Shattered: A Billionaire Romance Series (Contemporary Romance Novels)

by Love, Michelle

  Shock runs through me as I can’t believe this woman actually believes she deserved that. “Tilly, no I can’t see how you brought that on yourself.”

  Tanya puts another beer in front of us and says, “See, the issues can be really different. She thinks it’s okay for men to physically punish her. I never laid a hand on her, but she feels like a man can. I don’t know what to do with her.”

  “Well, I should’ve talked to him, not went on and done that without his consent.” Tilly takes a drink of the fresh beer. “But this new guy, he’s a lot better. He’s going to be in here later on and you’ll see, he’s a keeper.”

  “So, what about the adoption thing?” I ask Tanya and look back at Tilly too. “How did that work out and was there a father at any time, Tanya?”

  “When I first got her I was married, but that ended a few years into it. He took off, and we never heard from him again. I raised her by myself. Maybe that’s a part of the reason she makes poor choices in men.” Tanya moves to the other end of the bar to take someone else’s order.

  “And how did you like being adopted?” I ask her.

  “It was great to get out of foster care. My mother is a saint. I had nightmares for years and when I hit puberty I was a nightmare. But she kept me. No matter how bad I was, she kept me.” She takes the last bite of her burger and I can see a little bit of what Rachelle has deep in her eyes.

  The look that says she’s not worthy of love. It hits my heart hard and I think I might have made a mistake in leaving. So I ask Tilly, “Did you ever really love any of them?”

  After dabbing at her mouth with a napkin she answers, “Blake, let me let you in on a little secret that might save you a lot of heartache over this girl. She can’t love you. You see, no matter how much I try, I can’t really accept myself. I often feel like a stranger in this body, detached from it at times.”

  “You think she’s like that?” I ask.

  “The things you’ve told us says she is. So, if you want to try to build a life with this girl you have to understand you’ll be building on a pile of sand that can blow away at any moment.” She pats my back and looks at me. “It’s not her fault, it’s just the way it is.”

  “Does it have to be that way?” I ask and hope there’s some positive response.

  She nods. “Do yourself a favor and stop the cycle now. It’ll take a little time, but she’s damaged, too damaged for a guy as great as you are. I mean, you’re a real sweetheart and a girl like her or me would break you in no time.”

  “I’m not weak,” I argue. “I can take a lot.”

  “She will make you weak. You can stand up to it for a while longer if you want, but in the end she will leave you a shell of your former self. I think that would be a crime.”

  “Yeah,” I say then take a gulp of beer. “You’re probably right. Best to forget about her. I think I need something a little bit stronger than this to erase her memory though.”

  Tilly smiles. “Good. You should just get drunk tonight and take a cab home and in the morning you’ll feel like shit and never want to feel that way again. It’s cauterizing the wound. It burns at first, but then it heals, leaving a scar, but it’s over and done with.”

  I’m not positive that any of this is healthy, but I’m going to try it anyway.

  ***

  Four shots of whiskey later and getting into the prime of the night time crowd, I’m dancing with all the pretty ladies in here and buying rounds for the whole bar. I’m living it up tonight. Tomorrow I’ll pay for it, but tonight I’m living like I don’t have a care in the world.

  My body is pretty numb as I hold a tall, slightly heavy woman in my arms and slow dance with her. I hiccup and she giggles. It makes her body jiggle and I kind of want to puke.

  “So what is it you do for a living, honey?” she whispers in my ear.

  “Not a damn thing. I’m filthy, stinkin’ rich. I’m about to start wasting away my money on booze and broads though.” I laugh and hiccup again.

  She pulls her head off my shoulder and looks at me. “Rich? Really?”

  “That caught your attention, I see,” I slur and smile.

  “So how rich?” Her green eyes go all sparkly as the song ends.

  “Thanks for the dance,” I slur and let her out of my sloppy embrace.

  I turn to walk away and her hand slips into mine. She comes along with me to the little table I got to myself and after I sit down I find her plump ass on my lap.

  She licks her thick lips that are too red and says, “We should take this party to your place, handsome.”

  “No can do, lady. I’m just sowing some wild oats tonight. No hanky panky for me. No sir, none for me.” I reach out to find my glass empty and wonder who drank my shot.

  I can barely see the bar from my seat way in the back and push at the lady’s shoulders. She gets up and frowns. “You sure? I can be a lot of fun.”

  “I’m sure.” I stumble my way to the bar and find Tanya frowning at me.

  “Why the long face?” I ask.

  “I think you’ve had enough, Blake. I’m going to get Tilly to drive you home. She quit drinking a few hours ago,” Tanya tells me.

  I sit on the bar stool. “Fine. But just so you know I am nowhere near drunk.”

  “Oh, you past drunk two shots ago,” Tanya says as she laughs.

  The door opens, and a monster sized man walks in. He looks at Tanya and says, “Where’s your daughter?”

  “Washing some glasses for me in the back. You can go on back there if you want,” she tells the guy who looks like a real jack ass.

  “You her boyfriend?” I ask him.

  He looks at me and frowns. “Who wants to know?”

  “Me, dumb ass,” I say and stand up. “Duh, who the fuck asked ya?” I look at Tanya. “Another real winner we got here.”

  She’s shaking her head and looking really concerned for some odd reason. Then I feel my feet leave the floor and my shirt is in the monster guys hands. “Who the fuck are you?” he asks me.

  “A concerned citizen. You can put me down now,” I slur and notice that I can’t really feel my body.

  “Put him down, Spike,” Tanya tells him.

  I find my feet back on the ground, though if the truth be told, I still feel a little floaty. “Spike!” I laugh. “That would be your name.”

  “Okay, that’s enough. I’m taking this idiot outside and teaching him a lesson,” Spike says.

  “No you’re not,” Tanya tells him.

  “I don’t mind. I can take care of myself.” I roll up one sleeve and make a muscle. “See, I work out a lot and I can take this pussy on.”

  “What did you call me?” the monster man asks me.

  “I called you a pussy,” I mumble and take a step towards him.

  A female voice shrieks my name and I turn to find Tilly running out to me. “Blake, what are you doing? He’ll kill you!”

  “Stay out of this, Tilly,” Spike tells her and the next thing I know she’s stopped running towards us and looks kind of pale.

  “Don’t!” she screams.

  Her eyes are so wide and she looks afraid. I turn back to look at what she’s looking at and find the monster man holding quite a large knife and his eyes are dark. Then he opens his mouth and says, “You’re fucking dead, jack ass.”

  Happy Go Lucky

  An Alpha Billionaire Romance

  Book 10

  By Michelle Love

  Rachelle

  After stopping by my grandparents to pick up the set of wedding rings my grandmother’s parents left her, I’m on Kip’s jet, landing in Lubbock at ten o’clock at night. I’m hoping to find Blake at home and make everything right with us.

  Finally!

  I hurry off the plane and rent a car and off to Blake’s I go. I know there’s a huge chance he’ll tell me to fuck off, and I am prepared for that.

  Who am I kidding, I am totally not prepared for that and may fall completely apart if he rejects me. I would un
derstand why he would do it, but it would kill me.

  A few minutes later I’m in front of his house and his truck is gone.

  Shit!

  My heart skips a beat and I have to fight the urge to end my journey for love and happiness. It’s only one setback I tell myself. The defeatist attitude I can have my heart seems to stomp out, and it tells me to keep looking for him.

  I think of some of the love stories I’ve made myself read lately and how the heroes would go to the moon and back to get to their love and I vow to do just that. After all I’ve put Blake through, I have to work hard to fix what I’ve done to him.

  I keep on driving and will just have to look for his truck. He may be at the store or getting something to eat or God forbid, at a bar. If he’s in a depressed mood which I’m sure he is, he may be getting shit-faced somewhere and going to drive drunk. I have to get to him before he does something crazy like that.

  Not far from his house I see a crappy little bar and there’s his truck. I wish he wasn’t in there. I pull up next to his tall truck and take in a deep breath. I may walk in there and find him wrapped around another woman and I have no idea of what I’ll do if I see that.

  I’ll have to try hard not to beat her ass!

  The music is loud and I can hear it as I get out of the rental car. My heart is pounding.

  Please let him be alone, drowning his sorrows in some corner booth!

  Taking in one more deep breath, I push the door open hard, like I’m about to enter into a saloon in the old west and may find myself facing a fight.

  Blake

  The blade of the large knife the oaf is holding way too close to my stomach shines as the dim bar lights hit it. Tilly is right behind me and that fact is just making this monster sized man even madder.

  “Tilly, get the hell out of the way and let me deal with this jack ass,” Spike growls at her.

  She doesn’t do as he says and instead says, “Spike, don’t do this. You just got out of prison. You don’t want to go back.”

  “Prison!” I find myself yelping. “You never said anything about him being in prison. For what?”

  The way Spike’s dark eyes narrow has me wishing I’d never said a word. “Just how much did you two talk, Tilly? And what else did you do with this dead man?”

  “Not a lot. See, he didn’t know you went to prison for killing a man in a bar fight. That proves we didn’t talk very much.”

  “Fuck me! Really? A bar fight?” I say as I try to take a step back, but Tilly is right there, and I’d have to push her out of the way to retreat to moderate safety, and that would look really bad.

  Spike is standing right in front of the door and I close my eyes and say a little prayer to let someone walk in and knock him out of the way. Spike laughs. “Praying before you die, prick?”

  I open my eyes and am about to say something witty as a small amount of light fills the frame of the door and someone pushes it with a great amount of force. Spike comes flying at me as I sidestep him and quickly turn back to grab his arm, the one with the knife at the end of it.

  Thanks to all my working out, I’m kind of buff and easily pull the knife out of his grasp as he fumbles to regain his balance. I twist his arm back and face plant him on the bar.

  “Blake!”

  I turn my head to find a beautiful young woman with my name on her lips and nearly fall down as I see it’s Rachelle.

  “Rachelle, what in the hell are you doing here?” I ask with most likely a very surprised expression.

  “I came to get you and drag you to Vegas to marry my stupid ass.” She crosses her arms in front of her and looks at the large man I have pinned to the bar. “A new friend?”

  Tilly pops around me and says, “No, he isn’t. Look Blake, let him up, I’ll take care of Spike.”

  Though I really don’t want to let the man up, I feel that I should so I can wrap the woman I love in my arms and let her take me to Vegas. I look at Tilly. “You can’t handle this man, Tilly.” I glance around and find another large guy and shout, “Hey, you.”

  He points at himself and mouths, ‘me?’

  “Yeah, you.” I say as I nod my head. “Can you come and make sure this guy stays put while I get the fuck out of here?”

  He nods and makes his way to me. He takes the position I vacate, holding Spike down and I finally wrap Rachelle up in my arms. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Out we walk towards my truck. “We should hurry,” Rachelle says. “I doubt that guy is going to be able to keep the monster sized man held that long.”

  Knowing she’s right, I hurry along and open the driver’s side door of my truck and lift her up to get in. She slides over to the middle and I get in. Turning the truck on, I look over at her, suddenly very sober.

  “I’m glad to see you, Rachelle.”

  Her smile fills my heart and I can’t wait to make this woman mine.

  As we pull out of the parking lot, I drape my arm around her narrow shoulders and pull her close to me, leaving a kiss on the side of her head. She smiles up at me and says, “You really do seem glad to see me.”

  “I really am glad to see you. I found myself second guessing the decision to leave Los Angeles a lot.” I squeeze her a little as I feel so happy I can hold her again.

  “I deserved it, Blake. I’m more sorry than I’ve ever been in my entire life about anything. I hope one day you can forgive the stupid girl I am.” She looks away and frowns. “I tried to call and texted you a lot.”

  “I tossed my phone,” I tell her. “I thought I should drop you and all our friends if I was to truly get over you. It proved impossible to stop thinking about you though. I’m pretty damn sure I would’ve been going back to find you tomorrow. And I accept your apology, Rachelle. And please don’t call yourself stupid, you are anything but that, baby.”

  She smiles and pulls something out of her purse and they glimmer in her palm under the dashboard lights. “I stopped in Round Rock and got my great-grandparents’ wedding rings. They aren’t fancy, just plain gold bands, but I’d like us to use them to get married tonight. If you’re up to it, and still want me, that is.”

  “I still want you! Don’t think I don’t.” I pause though as I don’t want her to feel like she has to marry me. “Rachelle, I don’t want to push you into something you’re not ready for.”

  “I am ready.” She looks back at me with a frown covering her beautiful face. “Blake, I need to do this. I need you in my life, permanently. I want you like I never knew was possible. You’re right about having the security that goes along with marriage. I want that, I want what you want to provide for me, for our family we’ll have one day.”

  Her words fall on my ears like snowflakes in December. Light, and beautiful and something I’ve been waiting for.

  Rachelle

  Straight back to the airport we went and got on Kip’s jet. Thankfully, Blake accepted my apology and agreed to get married tonight in Vegas. Kip, Peyton, Max, and Lexi are on their way there as we speak and we’re all going to meet up at this little wedding chapel.

  Blake keeps kissing me here and there, murmuring how much he loves me as I sit on his lap on the plane. My arms wrapped around his neck, my face is buried in his broad chest. I can’t seem to get close enough to him.

  With the privacy of the jet’s cabin I pull back and look at Blake. His blue, brown eyes gaze into mine and he smiles at me. “Thank you for coming to get me. I guess I never should’ve left L.A. That was kind of stupid of me.”

  I press my finger to his lips. “Let’s leave the past and any mistakes or dumb things we did to each other there. I only want to move forward with you, Blake.”

  I move my finger from his lips and replace it with mine. His hands roam over my back as he kisses me back. His tongue rolling over mine and we both moan.

  My insides catch fire and I suddenly want him really bad. I turn on his lap and straddle him. His erection soon presses to my soft core. I grind against him and he sudden
ly pulls his mouth from mine.

  “Does that little door at the back of the cabin lead to a bedroom?” he asks me.

  “Yeah, I snooped around on my way to Lubbock. Wanna go in there?”

  He gets up, holding me in his strong arms and takes me to the little bedroom. Playfully, he tosses me on the bed. “Strip.”

  I giggle and get on my knees and begin to unbutton my shirt. Off it comes and I reach back and unhook my bra as Blake watches me. Once my breasts are loose he holds his hand up.

  “Wait just a minute.” Blake leans over me and takes one of my breasts in his mouth and gently sucks it, making me wet immediately.

  I run my hand down and press it to his erection his pants still keep from me. The button I find and open it, then move the zipper down and run my hand inside, running it over the soft skin, covering his rock hard dick I’m craving.

  As I run my hand up and down the long length, Blake sucks and nips at my breast. I moan his name and it makes him suck harder, sending little jolts of electricity straight to my pussy.

  I feels so damn good I just might orgasm with just this. His hands move over my body and one slips between us to run over me. I find myself shaking with need.

  He pulls back and smiles at me. “Let’s just hurry up and get rid of these clothes.”

  I nod in agreement and he stands up, shucking his clothes as I finish taking mine off, tossing them to the floor.

  His body is so damn hot and I can’t believe he’s about to become my husband. I crawl backwards as he comes towards me. Lying my head on one of the fluffy pillows I stare into his eyes.

  “I love you,” he tells me then his lips are on mine and he’s kissing me so softly I nearly want to cry. He pulls back and I see a shimmer in his eyes. “I really do love you Rachelle.”