.”
“I could never hate you, Lisa. I just didn't know how to tell you that it was over and I could have done a better job of letting you know. That's why I wanted you to come here today.”
“I half-expected that you would want to rub it in my face. You know, the marriage to Dina and all.”
“That was not my intention ever. I just wanted to let you know that I forgive you. And I hope that you will forgive me. I could have done better with how I responded to everything. It really did come out of the blue.”
I waved him off and told him that there was nothing to forgive.
“Trust me, John. If anybody knows that love is complicated, I do. We always seem to love the wrong person and I am happy for you and Dina. You guys looked so happy out there.”
It was strange to be at my ex-boyfriend's wedding, but there had been a feeling of peace that came over me when I saw the two of them together. That was what true love was supposed to look like and before I knew it, one man’s face came to mind.
It was a long lost love, or at least, that’s what I thought it had been. Frank had made me cold, even though it had been forever ago. I would never forget my first love, nor my first heartbreak. I doubted that I would ever find what Dina and John had found together.
“Thank you, Lisa. It means a lot to us that you came out to see us get married. I am glad that there isn't going to be any bad blood between us. I know that you and Dina have made peace and I'm really happy about that. I'm not going to lie, I was a little worried about it at first, but now I see that Dina was right. You really have changed.”
“I don't know if I've changed, John, but I do know that I'm getting back to my old self again.”
He smiled at me and I knew that for once I had done the right thing. It was something that I had been trying to do for a while and I was thankful that I had finally done it. Dina had been hard enough to apologize to. Somehow it had been worse with John. Maybe because we had so much history.
Now that it was over though, I felt like things could finally get back to normal.
I just had to find out what normal was now, which seemed to be no easy task.
3
Frank
“Frank, man, what the hell are you doing out here? The party is in there and it's for you.”
I looked in through the glass doors and saw all of the people drinking, talking and having a good time in my house. The problem was, that even though I was surrounded by all of those people, I still felt alone. It didn't make sense that I should feel this way, but it was a nagging feeling that had come year after year more intensely.
“I'm good, Eddie. I am just starting to get a headache and the music is kind of loud.”
“Do you want me to go in and have them turn it down?”
I told Eddie that I was fine and sent him back in. He was my old manager, but also a close friend. He knew that I was in my melancholy mood and there wasn't really much that could be done about it. It was one of those times that I couldn't get out of my funk, and even though I was trying to calm myself, it did not seem possible.
My drink was empty, but I detested the idea of having to go in there and talk to one more person tonight. The only problem I had at the moment was an empty glass and no way to get off of the balcony. After a few seconds of considering, the only option that I had to stay away from these damn people, was to jump off the second-story balcony into the pool. The
lights weren't even on, but I had done it so many times in the past, that I landed flawlessly.
I made my way to the downstairs bar, because obviously one wasn't enough, and made myself another drink. I found a bench by the pool and tried to push everything out of my mind.
“Hey, Frank. I have been looking all over for you.”
Tonya was all smiles and I could tell by her flirty eyes and her walk, that she was a little tipsy. She wasn’t an ex, but we had been together in the past. It had been a one-time thing as far as I was concerned. I would bet she wanted to make it more than that.
“I am just out here trying to get some quiet.”
I was trying to be nice. I was trying to hint to her that I wanted to be alone, but of course she did not take it.
Instead she sat down next to me and leaned in against my shoulder.
“I will be quiet out here with you.”
I didn't say anything, because there was really nothing to say. Unless I was practically mean to her, I wasn't going to get her away from me. Women these days didn't make any sense. They seemed to like when you were mean to them and it made them crave you even more. I didn't understand it, but I did not have the energy to play these games tonight.
After a few minutes, it became clear that she wasn't going to leave and it was even more transparent to me that I wasn't going to be able to stand all of her mindless chattering. While she said she was going to come out here and be quiet with me, she had not taken a breath since she sat down next to me.
