Before Dark: Brothers after Dark Book 1

by Lavelle, Dori

  “Now that I’m on the inside, if you have any issues, you could let me know and I might be able to help.”

  “You’re such a sweetheart, Jenna. The first time you walked into the office, I knew there was something special about you.”

  “You’re trying to suck up to me, aren’t you?” I laugh so hard I almost spit out my champagne.

  “Partly.” She joins in the laughter. “But honestly, I would love it if we continue to be friends.”

  I put my glass down and give her a hug. “I promise you that.”

  After we pull apart, we enjoy our champagne in comfortable silence until Sonia ends it.

  “Now tell me how he is as a lover. We’re all wondering at the office.”

  I take a gulp of wine. “To be honest, in bed, he’s the best I’ve ever had. But don’t tell anyone.”

  “Ooh, go on. Tell me more.” Her green eyes are sparkling with curiosity.

  “Are you sure you want to hear sexual details about your boss? Wouldn’t that make you feel awkward when you bump into him at work?”

  “Shit, I think you’re right. I’ll never be able to look at him the same way.” She waves a dismissive hand. “Forget it. Show me the diamond instead.”

  I raise my hand and allow her to admire my ring. Seeing Sonia again has really made my day. I missed our chats.

  “This ring is stunning.” She turns my hand from side to side to get a better view. “When is the wedding?”

  “We haven’t decided yet. We’re kind of planning on a long engagement. You know how it can take a while to plan a wedding.”

  “Yes, and I can imagine how complicated it will be for you to find a free window in his busy schedule. That man is always somewhere in the world.”

  “He promised to travel less once we’re married.” I hope he keeps that promise because I don’t want to be stuck in the house by myself.

  “That’s good.” Sonia hugs me again. “Enjoy your fairy tale for all of us. My prince is taking his sweet time getting here.” She pulls away. “By the way, Darlene no longer works at Slade. The bitch is gone.”

  “What happened?” I hope Winston had nothing to do with her departure. Even though she was a terrible boss, I wouldn’t want anyone to lose their jobs because of me. But I never even discussed her behavior with Winston.

  Sonia pulls her feet up on the couch. “I heard she was fired for sharing confidential company information with a competitor. Everyone is glad she’s gone.”

  The doorbell rings again before I can respond to her. We both glance at the door in surprise.

  Sonia’s face looks suddenly panicked. “Is Winston coming over?”

  “Not that I know of. He’s supposed to be in meetings all day.”

  “Yes, there’s some huge board meeting going on. Are you expecting someone else?”

  “No.” I push myself up from the couch.

  It’s not Winston downstairs, but his driver, Marion.

  “Was he asked to pick you up?” Sonia looks visibly relieved.

  “No idea.” I grab my keys. “I’ll go down to find out. I’ll be right back. You don’t have to leave.”

  Downstairs, Marion has a package for me, a large, cream garment bag that he places in my arms with so much gentleness you’d think it were a baby. “From Mr. Slade. Have a good day.”

  He leaves me standing on the front steps of the building, wondering what I’m holding.

  When I return to the apartment, Sonia is watching daytime TV, sprawled on the couch.

  “I can’t remember the last time I got to do this.”

  “Do what?” I close the door with my foot.

  “Watch daytime TV.” She looks up at me. “What’s that?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.” I lay the bag on the couch and search the surface for a zip. “Let’s find out, shall we?” I say once I locate it.

  Sonia sits up to see better.

  The white contents of the bag are revealed inch by inch and then when tulle and silk start to spill out, it hits me what Winston sent me. My temples throb with rage as I zip the bag up again. I’m sure it cost him a fortune, but I don’t give a damn.

  “Is that a wedding dress?” Sonia’s eyes are dancing. “How romantic. I’ve never heard of a groom sending his bride her wedding dress as a present.”

  “Neither have I.” The backs of my eyes burn with unshed tears. “It’s quite a surprise.” But not the kind he probably hopes it would be.

  I’m pissed as hell. I guess I’ll have to see him today after all.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I turn on Winston before he even steps into my apartment. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  As soon as Sonia left my apartment, I’d called his office. He was in a meeting, but I insisted it was urgent. Over the phone, I didn’t tell him what I wanted to talk to him about, only asking him to come to my place as soon as he left work.

  The wait for him to arrive was torture and I spent it cleaning my apartment furiously, scrubbing floors and cleaning the windows to occupy myself and keep from going crazy with fury.

  Now here he is, smiling at me as though he did nothing wrong. “I don’t understand what you mean.” He leans against the doorframe. “Can I come in so you can tell me?”

  Still fuming, I step aside. He steps into my apartment, looking as out of place as usual.

  As soon as the door closes I fold my arms in front of my chest. “Are you serious now?”

  “I clearly did something wrong and you’re not telling me what it is.” He grins. “Did you get my surprise?”

  “That’s what this is about.” I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment, trying to calm myself, but it doesn’t work. I open them again. “When we talked in Misty Cove, I asked you to not make any more decisions without consulting me. You knew I was feeling a little overwhelmed with everything. And what do you do?” I throw my hands in the air and let them drop at my sides. “You went out and bought a wedding dress. We don’t even know when we’ll get married.”

  “I know,” he says casually. “Angelia already reserved the date on my calendar. I was going to tell you about it as soon as we saw each other.”

  “This just keeps getting better.” I place a hand on my forehead, ignoring the headache nagging the back of my skull. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you.” I give a sarcastic laugh. “So tell me, Winston. When should I show up at my own wedding?”

  “We’ll be getting married in one month, on July 30. If you’d come to New York earlier, you would’ve known that. Instead you chose to stay away. While you were gone, I did what had to be done.”

  “So you started planning our wedding without me?”

  “I didn’t feel like I had a choice.” I can see his jaw tensing up. He clearly doesn’t believe he did anything wrong and that drives me up the wall.

  He lowers himself onto the couch and stretches out his legs. “I did you a favor. When you told me you were overwhelmed, I wanted to help. The wedding planner is amazing and everything is going according to plan. You don’t even have to lift a finger.”

  “According to your plan, not mine. I feel like I’m going to be a guest at my wedding.” I turn around in circles, fueled by rage.

  Finally, I face him again. “You don’t get it, do you?” I take a breath. “It’s not the actual wedding that was overwhelming me. It’s our relationship. The main issue was you making plans and decisions without me.”

  “Like I said, I was doing it for you.” His voice is harder now.

  “No, Winston. You are doing it for yourself. You’re only thinking about you.”

  He jumps to his feet and comes to stand in front of me, his hands around my shoulders as his eyes bore into mine. “I love you so much, Jenna. I want to make this work. I don’t know what more you want from me. I’m trying everything to make you happy.”

  “And it’s not working because you’re doing it all wrong. The only thing you’re doing at the moment is making me unhappy.” I blink my tear
s away to clear my blurred vision. “You’re being selfish.”

  I don’t know how it happens, when he lets go of my shoulders and his palm connects with my cheek. The only thing I know is that the cheek he struck is now burning and my hand is covering the pain. “How dare you?”

  “Oh my God. I’m so sorry, baby.” His eyes are wide with horror. “I didn’t mean to do that.” He brings his hand to my cheek in an attempt to comfort me.

  “Don’t.” I move away from him and go to the window, my heart in pieces. Then I turn around slowly to watch him watching me. He looks as shocked as I am. I never thought he would ever lay a hand on me. How dare he? No man has any right to hit a woman.

  “Get out of my place.” My trembling hand points to the door, my throat so tight it’s hard to get the words out.

  He rushes to my side. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I don’t know what got into me.” He brings his palms together to beg. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “I guess you’re full of surprises. You’ve been surprising me quite a lot lately. I don’t like the man standing in front of me right now.”

  “Don’t talk like that.” His voice is hoarse. I can see a flicker of anger in his eyes. He looks so much like his brother now. He has the same darkness in his eyes.

  “It won’t happen again.” He tries to touch me again, but I shrink away from him.

  “You’re right,” I say. “It won’t happen again.”

  I don’t care that he’s a billionaire or the most eligible bachelor in the world. I don’t care that sex with him is mind-blowing. All I care about at the moment is protecting myself from him.

  What if I marry him and he decides to do it more often? What if he believes then that I belong to him and he can do whatever he wants? I can’t stay long enough to find out.

  “What are you saying?” The words tremble out of his mouth. “Are you kicking me out?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m doing.” Tears flood my throat.

  I’m weeping inside, crying for what we could have had, for the fairy tale that’s about to end.

  “Fine.” He shoves a hand through his hair. “You need time to think. I’ll respect that. Call me when we can talk. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

  “I don’t need you to make it up to me. I know your true colors now.” I smile through my tears. “I’m not...this is not what I want for me.”

  “Are you breaking up with me?” His voice is low, cracked around the edges.

  “I think I am.” I twist my hands in front of me. “I can’t marry a man who beats me. I don’t think I can trust you again.”

  “That wasn’t me.” He jams his hands into his pockets. “Baby, believe me. That man was not me.”

  “If I stay with you and you beat me again, you’ll probably tell me the same thing. It’s over. I can’t do this anymore.”

  “That’s it?” His forehead creases. “You’re throwing us away just like that?”

  “What you did is unforgivable. I’m not that woman.”

  His shoulders hunched, he goes to the door and turns around. “I can’t let you go, Jenna. I love you too much.”

  “If your love feels like this”—I point to my smarting cheek—“I prefer to go without it.” I sink down onto the couch and place my hands on my knees.

  He looks angry now, his expression like thunder. He had struck me once. What if he loses it and does it again? What if he doesn’t handle rejection well?

  He crosses the room to come to me again and sits down next to me on the couch. He, too, places his hands on his knees and stares straight ahead. “Believe me when I say I’m not that kind of guy. What happened...it will never happen again.”

  He pushes himself to his feet again and goes to the door. This time he opens it. With one last glance at me, he walks out of my apartment and closes the door behind him.

  Left alone, I drop my head into my hands and allow the tears to flow freely while my world collapses around me. The broken pieces of my heart are sharp and jagged and they hurt like hell.

  After at least an hour of crying, I drag myself off the couch and go to the window.

  Oh my God. His car is still outside. Clearly he’s finding it hard to let go. But there’s no going back to what we almost had. Fairy tales don’t belong in real life, only between the pages of a book. Love is not supposed to be this hard. I’m done with him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “It’s over,” I confide to Heather over the phone. “I broke up with Winston.”

  “What? Why? I hope you didn’t do it because of the things I said.”

  I inhale through my stuffy nose. “No. We were too different. We want different things.”

  “Are you sure this is what you want?” Heather asks cautiously.

  I want to tell her what Winston did, to share my pain with the one person I trust, but I can’t bring myself to. I don’t know what’s stopping me from talking. Maybe it’s shame.

  “Yeah, I think it’s what I want.” I bite down on my lip. “To tell you the truth, something didn’t feel right with us from the moment he proposed.”

  “Have you really thought it through?” Heather adds. “It’s so sudden, that’s all.”

  “I didn’t need to think about it much. Deep down I sort of knew that what we had was too good to be true somehow. Coming back to New York showed me it’s not going to work between us.”

  Heather is quiet for a long time. Soft music is playing on her end. “How did he take it?” Her voice is gentle when she speaks.

  I get up from the couch and go back to the living room window. Winston’s car is no longer there. “He didn’t want to let go, but I’ve made my decision.”

  “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I know how much you liked him.”

  “Or maybe I fooled myself into believing I did. Maybe I was swept up in his world of luxury and romance that I didn’t see things clearly.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with romance,” Heather says. “If you find the right man, romance is a beautiful thing.”

  “I know. I guess he wasn’t the one.”

  “Okay, honey.” Heather’s voice is low and soothing. “If you’re happy with your decision. I support you.”

  “Do you think I should call Mom and Dad right now...to tell them?”

  I feel bad for them, especially for my father, who was so excited about his new business. Now that Winston is out of my life, I guess the deal is off. But there’s no other way.

  “You sound really upset. Why don’t you wait until morning? Sleep over it first.”

  “Maybe you’re right. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle Mom and Dad’s disappointment right now.” I rub my sore eyes. “Maybe I’ll come home in the next few days. I need to get away from New York for a while.”

  “That’s a great idea. I’m here if you need anything.”

  After the call comes to an end, I leave the bedroom to take a long, hot shower, wishing the water could wash away the pain, but it fails. I stand under the hot jet with tears streaming down my cheeks. I’m upset about my relationship coming to an end, but what hurts the most is how it ended, what led to my decision.

  I reach for my coconut-scented shower gel that I bought at a market stall in the Maldives. The moment I squeeze the gel onto the sponge, the smell reminds me immediately of the moments Winston and I spent there together.

  I close the bottle again and go for a shower gel that doesn’t bring back bittersweet memories. Then I scrub myself until my skin is red and raw.

  When I step out of the shower cubicle, I stand in front of the mirror, whispers of steam rising from my warm skin. The warmth is immediately blown away by cool air coming from the window, leaving behind goose pimples instead.

  “You did the right thing,” I tell myself softly. “You chose you. You deserve better.”

  As I step to the door of the bathroom, still naked, I’m much more confident with my decision. But the moment my body fills the doorway, my breath catches in my throat and I
freeze.

  Winston is sitting on my bed, an apologetic expression on his face.

  A chill touches my spine. “What...what are you doing here?” I quickly head to the drawer on one side of the room to grab a clean towel. I no longer feel comfortable being naked around him.

  I know how he got in. When we got back from the Maldives, he had asked for my spare key. I had been hesitant, but I figured since he was my fiancé, what was the harm?

  Before I can get to the drawer, he gets to me and grabs my arms. I try to fight him off, but he pushes me against the wall next to the mirror that leads into the hidden wardrobe.

  “I can’t let you go, Jenna.” His words are tainted by alcohol. “We belong together.”

  “Let me go,” I say between clenched teeth as his fingers dig into my flesh. “It’s over.”

  “No, it can never be over. We’re forever.” Before I can push him away, he sweeps me into his arms and drops me onto the bed, pinning me down with his body before I’m able to get away.

  A sob catches in my throat when he pushes his hand between us to unzip his pants. “I want you so much, baby.”

  “Get off me,” I shout. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m taking what’s mine. You are mine.” He kisses me hard on the lips. “Let me show you how much I love you.” His weight pushes me deeper into the mattress, making it hard for me to free myself. Fear grips me when he parts my legs and immediately buries himself into me.

  “No one else can give you this.” He thrusts deeper, sending gasps bursting from my lips.

  My body reacts to him as it always did. It takes all the strength in me not to move against him with longing. But I don’t care what my body wants. This is not what my heart wants. I continue to fight, pushing as hard as I can, scratching him with my nails. But he’s stronger. He curses as he grabs my wrists and pins my arms above my head while his lips find mine again.

  “Only I can give you this.” His words are crushed by the contact of our lips, but I still hear them clearly. “It’s not over.” He repeats the words as he pumps into me, each word punctuated by its own thrust.