Reckless (Bertoli Crime Family #2) (31 page)

It's her.

I grinned, confident Victoria had changed her mind and decided to come back. My ego soaring, I stepped out of the bathroom, careful to keep my expression neutral and not too eager.

I couldn’t keep the exultation out of my voice, though. "Back so soon—"

“Hey, Tyler!” chirped a familiar voice I hadn’t heard in years.

My jaw dropped at the sight of the person standing at the doorway to my bedroom.

No. Fucking. Way. This bitch has balls.

I blinked, trying to will the image away.

Candice.

Am I hallucinating? I’m dreaming. I must be dreaming.

Candice, my old back-stabbing girlfriend, was standing there before me. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, short bangs framed her forehead, her makeup was soft and girly, and she was wearing a tight red dress that showed off her curvaceous figure that I once loved to handle.

I stood there, speechless, staring at her like she was a banshee that had come to haunt me.

It was she that had ruined my faith in relationships. Her, who I’d done everything for. Her, who I made sure wanted for nothing. I gave her everything.

All of me.

In the end, I found out she was just using me. Using me for my money and to get ahead. She had me fooled from the very beginning. I thought she was the love of my life, when all she ever was, was a fucking gold-digging skank.

“Still working out that incredible body, I see,” she murmured with appreciation, eyeing my abs and appearing unperturbed by my shock.

Breath finally found my lungs. “What the hell are you doing here? And what makes you think you can waltz up in here like you own the place?”

Candice’s eyes stayed on my abs. “You, or someone, left the door open,” she replied softly, ignoring my question. “I knocked a few times. No one answered. I was going to leave, but I heard noises. I came in to check on you, to make sure you were alright. I called your name, but no one answered.”

I cleared my throat, trying to regain my composure. “I was in the shower . . .”

Candice tore her eyes away from my stomach and nodded. “I realized that when I came up the stairs.” She looked around the room. “Not much has changed, I see.”

“Nope,” I said easily, finally able to regain my swag. “But I have.”

Candice stepped forward, reaching out. “Ty—”

“Don’t even start!” I yelled.

Candice froze.

“Why are you here? You know how our relationship ended. I told you that I never wanted to speak to you or see you again. And I meant every word of it.”

Candice’s arms dropped to her side and she dipped her head. Seeing her look so vulnerable caused old emotions to roll through me. “I wanted to see you,” she said quietly. “I’ve missed you.”

“That boat has sailed,” I said firmly, pushing away any feelings of sympathy. “Long ago. And it’s not coming back.”

Candice looked up. Tears were streaming down her face.

Oh God. Not this bullshit.

“I’m so sorry, Ty,” she sobbed. “I didn’t mean to do it. I’ve been trying to work up the courage for so long. It was just that I felt so lonely and so vulnerable and he—”

I set my jaw, unimpressed by her act. “Do you really think I want to listen to this bullshit? Good God, listen to yourself! We will never be anything ever again, Candice. Ever!”

Candice pressed her hands against her face and sobbed, her whole body shuddering.

Damn, am I gonna have to drag her ass out of here or what?
It was obvious that my ex-girlfriend wasn’t going to make this easy for me.

“I’m not falling for it, Candice. You fooled me once with that shit, but you won’t fool me again.”

She stopped for a second. "It was the biggest mistake of my life! And I regret it more than anything in the world."

Ditto
, I thought

“Can you quit with the act?” I demanded, after a half-second of listening to her ridiculous sobs. “It’s pathetic.”

Wiping her eyes, Candice grew quiet and stopped the melodramatic sobbing. It was crazy how she could cry her eyes out one minute and be totally tranquil the next. “I saw Jonathan help a girl inside of your limo as I was coming up. New girlfriend of yours?"

"That's none of your business."

"Really, Tyler? You could do so much better."

"Better than a cheating skank? I sure can."

Determined, Candice walked over to me, her intentional seductive strut seeming to taunt me. I averted my eyes, refusing to give her the satisfaction.

"What are you doing, Candice?" I growled, looking at the wall, even though I knew damn well what she was doing.

"It's been so long, Tyler," Candice purred, reaching me. She placed a hand against my stomach and then began dragging her fingers softly along my happy trail.

I grabbed her wrist firmly, stopping her before she could reach my junk. I turned my gaze on her, scowling fiercely. "I don't know why you suddenly decided to show up, Candice, or what you hope to accomplish, but I'm going to ask you one time to leave. If you don't, I'm going to drag your ass out of here. And trust me, you don’t want me to do that."

Shit, I better be careful,
I thought when something suddenly occurred to me.
Becoming forceful with her could be a lawsuit waiting to happen, maybe it's even exactly what she wants. She knows I'm loaded. If I get rough with her, she could claim anything, and being a female and with my bad boy reputation, who wouldn't believe her? I won't even have to worry about mine and Victoria's relationship ruining things at work. Candice will ruin everything herself.

Worrying about whether Candice's intentions had malice in them caused me to become momentarily distracted and my grip on her wrist became lax, allowing her freedom.

"I bet whoever she is can't suck your dick like I can," Candice purred up at me, my cock suddenly in her grasp. "Remember? I'm the only one who could take all of you.”

Before I could reply and shove the cock-hungry whore away, I heard a shocked gasp.

I
'll just go
up there, grab my purse, and leave.
I'd repeated the litany about twenty times since getting out of the limo and making my way up to Tyler's door.

Don't show any emotion or give him a chance to get you in his bed.

All I had to do was keep telling myself that I was strong and that I could do it. The problem was, I could feel my resolve weakening.

There were too many conflicting emotions going through me.

On one hand, I wanted to believe Tyler. I wanted to believe he would be faithful with me and that we could somehow make our relationship work, even with our disapproving parents. If it wasn’t for his past, I’d probably believe him. He hadn’t given me much reason to doubt him, after all.

But, he
did
have his past. And our parents
did
want us apart. And I felt like he was just a rich, eligible bachelor who was looking for a challenge and a reason to defy his father.

After I exited the elevator at the top floor, I walked down the hallway. After a moment of gathering my resolve, I knocked on the door.

The door creaked open.

That's funny
, I thought.
I thought I locked it.

I stepped in and closed the door behind me. I was about to call out Tyler's name, when I heard talking up in the loft area where his bedroom was.

He must have company.

I walked over to the stairs and paused, listening. Then I heard it. A female's voice.

My heart began pounding in my chest erratically.

Calm down
, I tried to tell myself.
It could be anyone.

Despite trying to reason with myself and keep cool, I was overcome by a sudden, overpowering urge. I rushed up the stairs as fast as I could and let out a sharp gasp when I reached the top.

I knew it!

My wildly-beating heart skipped a beat at the sight before me.

There, standing before his bed with nothing on but boxers, was Tyler with some pretty blonde girl, dressed in a tight red dress, who was holding his cock in her hands.

You fool! How could you be so stupid?

The room began to spin around me and my breathing became shallow.

I should've known. I should've known. I should've known.

Tyler's expression was one of shock and he was quick to shove the girl away from him. "Victoria, I can explain!”

"Don’t bother!" I croaked. I don't even know how I managed to get the words out. I had a lump in my throat the size of a basketball.

Fighting to keep the tears at bay, I rushed over to the night stand and grabbed my purse.

"Victoria!" Tyler reached out to grab my arm, but I swatted him away, rushing toward the exit.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

"Please—"

I stopped at the top of the stairs, digging in my purse, turning around to confront him.

"I knew from the beginning you were a sack of shit," I snarled. "I don't know how I could've been so stupid to ever believe that you actually cared about me or that you would stop your manwhore ways!"

Tyler reached out imploringly. "It's not what you think."

How cliché. Isn't that what they all say? It's not what you think. Everything I need to know is right in front of me.

In the background, the girl in the red dress watched our exchange with her hands on her hips and an impish smile on her face.

"He does this to all the girls, honey," she purred. "You shouldn't be surprised."

"Shut up, Candice!" Tyler shouted, his face red with rage. He turned to me. "Victoria—"

"Fuck off!" I reached into my purse to make sure my phone was there. I still had his tie . . .
that
tie. I pulled it out and threw it at his feet. "And you can keep your fucking nasty tie!"

Sobbing uncontrollably, I turned and rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping in the process.

I
stared
at the spot Victoria had vacated long after she left, wanting to go after her but knowing it would be futile.

She'd walked in at the worst possible moment, just as Candice grabbed my junk. I'd never be able to convince her that nothing was going on.

Candice raised an eyebrow in question while eyeing the tie on the floor. “Do I even want to know what the deal with the tie is?” she asked, breaking the silence. "What kind of kinky shit have you been up to, Tyler?"

I turned baleful eyes on her, my chest heaving with anger. "Nothing that concerns you."

Bitch.

Rage blurred my vision. I wanted to wrap my hands around her neck and choke her within inches of her life. I'd never, ever put my hands on a woman in a violent way, but she was pushing me to my limits.

Looking at Candice, I could tell it's something that she probably wanted. She’d
love
it, in fact. In some sick way, she was feeding off my emotions, getting off on them.

"You need to leave," I said flatly. "Now. Or I’m going to call the cops.”

I saw no use in trying to figure out why she was here or talking to her any further. It didn't matter anymore, and I should have thrown her out the second I saw her. But now, the damage was already done.

"Come on, Tyler," she crooned softly. "You're just mad right now. That girl . . . she was no good for you—"

"Get the fuck out!" I roared.

Candice grew silent in the face of my wrath. For a moment, I feared she was going to stay, forcing me to have to take matters into my own hands.

"Fine," she said finally. "I'll leave . . . for now. I'll be back after I give you some time to calm down. You’ll come around, you’ll see. We have much to catch up on.”

She walked over to me and attempted to give me peck on the cheek, but I stepped away from her. "I'm going to make things better. I promise." She turned and strutted her way out of the room, trying her best to tease me with her swaying hips.

She failed
. "And don’t fucking come back!" I yelled.

I walked over to the bed and slumped down on it, resting my elbows on my knees and clutching either side of my head in my palms.

"I'm fucked," I muttered.

“
I
hate to say it
, but I told you so," April said the next day while we were preparing some of Christine's pristine spring designs for a show.

I groaned, eyeing a design, a particular ugly brown number that even a size one model would have to diet to fit in. "Please don’t, April. I really don’t need to hear this right now. On top of it all, I have a splitting headache."

I shouldn't have told her anything
, I thought in regret.
Now I will never hear the end of it.

As soon as I’d come into work, April accosted me. One look at my disheveled appearance, and she knew something was up. In fact, she knew
exactly
what was up.

Maybe it was my bloodshot eyes that were red from bawling my eyes out all night, or my perpetual scowl that I’d adopted when I woke up and realized I had to go to work when it felt like my soul was being crushed by an iron fist.

At first I’d deflected April’s questions to find out what was wrong, but eventually I broke down and told her.

Everything.

I wasn't sure why I did. I mean, I knew what was coming afterward. I suppose it was because I needed a shoulder to cry on. Since I was estranged from my mom, April was the only real female friend that I was close enough to confide in.

I'd lost contact with all my previous friends when I moved to the city to start my career, and I couldn’t just call them up to dump this in their lap after having not spoken for ages. Since coming to work for Christine, I’d discovered that friends were in short supply. It was hard maintaining friendships while being worked to death.

On top of that, I’d learned the hard way that there weren’t many people you could trust in the fashion world, with all the back-stabbing and gossiping that went on.

But April, and to an extent, Gabe, were cool. So far, she hadn't shown me the cattiness that most females that worked under Christine were known for. She had her quirks, of course, but who didn’t?