The Billionaire’s Girlfriend Bet - Leslie North Page 0,49

gone above and beyond to prove himself to be a nice guy, only to have her discover at the last minute that the whole thing had been a lie.

Somehow, that was worse. Because her ex had been cruel by nature. But Blake had been cruel by choice.

And now, Michelle had learned the lesson for good.

She’d never allow herself to make a mistake like this again.

17

Back inside the club, Blake was ready to shut it all down.

It didn’t matter anymore. He didn’t even care. Not when Michelle had just walked out of his life.

“Is everything okay?” Daniel asked when Blake came back in.

He raked a hand through his hair, pacing in front of the door. “No. She left. She—” He dragged his hands down his face, unable to decide if he wanted to puke or collapse. “She’s gone. She wouldn’t listen.”

Grayson rubbed at the spot between his eyes, concern etched across his face. “Fuck, Blake. I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

“It’s not your fault. It’s…I don’t know whose fault it is.”

“I’ll talk to her. I will take full responsibility,” Grayson said. “It was my idea. It was just a stupid bet—I had no idea it would become something real.”

“None of us knew,” Daniel added.

“I should have told her earlier—come clean as soon as I realized I was serious about her,” Blake said, pinching at the bridge of his nose. Tears were coming—from where, he couldn’t say. He’d never felt so distraught, and so quickly. Especially not because of a woman. “But I didn’t think I needed to, because the bet…it didn’t even matter. It wasn’t even a thing after a while.”

Mila glided up to the three of them a moment later with Jackie not far behind. “What’s wrong, guys?”

Blake propped his hands on his hips, turning away from the group. Jackie slung her arm around Daniel’s waist.

“Why do you all look like you just saw ghosts?” Jackie asked.

Blake gritted his teeth, unsure if he had the strength to get into this right now with them. But maybe he should. So then he could gauge the damage, from a woman’s perspective.

“We just, uh,” Daniel started, looking to Blake for guidance.

“Blake’s having—” Grayson said at the same time.

“I fucked things up with Michelle,” Blake blurted, staring at the ground. The uneasiness that churned inside him had completely morphed into a solid brick of regret. “She was here, but she left already.”

Jackie frowned. “Oh. I really liked her.”

“Are you serious?” Mila put her hands on her hips, looking exasperated. “I wanted to have her over to the store. I have some pieces for her that she’s going to love.”

“It was my fault,” Grayson spoke up, glancing guiltily at Blake. “I bet Blake he couldn’t go on five dates with the same woman. We picked Michelle, just at random. We didn’t know that…”

Mila gasped. “You’re kidding.”

“It didn’t stay a bet,” Blake said. “I fell in love with her.” His throat tightened unexpectedly. That was the first time those words had left his mouth. And God, it was so true. He’d fallen head over heels for her when he wasn’t even looking.

Jackie shook her head sadly, looking at Grayson. “You sure have a history of betting on your friends not finding love.”

“And look what happened. Both times it led them to love,” Grayson said.

“Yeah. But keeping it is a different story,” Blake muttered.

“Our bet was different though,” Jackie went on. “I was in on it. We were pulling the wool over your eyes.”

“I wasn’t pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes,” Blake said, feeling painful prickles shoot through his chest. “The bet stopped mattering, as far as I was concerned.”

“It’s true. We knew it was off—and we were happy for him. The only reason it even came up tonight was because of the stakes. If Blake won, I was supposed to get DJ Fiesta for the opening. I mentioned rescheduling him for a different event,” Daniel said. “I just wanted to honor our agreement—it wasn’t Blake pushing for it.”

“DJ Fiesta won’t be able to make it to the rescheduled grand opening,” Grayson told Jackie, “but he agreed to show up—as a favor to Daniel—to Blake’s charity event two Saturdays from now. I just wanted to make sure Blake was prepared.”

Blake shoved his hands in his pockets, the twist in his gut enough to make him nauseous. “I don’t know what to do. She wouldn’t listen to me. I think I lost her.”

“No. You haven’t lost her. You just need to give her time,” Grayson said.

“She has every right