Been There Done That (Leffersbee #1) - Hope Ellis Page 0,132

beside a man who would manipulate and lie to me. Even if he thought it was for my own good.

The words, when I finally spoke them, hurt. They tore my heart apart, wrenched my soul, sent all my newfound hopes crashing into a bottomless abyss.

“You need to leave.”

He gaped at me. “Zora.”

“Please. Please go.”

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

He dropped to his knees, planted his head against my stomach, wound his arms around my waist. I heard the genuine fear in his voice.

And it took everything I had not to rest my hand on his head, to run my fingers through those dark locks and tell him I understood, that it was okay.

I wanted it to be okay. I wanted there to be a rewind button where I could go back, where none of this happened and I could sit down and eat whatever dinner he’d brought over and laugh about our day, plan a lazy weekend in San Francisco.

But I couldn’t. Because as much as I loved him, I couldn’t betray myself. Or accept a lifetime of deception, no matter how benevolent it was.

Sir Duke came to my side, his wet nose nudging my hand.

God. I was not strong enough for this. I would not survive this.

“Please leave,” I repeated, weeping now and hating myself for it.

He stood.

I averted my gaze as he moved around me. He made it all the way to the front door before I realized Sir Duke was still at my side, staring up at me with pleading eyes.

I bent, hugged his canine face to mine. “I’m sorry, sweet boy.”

Nick called to him from the front door.

Sir Duke whined, not moving from away from me.

I pressed one last kiss against his snout, then released. “Go. You have to go.”

He gave me one last sad look before he broke away, slowly meandering to Nick at the front door.

And just like that, they were gone.

It was over.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Zora

Three Weeks Later

“So, you still haven’t talked to him?”

I shook my head, dragged a fry through the mound of ketchup on the corner of my plate. “No.”

Jackson cocked an eyebrow. “Any plans on talking to him soon?”

“No.” Savagely, I suppressed the hiccup in my throat. Thinking about Nick, talking about him, was still hard. I never knew when I might start to cry.

And I was done crying. I needed to accept the truth.

“Have you guys talked at all since you asked him to leave?”

“He dropped off two letters.”

“Letters? Really?”

“Yeah.”

He shook his head, leaned back in the booth with a noisy whistle. “Poor bastard.”

I sent him a glare. The waitress heading toward our table took one look at whatever was on my face and headed in the opposite direction.

I knew I wasn’t the best company at present. Jackson, as usual, had been a stellar friend and convinced me to quit my moping and enjoy an evening out to get my mind off of things. He was still buzzing with excitement, and more than a little latent lust, after watching a romantic comedy with one of his favorite stars, Raquel Ezra. I was somehow even deeper in my funk. I hadn’t really been enjoying my lunch at the Front Porch anyway, but now Jackson’s lack of sympathy further soured my stomach.

“I thought you were on my side.”

He snickered. “Fine. I’m on your side. Is that what you want me to say?”

I was dangerously close to pouting. “No.”

“He made a mistake, Zora.”

“He was completely out of line. That’s not just a mistake.”

“Listen. All guys mess up. All of us. It’s universal. Baked into our DNA. Even when we have the best intentions, we are gonna somehow mess it up. Now, his mess-up is directly proportional to the resources available to him. Meaning, a regular guy like me who sees someone messing with his girlfriend will use whatever tools he has on hand to address the issue, be it meeting up with the offender to give them a stern talking to, delivering threats, talking smack. As for beating someone up, I wouldn’t recommend it. Not as an officer of the peace. But, you get the idea.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“But our friend Nick? Well, he has money coming out of where the sun doesn’t shine. When he sees someone jerking you around, he doesn’t have to wait outside in the parking lot for a guy to leave work.”

“That’s awfully specific.”

“Pay attention. Nick has the means to take on the whole system. And he did.” He ate approximately one quarter of his hamburger in one bite. “And if