Strange Love
Choose Yours Series (Book One)
A Second Chance Romance
By Robin Edwards
© Copyright 2019 by Robin Edwards
and Second Chances Press
All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited, and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher. Names and persons in this eBook are entirely fictional. They bear no resemblance to anyone living or dead. To protect the privacy of certain individuals the names and identifying details have been changed. This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
About the Author
More Books by the Author
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“Everyone makes mistakes in life, but that doesn’t mean they have to pay for them the rest of their life. Sometimes good people make bad choices; it doesn’t mean they are bad, it just means they are human.”
- Unknown
Prologue
Grayson
“I hate to break it to you but I can’t make it to the pick-up game tomorrow; I’ve got a lot of things to take care of here at the office. I’m sorry.”
“Come on, man. Do not do this to me. Seriously? Are you trying to work on a Saturday? We need you at the game tomorrow. I don’t think you understand the severity of what you are telling me right now; if you don’t show up we will have to forfeit the game.” Anton, my basketball teammate at the local Y and one of my best friends, whined into the phone receiver.
“What are you talking about?” I sighed. Anton always exaggerated everything that went wrong for him. More often than not, it wasn’t anything as detrimental as he always made it seem but I humored him anyway.
“We need five players. You are our fifth player.”
“Just ask Rivera if he’s available to sit in and take my spot so you won’t have to forfeit. You know he really wants to play with us, he has practically hinted about it for ages. Maybe it’s time you let him in; you’re the only one who minds.” I paced around my office before stopping at my mini-bar to pour myself a glass of scotch.
“What do you mean I’m the only one who minds?”
“Well, the only thing stopping him from joining our team is your resistance to the idea. So ask him already, that’s if you want to forfeit.” I grinned to myself.
“Seriously? I don’t want to ask Rivera, he sucks.”
I finished the pour completely with a slight burn as it made its way down my throat, “It’s the best option you have. Is this because you are still upset you were passed up for a promotion that went to Rivera instead? You should be happy for him; if you had gotten the promotion, he would have congratulated you. Besides, I thought the police considered every boy in blue as family?”
Not only was Jerry Rivera Anton’s classmate when they were in the academy years ago, he was also Anton’s biggest rival, except he didn’t know it. When Jerry received his promotion to Lieutenant, it meant he outranked Anton now. Anton was still Sergeant at the 13th precinct for the past five years because he had failed to earn a promotion so far and it was getting to him.
Anton sighed heavily before responding, “Ah, fuck you man.”
“Nah, I’ve already told you that I don’t swing in that direction but I’m flattered you feel that way about me.” I grinned and batted my eyelashes as if he could see me through the receiver before I poured myself yet another glass. I was normally a ‘one glass a day’ kind of person but recent events had me on edge.
“Neither do I, asshole.” Anton muttered.
With glass in hand, I walked over to the wall-to-wall windows that overlooked the skyline, “Are you sure about that? I see the way you look at me sometimes.”
“I’m hanging up now,” he threatened.
“Alright, geez. I was only kidding. It is so easy to piss you off, dude. So, are you going to ask Rivera or not. He’s not that bad of a player.”
“I never said he was a bad player, he’s just so annoying and smug at the station. I can’t stand him.”
“You are too, but we still let you on the team.” I laughed.
“Ha, ha. Very funny. You know what? Fine, I’ll do it. I will take it to the rest of the team for a vote but you had better not miss any more games after today. We can’t risk playing another one without you in it and I really want to wipe the smug look off of the guys from Vice.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t. This is the last time, I promise.” I swore but at the same time, I didn’t think these games were as serious as he tried to make it seem and with the way things were starting to go for me, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to keep my promise.
I understood where he was coming from, though. Basketball and the games we played at the local YMCA were important to him because the man was married with a new baby. These games were the only opportunity he had to get away for a little bit and unwind. He was a busy man now and his entire world was split between work, his wife and their newborn. As proud as I was for him, I couldn’t blame him for wanting to set aside a couple of hours a week for himself. Especially when the deal he made included his wife getting the opportunity to take a night out once a week to go out with her girlfriends too.
I remember the first time Anton had to watch his son on his own for the first time; he called me hysterically asking if I could come over and help him out. I knew zilch about babies but we survived the night until Michelle came home. Look at him now though; he was a god damn pro when it came to his wife and son.
“So, when are you going to tell me the reason why you aren’t showing up to the game tomorrow? Do you have something better to do or shall I say someone? Must be, seeing as you never miss a game and the only thing that would derail you from your priorities would be a woman.” he remarked.
Anton was right, I never missed a pickup game at the local Y but it had nothing to do with my dating life. I wasn’t about to tell him or anyone else about the need to take some time off to attend an appointment I made with PPI – Professional Private Investigators. It was exactly as it sounded.
Ever since I received the threatening note in my mailbox yesterday morning, I have been on high alert. The note stated a secret I would not want the public to know would be revealed if I went public with my most recent innovation my team and I have worked endlessly on the past couple of years. If anything I’ve hidden was revealed, it could possibly ruin everything I’ve worked so hard for including GPR, Inc. When I received the note, I didn’t take it seriously at first because I thought i
t was just a prank my staff played on me when I least suspected it. They always pulled lighthearted pranks but this time I figured they upped the ante. Turns out, they didn’t. Turns out, it wasn’t a prank at all.
The note suggested I take it very seriously and since I wasn’t the type to consider anything that could potentially affect my livelihood or my life as an idle threat; I contacted my attorney Will Grayson. He suggested I continue to operate as if I never received the note and he would secretly hire a private investigator on my behalf to find out who the culprit was. Will also warned me not to tell anyone else about this, not even the police. At least not yet. He figured there was not a point in going to the police unless we had concrete evidence that pointed toward a potential suspect. Neither Will nor I had any ideas as to who would send me the note and it could have come from anyone.
“Do you have any enemies that want something from you or are the type to blackmail you for money?” Will asked when I stopped by his office several hours ago.
“The note didn’t mention anything about money otherwise I would have tried to pay them off by now and this would have been over and done with. They just wanted me to cancel the tech reveal next month.”
“I wonder why, but it may have not mentioned any money but they always want money. Everyone has a price. Do you know anyone that could benefit greatly if you cancelled going public with the reveal?”
“Nope. Only my competitors have something to gain from all of this, but I doubt it would be any of them. They would not do something as sneaky and drastic as threatening me with an anonymous note when they can easily take me down tomorrow. Besides, I always play nice.”
“When it comes to taking the top spot in your industry, companies have the ability to act out of desperation. I wouldn’t hold it past any of them to not be this petty.” Will warned. “I’m just trying to figure out who has the most to gain from threatening you. It’s the best chance we’ve got, I’m afraid. How about any women you’ve dated or slept with. How about any of them?”
“I’ve always made sure to end things amicably for the most part and they all knew where they stood with me before I broke it off. I’ve always been upfront in the beginning before moving forward with any of them.”
“All of them?” he asked.
“You make it seem like I’ve slept with hundreds of women.” I retort.
“Haven’t you?”
He had me there but realistically, I didn’t have women in and out of my bed like a revolving door as much as he thought I did. Although I hadn’t slept with as many women as Will thought, I did lose track of how many women there actually was in my past. I used to keep count but somewhere along the way, after my ex-fiancée Lindsey, counting no longer seemed important. No one else mattered after her. She was the only woman I had any sort of relationship with where it didn’t end as well as I would have liked. I haven’t seen Lindsey in years but I knew she wouldn’t ever do something like this to me, she wasn’t the type, at least I hoped she still wasn’t after what I did to her the last time I saw her.
“Okay, fine. What’s with the questions anyway?” I asked.
“You’ve got to start somewhere, Graham. Might as well start with the people you know personally. In the meantime, I’ll get you set up with a private investigator and we will go from there. No need to involve the police just yet. We don’t want this to be in the papers.”
The idea that anyone in my life could be a potential suspect seemed unbelievable. It was hard to believe that my life turned into some primetime movie or a weird dream sequence but this was real life. This was actually happening to me and I couldn’t brush it off or ignore it as much as I wanted to. I had to figure out who left me that note because I was going to announce the new technology I developed and no one was going to stop me from doing it, threat or no threat.
“Uh, hello? Are you still there?” Anton asked pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking.” I said as I walked away from the window to flop onto the leather couch near my desk before sipping on my second glass of scotch.
“About what?”
“Oh, it’s nothing important. I was just thinking about some things I needed to take care of next week. What were you saying?”
“I just asked if you were going to tell me why you’ve decided suddenly to skip out on the game tomorrow. You never miss any.”
“Yeah, I know but I can’t keep up the streak forever. There is going to come a time where something or someone will be more important and I’ll have to quit the team. Until the day that happens, I’ll be there. I’ve got to go, but keep me updated on how the game went.”
“Alright man, take care.”
“Bye.” I hung up the phone and exhaled heavily.
I hoped the private investigators Will was going to hire on my behalf were good enough to solve the mystery as quickly as possible. The firm Will wanted to hire was a new company that opened up shop only eight months ago. He thought I’d appreciate the fact that despite starting a short time ago, they were already highly regarded throughout the state. Normally I would have been impressed but right now, when everything I’ve worked so hard for could crumble at any minute. Nothing mattered except finding out who was bold enough to threaten the executive of a billion dollar company.
Chapter One
Lindsey
“Where in the hell is my chair, Kitt?” I said standing at my desk.
“You don’t need one when you have your first official standing desk.” my best friend and pseudo-business partner slash office manager gushed.
“My first what?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“It’s an official standing desk. All you have to do is push this little red button here like so and your desk raises up to whatever height you choose. Watch.” Kitt pressed a little, red button on the side of the black platform and it started to ascend slowly above my desk like an accordion until it reached chest level. “It isn’t good for your health to be sitting down all of the time, which you do a lot. This way you can get some exercise in and do your work at the same time.”
“No.” I answered.
“No?”
“I said no. I want this contraption out of here and if it means having bad health then so be it. You’re the one into this healthy, organic lifestyle stuff. Not me. I am perfectly content with my slouchy leather chair. You can continue to do your yoga, keto diet, running and all of that and I will continue to be my slouchy self.”
“Fine, I’ll return it tomorrow.” Kitt scoffed at me before leaving to deal with the new potential cases I received calls about over the past few days.
We may be an investigative team of one technically but I was able to keep the company running smoothly because most cases that came knocking my way happened to be the easy one-and-done type, you know jealous spouses or significant others. That sort of thing. My business has survived these past eight months because our clients consisted mostly of men and women wanting to prove themselves wrong. They wanted reassurance they weren’t being cheated on but nine times out of ten, it was easy to prove that they were.
Occasionally, a case would come across my desk that proved to be different from your humdrum domestic situation and I was thankful for the change in clientele and caseload. This one today from the brief phone call I had with an attorney was about a high-profile client of his that received a threatening note. For some reason or another, we didn’t quite get into the line of questioning I usually give to help me decide if I want to take the case or not.
When his client showed up for the initial consultation, I was going to make sure I found out why they were seeking a private investigator instead of just going to the police directly. In my experience, it was usually because they wanted to keep the situation quiet for a while. Unless they were some sort of celebrity or someone in the public eye, there was no reason not to go to the police right away. Unless they had something to hide, either way, it will become clear soon enough.
I di
dn’t take every single case that walked through my door but the ones I usually took on were the ones that could be solved easily for a nice and quick billable pay day. I also took cases where my morality wouldn’t be compromised. There have been many times where individuals tried to seek out my assistance for situations I didn’t quite agree with no matter how much money they tried to throw at me.
No, not everyone had a price.
“While you’re at it, bring me back my desk, not this metal toothpick you have sitting here.” I said about its minimalistic design.
“It’s called being ergonomic,” she added from the doorway.
“I prefer the big hunk of wood that I called a desk, Kitt.”
“It took up half of your office. You didn’t have much room to do anything else like stretches during your breaks or a good foam roll.”
“Then so be it, just give me back my office furniture.” I said waving her off as I pushed the red button to bring my computer down to sitting level.
“Fine, just so you know, it doesn’t help with your chi.” thin-lipped, Kitt responded before she flipped her brown locks and then turned on her heel.
She was probably upset with me but I wasn’t too worried, she usually got over it. Whatever it took to leave me in peace for the next couple of hours, hopefully.
****
If you took into consideration that it was still dark outside as an indication that it was early in the morning to hear two different versions of click clack sounds coming down the hallway before they stopped right outside of my bedroom door, then you’d be right. It was also way past appropriate for Kitt to be coming home with her date. Their first date.
I rolled onto my stomach to get a better look through runaway strands of brown hair to get a better look at the clock on my end table only to see five a.m. flashing back at me on the digital display.
Strange Love (Choose Yours Book 1) Page 1