Page 11 of Suddenly Desired (APEX Billionaires’ Club #2)

BLAKE

Blake strode up the steps so fast he almost tripped, flying out into the street. The hot evening air hit him like a slap, but it wasn’t enough to clear the frustration buzzing under his skin. His soaking wet hoodie clung to him, stinking of stale coffee and worse.

The light had started to fade, but there was still enough of a glow to catch the attention of passersby, and the last thing Blake wanted right now was another round of unsolicited recognition.

He yanked up his soaking wet hood, fumbled his sunglasses on, and kept his eyes firmly fixed on the pavement as he walked swiftly away from the bar.

He was in shock at what had happened, his pulse hammering.

The barmaid’s voice — sharp, cutting, and laced with fury — echoed in his ears.

But worse than the foul-smelling, dripping mess from his clothes, had been the way she’d looked at him when she’d thrown the drink. She’d looked as if she hated him.

And then there was the phone.

Blake clenched his jaw, his hands balling into fists in his damp sleeves. He was certain she’d been filming. The angle of her phone had been too deliberate, too practised, and Blake knew what it felt like to be filmed. He could only guess the headline that would be emblazoned above the footage.

Chauvinistic prick. That’s what she’d called him.

The words churned in his stomach, mixing with the sharp sting of realisation.

This is what his life had become. Every interaction would be scrutinised.

Every misstep magnified and dissected for the world’s entertainment.

Though he missed them with a pain that felt visceral, Blake was glad he’d created a distance between himself and his family.

It would kill him to see them scrutinised in the same way.

He swore under his breath, quickening his pace.

How could he have been such an idiot? He’d known something like this was going to happen.

He should have known better than to leave the apartment.

His gut had told him it would be a mistake.

And it had been right. He’d let himself get caught up in the moment. In her.

Ellie.

Her name drifted through his mind, uninvited, but impossible to ignore.

He didn’t know why he felt so drawn to her.

She wasn’t just another face, another voice clamouring for attention and validation.

No. When he’d first met her, by the river, he’d felt something special.

And now, after just half an hour in a bar, he knew for sure.

Blake shook his head, trying to banish the thought. He’d only known her for a matter of hours. Whatever spark there was between them couldn’t be worth more than his business. Heartbook was his life, his legacy, and right now it was teetering on the edge of ruin.

He crossed the street, seeing a taxi coming the other way and flagging it down. The driver must have taken one look at his ruined clothes and decided he was penniless, because it roared away almost immediately. He had more luck with the second one, climbing inside and pulling out a wad of notes.

“You can keep it if you don’t ask any questions.” He gave the address.

The taxi driver’s eyes flicked to Blake in the rearview mirror, widening as he spoke. He took the money without a word and pulled out into the traffic.

Only when they were accelerating down the street did Blake let himself relax, leaning his head against the back of the seat and listening to the hum of the engine and the noises from the city.

But it didn’t take long for the tension to creep back in, as his mind replayed every second of the bar incident like a broken record.

He could already picture the fallout. The video would circulate online, then the snarky captions, the anger and hate would follow, along with the steady plummet of share prices.

The board wouldn’t even wait for him to have a say — they’d pounce on this like wolves, using it as leverage to push him out of his own company.

Blake needed to speak to David.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, seeing David’s name there. Had the news reached the board already? That was not good. He thought about not answering, but this was no time to be an ostrich, and he really did need to hear the voice of a friend right now.

With a resigned sigh, he swiped to answer. “I know,” he said, before David could speak. “Don’t say it.”

“Say what?” snapped a familiar, cutting voice. “That you’re single-handedly throwing this company under a bus? What’s the game here, Blake? Are you trying to burn it all down?”

Blake froze, the tension in his shoulders ratcheting up a notch. “Michelle,” he muttered. Of course she’d muscled her way into this.

“Don’t play dumb,” she hissed. “This is a disaster. You’ve got the public screaming down my neck, the media are frothing at the mouth. Are you doing this deliberately or are you really that stupid to go out and get coffee ?”

“Michelle,” he said again, choosing his words carefully. “There was a reason I was there, and it’s not the reason you’re thinking of.”

“Sure, Blake. There’s always a reason.”

He heard David mumbling something, then the sound of the phone being passed over.

“Sorry,” David said. “She knew you wouldn’t answer if it was her.”

Blake pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling sharply. “Yeah, no kidding. What’s the situation?”

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” David said, his voice serious. “This is bad. Really bad. Let’s just say my media alerts are working overtime. Your name has been trending all day, but this video? It’s blowing up.”

“The bar?”

“Yeah,” David confirmed. “Someone sent it to me five minutes ago and now it’s everywhere. I’ve forwarded it to you, but timing couldn’t be worse. Agnes is pushing for an emergency board meeting. I think I’ve managed to hold her off until tomorrow, but she’s rallying the troops.”

Blake’s chest constricted. “Don’t let them meet without me.”

“I’ll stall them as long as I can,” David said. “But you need to be ahead of this, Blake. And whatever you do, stay inside. Don’t give them more fuel. If you’re not careful, you’re going to lose everything.”

David ended the call, and Blake froze for a moment, the weight of the man’s words sitting heavy.

Slowly, he unlocked his phone, trying to ignore the flurry of notifications that had been setting it alight.

He’d intended to go straight to his emails and deal with what David had sent him, but his thumb hovered as a familiar group chat lit up:

APEX Broadcast Channel: Always be closing.

Blake couldn’t remember which of his friends had come up with the tongue-in-cheek chat name, but it had stuck.

The message preview caught his eye and, before he could stop himself, he tapped into the thread.

Devlin: Saw the video. Tough break, man, but you’ve been through worse. You’ll handle this.

Christian: Yeah, bro, nothing new. Haters gonna hate, but you’re Blake freaking Fielding.

Nate: Ignore the noise. But hey, can we talk about the girl? She’s a knockout.

Blake’s lips twitched despite the tension in his chest.

Devlin: Agreed. Who is she, and why haven’t we heard about her before?

Nate: If I didn’t know you better, I’d say she’s the reason you’re in this mess.

Christian: Don’t blow it. She’s got that “make you forget your own name” vibe.

Blake sighed, his thumb hovering over the keyboard. He wasn’t about to get into a deep conversation about Ellie with these guys, not yet. But the way they talked about her only reinforced what he already knew — Ellie was special. And that scared the hell out of him.

Still, the messages carried an undercurrent of warmth, a reminder that no matter how much pressure he was under, he wasn’t completely alone.

Blake: Appreciate it, guys. Let’s focus on not letting the company implode first, yeah?

Devlin: Fair. Just don’t let the girl slip through your fingers in the meantime.

He locked his phone again, leaning back against the cab seat and letting out a long breath. The weight of the situation pressed down on him again, but this time, it didn’t feel as suffocating.

Still, there was no time to get distracted. He unlocked his phone once more, this time going straight to his inbox. David’s email sat at the top, its subject line a blunt punch to the gut: You need to see this .

He tapped the link and a YouTube video loaded. The title read, Blake Fielding gets what’s coming to him .

The wobbly footage started behind the bar, showing the barmaid’s perspective as she crossed the room. Blake watched, his throat tightening as the camera zoomed in on him sitting in the booth, Ellie across from him.

And then, something strange happened. The dread that had been clawing at him shifted, replaced by a flicker of something entirely unexpected.

Ellie.

Even through the grainy lens of someone else’s phone, she was captivating. The way her lips curved into a small, nervous smile, the way her eyes sparkled with genuine curiosity as she leaned towards him — it stirred something deep in his chest. Something that felt dangerously close to happiness.

He saw the way he was staring into Ellie’s eyes, the way his body language leaned into her.

He saw his own smile, and he couldn’t quite believe it was real.

He didn’t look like the man he’d seen in the mirror for the last few years, or the man they had photographed for the company brochures.

That Blake had always worn a fake smile, even though he’d convinced his friends and family it had been real.

He could see why they had never believed him now.

On the video, she mirrored his posture over the table, something he hadn’t noticed until now. Her eyes were locked on to him, her chin resting on her hand, her whole body pressed to the table edge as if she was trying to flow right through it to get to him.

Blake blinked, his mind warring with itself.

This wasn’t how he was supposed to feel.

He was supposed to be furious, panicking, strategising his next move.

Instead, all he could think about was the way Ellie had looked at him.

Like she could unravel him with a glance.

Like she already had — and he wanted more.

He rewound the video, watching her again, the faint smile that tugged at her lips, the way she’d gestured as she spoke. Her presence in that booth, across from him, felt like the only solid thing in an otherwise crumbling world.

Blake closed his eyes, gripping the phone tightly. He couldn’t afford this. He couldn’t afford her. Not now, not with everything at stake.

But, God, how he wished he could.

He went back to the video, not wanting to put himself through the next bit, but knowing he had to. The shaky footage captured the waitress as she walked towards their booth. He saw himself reluctantly turn away from Ellie, the faintest flicker of hesitation in his movement.

He’d been so shocked that he hadn’t really noticed what had happened next, but the way Ellie leaped to his aid took the edge off the incident.

The way she shot to her feet, her eyes blazing with anger, her body leaning forward like she was ready to throw herself into the fray for him.

She hadn’t flinched, hadn’t second-guessed him, even when the world was screaming for his downfall.

Why? Why was she so willing to believe him when everyone else had already made up their minds?

And, more importantly, would she still believe him now that this video was everywhere?

The taxi jolted to a stop, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Here we are.” The driver nodded towards the sleek, glass building.

Blake thanked the man and climbed out of the car.

David’s words echoed relentlessly in his head.

If you’re not careful, you’re going to lose everything — his company, his shares, his money, his future.

But standing there, staring at the towering building that represented all of it, Blake found he couldn’t summon the usual fear or urgency.

For once, the weight of Heartbook didn’t feel like the most pressing thing in his life.

Instead, he found himself thinking about Ellie.

He should be heading upstairs, cleaning up the mess from his hair, and calling David to strategise. Maybe even shooting another message to the APEX group for their take on how to deal with the situation. That had been the plan.

But right now, the thought of explaining himself to David or enduring Michelle’s sharp commentary felt exhausting. What he really wanted was something far simpler.

He wanted to hear Ellie’s voice. Her laugh, the way she teased him without trying too hard, the fire in her eyes when she talked about her dream for LifeWrite. She’d made him feel like a person, not a headline or a cautionary tale.

Blake rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a slow breath. He’d never been one to lean on others, but there was something about her that made him want to open up, to keep the conversation going.

He slipped his phone into his pocket and headed inside, his footsteps echoing in the lobby’s marble-clad quiet. He still had a business to protect, a reputation to salvage, and a board of directors to face, but in the back of his mind, one thought lingered, clear and insistent.

If he could choose, he’d be talking to Ellie right now.