Page 54 of Starting Our Chance

31 Duke

I knew the moment thatLore was free. My car had been parked a few blocks back, and I saw first Nikki then Lore leave that damned house. Without giving away my position, I followed them home and had pulled off to my drive just as Nikki was coming back down the road after dropping Lore off.

She pulled up alongside my truck, and I rolled the window down.

“She loves you.” Nikki nodded once, then took off like a bat out of hell. I knew that she was going to run back to Tyler—if he was still there.

I just went home and sat on my front porch, waiting to see what would happen next. A bottle of bourbon sat next to me. I had fixed everything—without being the one to fix it. Lore couldn’t be mad at me. Technically.

But I knew I was just being sneaky, skirting around the truth. Lore had every right to be upset. She wasn’t the one to go to Nikki. She didn’t make the choice to saddle herself to her new boss in order to pay off the old—I did.

“She loves you.”

Nikki’s words kept playing through my mind. Taking a swig of the bourbon, I prayed that it was enough. If Lore loved me, we stood a shot of getting past this—and through anything else that life threw at us. The smoky burn of the liquid did not travel to the ache in my chest. After swallowing another mouthful, I hoped that getting good and drunk would solve my problems.

When my phone buzzed, I looked down at it. What I had been waiting for, I wasn’t sure. All I could hope for was an audience with the woman who loved me. Yet, I dreaded facing her.

Lore: Can I come over?

I told her no and set my phone back down. It was a cowardly thing to do. Yet the part of my brain that was quickly becoming foggy thought that if she stayed away, Lore wouldn’t be able to hurt me.

The damned cat came over and cried to me for some food. I tried shooing it away. I took a long pull of the bourbon. Drawing a hiss through my teeth, I savored the smoky, woodsy flavor.

The next message came a moment later.

Lore: Can I explain?

That was followed by the next one almost immediately.

Lore: Just let me come talk to you.

I messaged back saying that I wasn’t home. Then I got up and wandered to where I kept the bag of boutique cat food in the back mud room. The cat purred and rubbed around my legs in appreciation. Taking the full dish back to the front porch, I set it down close enough so that I felt like I had company with the creature.

“I could fucking see your truck from my window,” Lore snapped from the side of the porch, although it lost a little of its punch since she was breathless from running—to me.

“I was just leaving.” Another white lie.

“Duke, you have to listen to me—”

“I don’t have to do anything,” I said, cutting her off. “You don’t want my money or my help.”

“But I do: I want you.” Lore missed a step on the porch and crashed onto her knees. I lunged for her and grabbed her arms, but she didn’t budge. “I love you,” she said. Her gaze bored holes into me, as if she was wondering how I’d take her admission.

It was as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on me. Those three words stopped me. “You’re not ending this?”

“What?!” She scooted into my space, her fists balling up chunks of my shirt. Her taut little body pressed against mine as she shook her head fervently. “Duke, why would you think I wanted out?”

“I . . ..” Maybe she didn’t know that I was the one who had gone to Nikki. I went to step back, letting her go as I towered over her.

“No, listen to me.” Lore leaned back, straightening on her knees and looked me in the eye. I kept my hands frozen at my sides and just waited for our fate to be decided. “I was so scared—scared of letting you help me,” she admitted. “But I know you fixed this mess. And now . . . now, I’m so glad that you did. Because when I was too focused on not taking your money—because I couldn’t stand the thought of charity—I forgot that it was you and me in this mess—together. I know you brought Nikki to me. And I adore you for doing that for me.” Lore reached out for me, but then dropped her hand when I didn’t respond.

Frozen in place, I just stood there.

“Did I ruin my chance?” Lore’s voice broke.

“I don’t know, Gorgeous. You’re trying to separate my wealth from my person. What I’ve built—it comes as part of the package. All of me or nothing.”

“You. I choose you.” Her gray eyes were swimming in liquid that was threatening to spill over. “I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

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