by Shandi Boyes
Argh! That tightens my jaw even more. Just the thought of her with anyone but me has me craving a rampage.
Hoping to weaken my anger, I run my eyes over the invoice once more. I take it in with the diligent eyes of an agent instead of a jealous, scorned man. The invoice is dated with yesterday’s date. An additional fee of five hundred and fifty dollars was negotiated for an urgent installation. That price would jump to a thousand dollars if it was done in under twenty-four hours.
I’m not surprised. Isaac is infamous for his impatience.
I freeze as sick fear makes itself known with my gut. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. The invoice was paid with the same company credit card we have in Isaac’s file, but Regan doesn’t see Isaac like that. I’m tired and a little under the weather. I’m not seeing things clearly. Right?
Right. Then why are my legs stomping the pavement as I race back toward Regan’s apartment?
The pain ripping through my chest is intense, worse than anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s so bad, I’ll happily blow my cover to more people than just Regan if it stops the feeling of a grizzly bear shredding me to pieces.
I know Rae. I know this is not her. But him. . . I don’t trust him. He gives orders without any concern for the families left behind when he issues the sentence of death. He mocks and ridicules those he believes are beneath him to make himself feel better. He’d even go as far as stealing another man’s woman just for the hell of it.
He’s not doing that to me.
He stole my soul years ago.
He cannot have my heart as well.
Just before I enter the revolving door of Regan’s apartment building, I’m grabbed from the side. My anger reaches fever pitch when I’m thrown against a brick wall before my chest is pinned by a forearm. Shock, anger, and downright fucking fury pumps into me when I discover who is stopping me from righting the wrong done five years ago.
“Let me go, Brandon.”
I don’t give him a chance to respond before I switch our exchange from a verbal confrontation to a physical one. I fling him off me as if he is weightless, the pain burning me alive from the inside out swallowing my morals.
Brandon is stronger than his meek demeanor gives him credit for. After picking himself off the floor, he curls his arms around my torso and holds on to me tightly. His strength impresses me, filling me with just as much determination to destroy him as badly as I am planning to destroy Isaac.
“You have two seconds to get your fucking hands off me before I. . .”
Years of training nearly go down the drain when my fist almost finalizes my sentence. The only reason it doesn’t is because of what Brandon murmurs next: “I know you’re angry. I know you’re mad about what did or did not happen between them, but there are more important things at stake right now than your ego.”
Shocked by the absolute agony lacing his words, I stop struggling against him. Realizing I am no longer fighting him, he drops his arms and takes a step back. My lungs saw in and out when I pivot around to face him. I’m not tired. Before Regan entered my life, I trained a minimum of two to three hours a day to maintain adequate fitness for my role. It’s the expression on Brandon’s face causing my windless response.
His expression mimics mine to a T: the hurt, the pain, the gut-wrenching sorrow. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he was the one who forced Regan and Isaac together.
The reason for his pain is answered in the most horrific way when he murmurs, “Dane is dead.”
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To be continued in Couple on Hold!
Available now.
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Facebook: facebook.com/authorshandi
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Email: [email protected]
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Reader’s Group: bit.ly/ShandiBookBabes
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Website: authorshandi.com
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Isaac, Hugo, Hawke, Ryan, Cormack, Enrique & Brax stories have already been released, but Brandon, Grayson and all the other great characters of Ravenshoe will be getting their own stories at some point during 2019/2020.
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Also by Shandi Boyes
Perception Series
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Saving Noah (Noah & Emily)
Fighting Jacob (Jacob & Lola)
Taming Nick (Nick & Jenni)
Redeeming Slater (Slater and Kylie)
Saving Emily (Noah & Emily - Novella)
Wrapped Up with Rise Up (Perception Novella - should be read after the Bound Series)
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Enigma
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Enigma (Isaac & Isabelle #1)
Unraveling an Enigma (Isaac & Isabelle #2)
Enigma The Mystery Unmasked (Isaac & Isabelle #3)
Enigma: The Final Chapter (Isaac & Isabelle #4)
Beneath The Secrets (Hugo & Ava #1)
Beneath The Sheets(Hugo & Ava #2)
Spy Thy Neighbor (Hunter & Paige)
The Opposite Effect (Brax & Clara)
I Married a Mob Boss(Rico & Blaire)
Second Shot(Hawke & Gemma)
The Way We Are(Ryan & Savannah #1)
The Way We Were(Ryan & Savannah #2)
Sugar and Spice (Cormack & Harlow)
Lady In Waiting (Regan & Alex #1)
Man in Queue (Regan & Alex #2)
Couple on Hold(Regan & Alex #3)
Enigma: The Wedding (Isaac and Isabelle)
Silent Vigilante (Brandon and Melody #1)
Hushed Guardian (Brandon & Melody #2)
Quiet Protector (Brandon & Melody #3)
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Bound Series
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Chains (Marcus & Cleo #1)
Links(Marcus & Cleo #2)
Bound(Marcus & Cleo #3)
Restrain(Marcus & Cleo #4)
Psycho (Dexter & ??)
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Russian Mob Chronicles
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Nikolai: A Mafia Prince Romance (Nikolai & Justine #1)
Nikolai: Taking Back What’s Mine (Nikolai & Justine #2)
Nikolai: What’s Left of Me(Nikolai & Justine #3)
Nikolai: Mine to Protect(Nikolai & Justine #4)
Asher: My Russian Revenge (Asher & Zariah)
Nikolai: Through the Devil's Eyes(Nikolai & Justine #5)
Trey (Trey & K)
K: A Trey Sequel
The Italian Cartel
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Dimitri
Roxanne
Reign
Mafia Ties (Novella)
Maddox
Demi
Rocco
Clover
Smith
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RomCom Standalones
Just Playin’ (Elvis & Willow)
Ain't Happenin' (Lorenzo & Skylar)
The Drop Zone (Colby & Jamie)
Very Unlikely (Brand New Couple)
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Short Stories
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Christmas Trio (Wesley, Andrew & Mallory -- short story)
Falling For A Stranger (Short Story)
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Coming Soon
Skitzo
