A sound crawls out of Layla’s throat, a strangled cry of sorts. “Layla,” I whisper and hold her shoulders. I inch back, take in her tears, the streaks on her cheeks where they’ve been falling. “It’s not—”
“You’re wrong,” she says, cutting me off, her voice so hoarse from emotions I can barely understand her. “It’s exactly what I think.”
“Layla, please—”
She gives a hard shake of her head, and it feels like my world is collapsing around me, squeezing the air from my lungs. I can’t lose her. I couldn’t live though that again.
She steps away from me, leaving cold where there was once warmth.
“It’s exactly what I think,” she says again and turns to her mother.
“Layla, please.”
“Don’t worry, Jack. These tears aren’t because of you. They’re because of her.” Layla shakes her head. “Because of what she’s doing to me.” A sob catches in Layla’s throat and my heart breaks. “I guess I just never knew how little I meant to her, the extent she’d go through to hurt me.”
Karen smirks, like she’s won the battle, and says, “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. You could never satisfy a man like Jack. Not the way I can.” She flashes her teeth my way. “The two of us—”
“There is no us, Karen. There never was. I didn’t sleep with you.” Her eyes widen, her gaze shooting daggers.
“Stop with the lies. It’s time Layla learns she’s nothing but a little girl who could never be with a man like you. I’m glad she found us like this.”
“You sent the text,” Layla says, her voice so deadly calm we both go still.
“What are you talking about?” Karen asks, her body growing stiff.
Layla holds her phone up and shows it to me. The text says, Meet me at my place, six, o’clock.
“I thought it was odd, considering you didn’t get off until seven,” she adds. “I came and this is what I found.”
“I clocked out early.” I nod toward Karen. “But it wasn’t because of her. It was because of this.” I hold my phone up and show her the text that came from her phone, and she shakes her head in disgust.
“I didn’t send that. My mother did.” We both glare at Karen as the tumblers fall into place.
Karen looks indignant. “Excuse me. I did no such thing. How could I? I have no access to your phone.”
“You stole Jack’s key when he brought you home last week.”
A worried look moves over her face. “I did not,” she says, her shield cracking slightly
“And you sent me a text from Jack’s phone, wanting me to find you in his bed. You expected me to think the worst and run away, never to talk to Jack again. Then you’d leave, and Jack would never be the wiser that you were ever here, or did a real number on your daughter.”
“That’s why my phone wasn’t where I put it this morning. Karen had been in my house last night. Totally makes sense,” I say, my pulse jumping, so horrified to think anyone would do this to their daughter. Layla is so much better that her parents ever were. I stare at my phone, thinking about the text Layla sent. “Son of a bitch,” I curse.
“What?” Layla asks.
“She reprogrammed your number to go to her phone.”
As the pieces fall into place, I can’t believe what a manipulative bitch Karen really is. How was I ever friends with her? Phil’s dying words don’t excuse him for being a piss-poor father, but at least on his deathbed, he wanted to do right. But Karen, well, there is no excusing her.
I hit dial, and a phone in the room rings, only it’s Karen’s phone not Layla’s. “You broke in here, and put your number in Layla’s contact. When I texted her, it went to you,” I reiterate.
“I’ll have you arrested for rape,” Karen says, a warning look in her eyes as she glares at me.
Layla laughs. “I’m a grown woman, Mother. I can sleep with whoever I want.”
“You weren’t always. He touched you when you were a juvenile.”
“No he didn’t.”
“Doesn’t matter, once the accusations are out there, it will ruin both your careers.”
Layla shakes her head and red-hot rage burns through my body. No fucking way will I stand for Karen doing anything to ruin Layla, or the career she’s worked so hard for, despite her parents.
“Try it,” I say. “You’re the one who stole a police officer’s key, broke into his house, and fucked with his phone. The courts don’t take to lightly to that kind of behavior. Unless you’re interested in finding that out firsthand, you won’t do anything to hurt Layla.”
She opens her mouth to say something, but I reach out and gather Layla into my arms, tired of listening to Karen’s bullshit.
Layla squeals and wraps her arms around me. “What are you doing?”
“Something I should have done a long, long time ago.”
“Jack—”
“I’m taking you far, far away from here, Layla, where we can start our lives over, together. I’m going to be the man you always needed me to be.”
She gives me a big smile as I step from the bedroom and slam the door shut, leaving Karen there to think about how fucked up she really is. Truthfully, it’s amazing how wonderfully Layla turned out, considering her circumstances. Yes, I should have stepped in earlier, done something before her life got to this point, but I guess it’s better late than never.
“My hero,” she whispers. “My real life hero.”
I smile at her, and for the first time in my life, I feel like her hero. “I love you, Layla. I’ll always do right by you. I promise.”
She dusts kisses over my face. “I know, and I love you, too.”
I smile, the happiest fucking man in the universe. “Marry me.”
“About time you asked,” she teases.
I laugh, the weight on my shoulders relaxing. “Is that a yes?”
“Of course it’s a yes. I’ve always been yours, Jack, and I always will be.”
I look at the beautiful woman in my arms, my soul mate, my everything. The wait was worth it and I plan to take her to New York where she’ll finish her degree and flourish as a lawyer. Nothing, and no one, will ever come between us again.
“One problem,” she says.
My heart freezes. “What?”
“Lu comes with us.”
“You mean like a threesome.”
She laughs and whacks me. “No, I mean she wants out of here as much as we do. She’s my best friend in the whole world, besides you, and has always been so supportive of our relationship.”
“Then let’s go get her.”
Layla smiles, but it’s a bit shaky. “You weren’t serious about the threesome?
“Fuck no. You’re the only woman I want in my bed.”
“Even though I’m inexperienced.”
“We have a lifetime to change that, Layla. There are so many dirty things I want to do to you.”
Her eyes widen. “When can we start?”
I laugh, press my lips to hers and say, “You really are going to be the death of me, aren’t you?”
Thank You!
Thank you so much for reading, Officer Bad Boy, book two in my Bad Boy series. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I loved writing it. Be sure to keep an eye out for SEAL Bad Boy (July 4th) and Fighter Bad Boy, coming August, 2017. Up next is Curves, in the Complete Me series.
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Happy Reading,
Sloan
About Sloan
If you’re looking for Sloan Kincaid, you’d never find her living in eastern USA with a husband, children and pets. Nor would you ever find her in her office, writing the day away in her pajamas. Oh, no, if you’re looking of Sloan you might find her gracing the Hollywood elite with her presence, sunbathing naked on an exotic beach in Southern France, or
mingling with the rich and famous in the Cairo. Perhaps you can catch her before she slips between the sheets with a man who is as handsome as he is wealthy, a man who promises her the world. Sloan Kincaid is no ordinary woman. Men love her. Women want to be her. Sloan is bold, sensuous and sophisticated. And she is my alter ego. :)
You can contact Sloan at [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sloan.kincaid.5
Also by Sloan Kincaid
Bad Boy series
Professor Bad Boy
Officer Bad Boy
SEAL Bad Boy
Fighter Bad Boy
Mechanic Bad Boy
Complete Me series
Cupcake
Collide
Fantasy Men series
My Vampire Boss
My Werewolf Cowboy
Stand Alone
Irish Kissing
Officer Bad Boy (The Bad Boy Book 2) Page 6