HATE ME AGAIN: a bad boy romance novel Read online

  “She legal?”

  “Fuck, Mason. Is this who you are now?”

  “Who?”

  “This… version…”

  “Got a problem?” I asked.

  Hunter shook his head. “Man, you really want everyone to hate you.”

  “What did you want with me? Something about a client?”

  “Yeah,” Hunter said. He started to walk and I followed. “We still get resistance from customers since you left. You kind of just faded out and it looks shitty. No goodbye or anything. But I’ve got one who needs you to confirm I’m as good as you.”

  “Fair enough,” I said. “How is business?”

  “Great,” Hunter said. “I started taking some cars and trucks.”

  “Really?”

  “It’s lucrative. I get people coming out from Vegas to have me tear up their cars and turn it into something that will get noticed. And you know damn well it’s hard to get noticed out there.”

  Vegas. Fuck. The place where I ended up married after a crazy night of partying.

  Hunter stopped at the office door that used to be mine. He paused and smirked at me. Then he opened the door and let me in. It had been redone just like the front office. It was all Hunter. And that was good for him. He deserved it. He helped me build the business and put up with all my bullshit for years.

  “Looks good in here,” I said.

  “Thanks. Now sit and let’s talk.”

  I took a seat and Hunter grabbed a folder.

  “Who’s the one giving you shit?” I asked. “Need me to get my old baseball bat and rough them up?”

  Hunter laughed. He spun the folder around and slid it to me. “Tell me if this rings any bells.”

  I opened the folder and it was a picture of Violet.

  I hadn’t seen her since she left but I never forgot what she looked like. But seeing a picture of her was something else.

  I looked up and curled my lip. “What the fuck is this?”

  “I’m trying to find out where my best friend went,” Hunter said.

  “You fucking lied to me? You said you needed my help. You just wanted me here… to do this?”

  “To see your reaction, Mason. I know the real Mason is somewhere in there. Hiding behind all those fucking tattoos and that long hair and messy beard.”

  I shut the folder, threw the chair back, and stood up. Hunter stood up, too. I couldn’t help myself as I reached across the desk and grabbed for him. I pulled him right over his own damn desk, sending papers, a phone, and a lamp all crashing to the floor.

  I turned and threw him. He caught his balance and waved his hands at me.

  “Come on,” he said. “Get it out.”

  I charged, wanting to fucking kill him. I didn’t need anyone to throw my own goddamn emotions in my face. I wasn’t a child who needed to be babysat.

  I wrapped my arm around Hunter’s neck and twisted.

  He turned and put his right hand to my gut and pushed, driving me into the wall. A picture frame fell and shattered. I turned and pushed at him, letting him go. I threw a punch, barely getting him in the jaw. He threw a left hook and caught me square in the jaw. It sent me stumbling back a few steps.

  I charged again and this time we ended up bear hugging each other, spinning, smashing against wall after wall until one of us tripped and took the other down. We rolled on the floor, growling, throwing punches that barely hit the target.

  When we broke apart, we were like high school chicks kicking at each other as we went to separate corners.

  Hunter had blood on the corner of his mouth. His pretty polo shirt was stretched out. I felt like I had a baseball hanging off my jaw.

  The door opened and Steph came running in. She looked around and gasped.

  “Should I call the police?” she asked Hunter.

  “Go take a break,” Hunter said. “Shut the door.”

  The door closed and I stared at Hunter.

  “You feel better?” I asked.

  “A little,” he said. He got to his feet and walked to me and offered his hand. “Just take my fucking hand and don’t be a prick.”

  I grabbed his hand and let him help me to my feet.

  “What have you been doing besides getting tattoos?” Hunter asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “What happened with her? Shit just fell apart…”

  “That’s life.”

  “Come on, Mason. Don’t shut me out.”

  I walked away from Hunter. I went to his desk and put my hand on the folder. “She found out I was married.”

  “Married?”

  “That Vegas trip,” I said. “I got hitched that night. Didn’t think anything of it. It was all bullshit anyway. I didn’t love her. She just pops around when she needs cash.”

  “And you give her cash?”

  I looked back at Hunter.

  “Ah, fuck,” Hunter said. “You give her cash and she fucks you. You piece of shit. That’s why Violet left?”

  “She doesn’t know anything. She heard the word wife and it was done.”

  “You didn’t tell her the truth?”

  “Hunter…”

  “You didn’t even fight for her? You fucking loved her, man. You should have stopped her. Told her the damn truth. You don’t love that woman. She’s not a real wife.”

  “It is what it is.”

  Hunter grabbed for the door. “You know what, brother? I get why everyone hates you. You just let Violet walk out without a word. You left her believing you were married and that she was a fucking whore. How do you think she feels right now? You probably don’t even think about that. Do me a favor, man. Get the fuck out of here and cut your hair. Clean up. Asshole.”

  Once Hunter got all that shit off his chest, he left the office.

  I opened the folder and stared at the picture of Violet.

  “You’re wrong, brother,” I whispered.

  He said I probably didn’t even think about how she felt.

  That was wrong.

  I thought about it all the time. It’s why I drowned myself in booze and women. I wanted to chase it away, but I couldn’t. She meant too much to me.

  I shut the folder.

  It could have been a poignant moment for me right then. Maybe take the chance to go find Violet and fix shit.

  But that wasn’t my style.

  The world was a better place when it hated me.

  So I left and went to find some real comfort.

  A stiff drink and a beautiful woman.

  2

  Honey, I’m Home (Cringe)

  (Violet)

  I turned the key and shut my eyes. There was no feeling quite so empty as entering your apartment with a sense of dread. But it was my own fault, though. I let things fall into place as they did. I never meant to run from Mason as quickly as I did. I never meant to stay away from him like I did. Part of me waited for him to track me down but the other part knew he never would. At the same time, wasn’t I worth it?

  Opening the door to his apartment and having some beautiful woman stand there and say I’m his wife was the worst feeling I could remember. I had no choice but to leave right then. I was not going to be some side piece. I was going to be strong and stand up for myself.

  But truthfully… I regretted it. If that makes me a bad person, then I’m a bad person.

  I walked into the apartment and listened.

  There was no other sound.

  I was alone for once.

  I bit my bottom lip and pulled a fist against the side of my body like I had just scored a goal or something in a game. In reality, I only scored a few minutes of alone time before he came home.

  Home.

  This apartment wasn’t a home.

  It was all temporary.

  I walked to the kitchen table and looked around. Everything in the place had been staged. I paid a year’s worth of rent on a fully-furnished apartment. The money for the fashion app I worked on with Victoria had come through and I had a se
nse of freedom I never thought possible. Yet, I didn’t actually feel free. It was amazing how money seemed to be the catalyst to change everything but for me it didn’t change the main thing I wanted.

  My heart.

  My heart was still broken from Mason. I knew the risk of playing too close to the fire. I liked touching the flame. I liked being burned. The problem? I didn’t expect the fire to disappear.

  I missed him but I hated him. I hated him so much. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of him or picture that woman at the door.

  I’m his wife.

  He said he lost her, right? The woman… his wife… that was Kate, right? My mind could spin for hours and days trying to piece things together. I should have just gone after him and demanded answers. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t see him with his wife.

  The pain was real inside me and it hadn’t had a chance to settle.

  My phone vibrated against the kitchen table.

  “Hey, Mom,” I said as I took the call.

  I used to answer the phone bubbly and excited. Now I answered the phone with a lump in my throat and my brain mentally preparing me for the worst phone call ever.

  “All is well,” she said.

  She always said that, reassuring me that Dad was okay.

  Remember how I said that hearing that woman say I’m his wife was the worst feeling ever? Well, it was only matched when my mother called to tell me Dad had been diagnosed with cancer. Call it crazy as anything, but after he fell off the ladder and had to keep getting checked out, the doctors found that he had cancer in his kidneys. Just as he was starting to feel better from his injury he was faced with something else. And this something else had begun to spread and left him with rounds of chemotherapy and turning into a shell of who he used to be.

  Yet he fought. Every single day he kept fighting. The doctors reassured me and Mom that he had a good chance of surviving. That was all well and good but when you watched the man who stood as your strong hero turn into a feeble man, losing his hair, tired all the time, it was a hard left turn to take.

  “How is Dad?” I asked.

  “Good. Today he’s good.”

  “I want to come see you later. I just got home. I had a meeting that ran longer than I expected.”

  “That’s good, Violet,” Mom said. “You need to keep living. Keep working on your career and your life. That’s what he wants for you. That… and to know what happened with you and Mason.”

  I shut my eyes again.

  My father took to Mason. Of all the people in the world to connect with, it had to be him. I had feared Mason would end up making an ass of himself, but instead, he cracked the hardest shell around my father and won him over. That made my life even more complicated considering my current relationship status.

  “I talked to you about that,” I said. “It just didn’t work.”

  No, I didn’t tell my parents that Mason was married. Foolish, right? I had the chance to bury him like the asshole he was. Throw him right under the bus because he deserved it. Yet I didn’t do it. I simply told my parents that it wasn’t meant to be. Dad didn’t like to hear that. With Mom, I went a little deeper, but never gave her the entire story.

  “I really don’t want to talk about that,” I said.

  “Then tell me about your meeting,” she said. “I need some good news.”

  “Well, the app was very successful,” I said. “So, we’re going to be adding more and more content to it. I guess that’s the next step in everything. I have to stay on top of Victoria to keep designing. I also got an offer to work on some financial app, too.”

  “I’m so proud of you,” Mom said. Her voice cracked. “I’m serious. You were always so smart. I wish me and Dad had more to give…”

  “Why would you ever say that?” I asked. “You gave me everything I ever needed. A home. A family. College. And then I was able to go out on my own. Whether you realize it or not, Mom, the greatest thing you and Dad ever did was just be there in the background for me. I knew, even on my worst day, that if something terrible were to happen, I could come back home. Whether it was to just get a meal or a hug or a laugh.”

  “I want you happy, Violet,” Mom said.

  Now the conversation was taking a wicked turn. A turn I didn’t want to deal with.

  “Mom,” I said.

  “Violet. I’m being serious.”

  “I can’t do this right now.”

  “Right,” she said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t overstep. I wanted to call and let you know that I’m cooking a big dinner tomorrow night. Your father wants to have a family dinner. You know he eats from the couch or bed and he’s mad about that. He wants me to cook a turkey and he wants to stand at the head of the table and carve it.”

  “A turkey? Are you kidding me?”

  “Oh, I’m not. So, I have to somehow find a turkey to cook.”

  I laughed. “Sorry. But I can picture him saying he wants a turkey. And you raising an eyebrow and asking if he’s serious.”

  “That’s exactly how it went,” Mom said. “Sick or not, I can’t turn down a family dinner. You’ll be there?”

  “Of course, I’ll be there. I’ll be there tonight, too. I’m here to help, Mom.”

  “I know you are. But we have to be careful about treating him like a patient too much. I read somewhere that it could make him depressed.”

  “I’m not treating him like a patient,” I said. “I’m… I’m trying to figure out life and I need my mom and dad.”

  “Okay,” Mom said. “That sounds good, Violet.”

  I heard the apartment door open and my heart started to race. Not the same kind of racing that happened when I would hear or see Mason. Or feel Mason touch me everywhere…

  “I’ll catch up with you later,” I said. “I love you, Mom. Give Dad a kiss from me. A kiss because I love him, not because he’s sick.”

  “You got it,” Mom said. “Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  I ended the call and braced myself for what was to come.

  “Honey! I’m home!” a voice echoed through the apartment.

  Granted, the first time I heard that, it was maybe cute. But hearing it every time he came home was just… cringe-worthy.

  I waited in the kitchen and painted a smile on my face.

  “There you are,” he said, entering the kitchen. “How was your day? How did your meeting go? Did you sign any more deals?”

  I looked at his face.

  I couldn’t believe what I had done. Running right back into something that resembled comfort. He was my first love but he wasn’t my true love.

  “Violet?” he asked.

  I swallowed hard. In my mind, I just kept saying his name, still trying to figure out how everything got so crazy so fast.

  I exhaled and whispered his name.

  “Davis.”

  Yes, I know. It was crazy. Davis was the boy I loved in high school. We were together and he insisted that I give him my virginity or else. The or else turned out to be his cheating on me, breaking my heart, and that was that. Until it wasn’t. He had been engaged but that turned out to be fake. And then when things went bad with Mason and Dad got sick…

  Davis slipped a hand around to my back and pressed his lips to my cheek.

  “I missed you today,” he whispered. “So fucking much.”

  His tongue flickered at my ear. He let out a groan. It wasn't sexy, though. It was like he’d just relieved himself in the bathroom or something.

  It made me cringe again.

  Davis was wildly attracted to me because I would finally sleep with him. The one conquest he always wanted and he got it. It also helped that I had money and was working on deals to make more money. He was stuck in a dead-end job, trying to work on some business idea.

  Whatever.

  It was the worst timing when he came crashing into my life. Right after Dad got sick and started his treatments. He knew the right things to say at the right time
. And maybe he wasn’t the worst guy in the world, and maybe eventually it would all click and make sense for me and him.

  “Come here, Violet,” he whispered. “I want to feel you. I want to feel myself inside you. I’m getting so hard right now.”

  He groaned again.

  My phone vibrated on the table and I jumped away from Davis.

  He stared at me, his eyes squinting with anger.

  “Sorry,” I said. “It’s Victoria. Business…”

  “Yeah, take the call,” he said. “Good luck. Get those deals going, Violet. I’m proud of you.”

  He always pointed at me when he said that.

  I’m proud of you… with his chubby finger pointed at me. His high school class ring on his pinky finger. A piece of chewed-up green gum in his mouth. He looked like a coach telling his athlete he did well on a play.

  Davis was the complete polar opposite of Mason and maybe that’s why I felt that way. But there was history here and the combination was deadly.

  “Victoria,” I said as I walked toward the door that led to the balcony. “What’s happening?”

  “Meetings were good?”

  “Yeah. We’re all sort of waiting on you. No pressure.” I laughed.

  “I have plenty to do here. I have a bottle of wine. My door is locked. Chinese food is on the counter.”

  “I’m totally jealous,” I said. “I sort of miss my alone time.”

  “Well, you did kind of ride from the big bad hunk to the high school sweetheart pretty fast. Those are two very opposite trains.”

  “Yeah I know. Just everything with my father…”

  “How is he?”

  “Mom said ‘good’ today. I’m going to go visit him in a little bit.”

  “Well, if you get a chance you should swing by my place for a night. Just you and me.”

  “And wine and Chinese food?” I asked so eagerly it was almost pathetic.

  “Yes,” Victoria said with a laugh. “Hey, are you sure you’re happy?”

  “I can’t answer that question right now,” I said. “I have so much on my plate, Victoria. I’m just trying to sort through it.”

  “Okay. Well, you know where I live if you need anything. I’ll have some designs by tomorrow.”

  “Talk to you later,” I said.