#Boss (The Empire Series Book 3) (7 page)

R
acing out of the office
, completely distraught at the text messages she received.

M
ike
: What are you doing, whore?

Quinn: I like the dirty talk, but whore? Really, babe?

Mike: Why? If the shoe fits, sweetheart.

Quinn: Mike?

Mike: Nope. But he's sitting here with me now.

Quinn: Who is this?

Mike: Wouldn't you love to know.

Quinn: Why do you have his phone?

Mike: Why the twenty questions, sweetheart? Don't trust your man?

Quinn: Oh I trust my man. It's little bitches like you that I don't trust.

Mike: I won't argue that I'm a bitch. But I'm Mike's bitch.

Quinn: You lost your damn mind.

Just then, Quinn received a racy picture of Mike curled up in bed. Mike was completely naked, and looked to be asleep. Being a bartender, it didn't shock her that he was asleep in the middle of the day. Although, those were definitely not his sheets, and those certainly weren’t her panties on his chest.

Quinn: What the hell do you want?

Mike: I want you to go back to whatever hick town you came from and leave Mike and I alone.

Quinn: Who the fuck do you think you are, telling me what I'm going to do?

Mike: I'm someone you don't want to fuck with, sweetheart.

Quinn: We'll see about that. Won't we?

Mike: It seems we will.

Quinn's heart was racing out of her chest. She didn't know where to start looking for Mike, and, even then, would he want to be found? Was this all a big joke to him? The last three months had been amazing, exciting and perfect. Mike had never given her any reason to question their relationship. According to her, they were the perfect pair.

The only thing she could think to do was call her brother, Andrew, at the San Francisco Police Department. If she didn't know how to fix this, perhaps he did.

Picking up her phone, she hit speed dial on her mobile.

"Quinny, how's my favorite little sister?" He sounded so cheerful.

"Drew, I need your help..."

"
H
ey
, Angie, can you come in here for a second?" Big Mike asked, a little nervously.

    He knew what he needed to do was going to crush Angie, but he knew he needed to do it. Sitting on the end of the bed, he began to question if this was a good idea or not. He had seen Angie's temper first hand, and the rumors were true about redheads. She was hot headed, aggressive and completely unpredictable.

    "What's up, babe?" She sounded sweet, as she made her way into the bedroom.

    Angie had been a loose cannon for a while. She couldn't hold a job, mainly because she kept switching interests every two seconds. One week, she was interested in cooking, another cosmetology, and now photography.

    The two had been together for years and, yet, Mike couldn't make the official commitment –marriage. He knew she was waiting for it, but he couldn't give that to her. Instead of dragging it along, he felt it was better to cut ties. Mike cared for her deeply, but he just couldn't do it anymore.

    "Come over here and sit down for second," he coaxed her to the edge of the bed.

    "Aww, I see. If you wanted to have sex, all you needed to do was ask, babe," she giggled.

    "That's...not...why I wanted to talk, Ang," Mike stumbled out.

    This was not going to be as easy as he thought.

    "So what's up, babe? You are starting to worry me." Her once cheerful demeanor began to fade.

    "We've been together for some time, right?" he began.

    "Yeah, almost five years. It's been the best five years of my life," she confessed.

    Her words only killed him further inside. He didn't want to crush her heart, but he knew he just needed to rip the band-aid off and get it over with. This conversation was going in a scary direction and it would only get uglier.

    "It was a great five years," he started

    "What do you mean by was?" She sounded as if she were starting to get upset. She was always so emotional, too emotional for Mike. Drama and Angie were best friends for life.

    "I just think it's time to end things. I need stability in my life, and that's the last thing you've been for the last five years."

    "I’m just...trying to find myself. What's wrong with that, Mikey?"

    "For five years, Ang? Come on."

    "But I really like photography. I think I can really make something out of it. I just need your support..." she began.

    "And my money," he finished her statement. "You've been able to afford these pipe dreams because it's not your money you've been using. I'm tired of being your piggy bank. Time to grow up."

    "Where do you get off telling me I need to grow up? I stood by your ass when you were trying to get O'Mallory's off the ground."

    "Yes, you are right. You were there when I was getting the bar set up, and I will be forever grateful for that." Mike saw the desperation in her eyes, and it just about killed him. His intentions were not to destroy Angie, but to clearly and swiftly end things. Perhaps that wasn't in the cards.

    "Did you ever love me, Mikey?" she begged for an answer.

    "Of course I loved you, but you made it very difficult at times. In a way, I will always love you, just...not in the way you want me to."

    "Is there someone else?" She looked at him with a disgusted look on her face. It didn't matter what he told her at this point, she wasn't going to listen.

    "No, Ang. There is no one else. The very reason you asked that question is exactly why we shouldn't be together. You know I would never cheat on you."

    "What if I worked at the bar with you? That would be stability, plus we can spend more time together, making it work between the two of us."

    "Angie, you're just not getting it, darlin’. I can't do this anymore, and nothing is going to change my mind either. I'm sorry," Mike stated, as he stood to walk out of the room.

    "Where are you going to go? You don't have a place of your own."

    "I can crash in the office until I get set up somewhere."

    "What am I supposed to do?" she said in a soft, yet pathetic, voice.

    "Look, I have an envelope here for you. It's rent for the next three months and then, after that, I suggest you get a stable job."

    Mike turned to exit the apartment when Angie grabbed his arm. "Where are you going? We're not going to talk this out?"

    Looking down at her hand on his tattooed arm, he politely removed it before walking out the door. He didn't owe her anything else, or even an explanation at this point. The door slamming behind him was his indication that Angie was not a happy camper, but he wasn't responsible for taming her anymore. 

    Angie had been dependent on Mike for quite some time. Frankly, he was sick and tired of carrying the extra baggage. He needed a change, a new start, and less drama. Being with Angie was not making those things possible. Walking down the hallway, already he felt a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

    The only thing he needed right then and there was his bike, a beer and his best friend – Sami.     Zipping his leather jacket, he strapped on his helmet and straddled his Harley. Letting the beast roar to life, he hit the throttle and sped into the night and out of Angie's life for good.

A
t least that
's what he had hoped.

    "
I
can't believe
what just happened," Angie muttered to herself, as she watched the door to the apartment shut. The man she had loved for years had just walked out of their apartment and out of her life.

    For what seemed like forever, Angie sat at the edge of the bed, going over the conversation on repeat. How had she not seen this coming? She was ambushed and more so, she didn't feel there was any sort of amicable resolution.

    Even though Mike had said his peace, she hadn't gotten everything she wanted out of her system. There was no way she was going to let him go that easily. She might have let him leave effortlessly, but she wasn't going to let him have the last word.

    Grabbing her things, she raced out of the apartment and to her car. As she zoomed down the streets, she started to think of a million and one things to say to Mike in order to take her back. She just needed to see him and talk it out.

    As she pulled up to O'Mallory's, she noticed Mike's Harley parked at the back door. Angie took a minute to apply her lipstick and fluff her red hair. No, she would never go down without a fight.

    As she was placing the cap on her tube of lipstick, she noticed Mike walking out of the back door.

    "Perfect. Now I can talk to him in private," she mumbled under her breath.

    Just as she was opening her door, she noticed a young girl trailing Mike. From a distance, she couldn't make out who it was, especially since the mysterious women had a helmet on, but it didn't matter. Mike had lied about the reason he wanted to break up.

    At that moment, Angie knew it was going to take a lot more to get Mike back; even if that meant eliminating the competition.

N
icole Hite was born
and raised in Richmond, VA. She married her husband in 2008 on a beautiful fall day in November. Together they adopted two dogs, Harley and Diesel. When Nicole is not fighting the fictional characters in her head, she is spending time at the river, relaxing and enjoying family time. She is an avid reader and her tastes vary across the board. She loves any suggestions along the way.

J
ustified Love
- The Southern Gentleman Series 1:
http://www.amazon.com/Justified-Love-Southern-Gentleman-Book-ebook/dp/B00RWGVMP2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450136058&sr=8-1&keywords=Justified+Love

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ntertwined Love
- The Southern Gentleman Series 2:
My Book

T
ough Love
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T
he Complete Southern Gentleman Series
:
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O
nce
: A Collection of Sinfully Sexy & Twisted Tales:
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uits
& Shades - Alpha Suits Anthology:
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atfished
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ucky
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