Page 98 of Betting on the Bad Boy

Can’t eat, without a chance

Dish it out, just a glance

Murph looked rightat me and continued...

It’s a front, a façade

Not a lady, just a broad

Taking us all for a ride

Tearing me up inside

What to do, what to do

Tell the truth, but to who

Would it hurt, being true?

Screw it, fuck you!

I gasped.He knows. It’s him and he knows.A coldness gripped my heart, sending ice water surging through my veins.

Murph took an exaggerated bow and leered at me, his white teeth glowing in the incandescent light. I fought off a sob. Wouldn’t do me any good to break down in front of an audience. All I wanted was to get out of there.

I pushed back from the table and staggered to my feet. Murph strutted around the stage like a freaking rooster. I stumbled through the tables, reaching for my coat and purse on the way out.

Jess grabbed my arm. “Hey, Faith, wait! What’s going on?”

“I’ve got to get out of here.” The walls pressed in on me, and my lungs struggled to take in a breath. I yanked my arm away from Jess and rushed toward the door. Dante… I needed to get to Dante before he found out about this from Murph. He had to hear it from me. It was time to come clean.

I crashed through the door into the cold winter night, with Jess still calling my name.

CHAPTER 48

Dante

“Yo,Dante! There’s somebody at the bar asking for you.” Wyatt’s voice carried through the back hallway to the storeroom.

“Be there in a sec.” I lowered the box crusher in the storeroom and waited for it to finish its cycle. Ever since that night I’d been trapped with Faith, I always made sure to check the door before letting it close behind me.

The machine stopped, and I made my way back out to the bar. The place was hopping, even for a Friday night. Maybe Faith had stopped by. A wide smile spread across my face. Maybe she’d given some thought to going public and wanted to stop hiding behind her stupid “sex-only” rule.

I rounded the corner. Cheryl balanced on a stool at the bar. What the hell was she doing here? “Hey, what’s going on?”

She wore her nurse’s scrubs under her winter coat and gave me a shaky smile. “Is there somewhere we can go to talk?”

I cocked my head. “Why? What’s going on?”

She squinted and looked around. “Maybe somewhere quiet?”

“Um, yeah, sure.” Whatever was bothering her, she’d driven almost a hundred miles to get it off her chest. The least I coulddo was give her five minutes of my time. “I live upstairs. Come on up and we can talk there.”

As I left the bar area, I called out behind me. “Back in five, Wyatt.”

Cheryl hopped off her stool and followed me through the bar and up the stairs to my apartment.

“Can I take your coat? Get you something to drink?”Please say no.I was eager for her to get to the point of her visit.