“Don’t you think it’s a little too late for that?” He folded his arms over his chest, bushy brows drawing together.
“It is. I know it was wrong, and I apologize. I swear I didn’t force her into anything. I know that’s what you’re thinking. I should have told you that things were getting blurry for me with Kandy. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship or have you thinking I wanted to hurt her or your family.”
His nostrils flared.
“I didn’t hurt her. I didn’t force myself onto her. I did what she wanted me to do, D. I fucked up, yeah. I know. If I could go back and change things, I would. I would have made her stop and actually think about our consequences. I’m truly, truly sorry, man.”
His jaw ticked as he took a step forward. He looked me over twice, before peering over my shoulder at the black car that waited for me. “Why did you drop the charges?”
“Because it was a mistake. They never should have been drawn up in the first place.”
“Really?” he scoffed. “A mistake? You think me beating your ass and giving you what you deserved for fucking my daughter was a mistake?” he snarled through his teeth.
My brows narrowed. “I did deserve it, which is why you didn’t deserve for me to press charges. I never put the charges on you. It was Kelly who told the police I would be considering it. Kelly is the reason you even found out.”
He dropped his arms and shook his head, turning quickly to get in the house and pick something up from the table in the hallway. He came back with a white flash drive, holding it in my face, “So you’re telling me that Kelly used a flash drive with your company’s name on it and recorded you in the act with my daughter? Why would she do some shit like that, Cane?”
“Because she’s a psychotic bitch and she knows too much. She’s dangling shit over my head. She found out, told me to stay away…but I didn’t listen. She thinks this is the only way to keep me away from Kandy. By destroying our friendship. If there’s no Derek, there are no Jennings’ at all. ”
A deep growl formed in his throat. “Well, she’s damn right about that.” He shoved a fist into my chest, which forced me to take two slight stumbles backward. “I’m going to burn this shit, and then I’ll burn the copy my wife has. As for you, I don’t give a fuck about your apology. I don’t give a fuck that you dropped the charges out of whatever pity you had to help me or try and salvage this friendship. There is no friendship anymore. That’s dead. And if you ever come around my family or me again, what you get next will be much worse than a fucking concussion.”
With that, he shoved my chest one more time until I had no choice but to step off the porch, then he turned around and slammed the door in my face.
I stood there a moment, staring at the door, realizing I would probably never see it again. I couldn’t lie and say I didn’t see that coming. I knew Derek. He would never forgive me for this, but at least I tried.
This was it.
There was no coming back from this.
There was no denying the truth.
I no longer had a best friend, and that was the reality I faced during my walk of shame to the car.
I got home, took a hot shower, and tried to work, but it was impossible to concentrate. Frustrated, I slammed my laptop shut and went downstairs to the kitchen. I poured myself some scotch, and after the first sip, my phone rang in the pocket of my sweats.
Pulling it out, I checked the screen. It was from a number I didn’t know.
I frowned, ignoring the call. Several seconds and one sip of scotch later, it rang again. I ignored it.
It rang one more time and I cursed beneath my breath, frowning at the screen. I received a lot of crazy calls from random motherfuckers who found my number. Normally, I would ignore them, but that night I was pissed and hostile, and wanted to shout at someone—anyone. Maybe I should have invited Kelly over. Cursing her out would have been a fucking relief.
I answered when the number showed up on the screen for the fifth time. “Who the hell is this and why do you keep calling me?” I demanded.
“Well, shit, bro—is that any way for CEO to answer the phone?”
My back straightened, my frown rapidly disappearing. I couldn’t believe the voice I was hearing. This couldn’t be real. This had to be a joke.
“Lora?” I breathed, gripping the phone as if it would be snatched out of my hands by some criminal with a gun to my head.