Lahat ng Kabanata ng Kiss It Better: Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

“Shoulda known better,” I mumble as I watch the ice cubes slowly melt in my Jack and Coke. “Shoulda fuckin’ known better.”“You know, talking to yourself is a bad sign. Do I need to bring you by the hospital?”I look up at Lexy, the rocker-chick bartender at Chrissy’s, who’s giving me a look like she either feels bad for me or thinks I’m pathetic – maybe a mixture of both.I’m a little tipsy and still wondering what the fuck just happened. Actually, I know what happened, Donna totally ambushed me. She invited me to dinner just so she could flaunt her rich, city-girl life in my face. I bet she loved having two guys fight over her like that. I haven’t been in a fight over a girl since Tommy Clarence pushed Emma Carlsen on the playground in fourth grade.“Do they have any treatments for a broken heart?” I ask with a smirk.She was mine. Donna was mine, and now I’m sitting miserably at the bar, trying to keep the images of her with Bradley out of my mind by filling it with booze. Just the

The speed at which Vincent moves takes my breath away. Before I can blink, his rough hands are around my waist, and then I’m on his shoulder as he’s carrying me toward the back of the garage. I feel his taut back muscles against my stomach, and his manly scent has my head already spinning.I hear him kick a door open and find myself in what looks like a break room. He slams the door shut behind us, then throws me down on an old dirty couch that smells of must and wear.“Oh, fuck,” I gasp, my mouth hanging open as he slides out of his shirt, revealing his pristine body to me. I trace the lines of his abs with my eyes and feel myself get even wetter than I already was as he pops the top button of his pants. I kick off my heels and get to work on my pants.I need him. Now.He helps me out, grasps my jeans by the ankles and tugs, almost yanking me off the couch with them.“They’re tight!” he laughs under his breath, finally getting them off. I reach up to grab his face and pull it to mine

One month later…I can hardly contain myself as I pull up to the shop in my new beater. It’s not even close to the Bentley, but I don’t care. In fact, I kind of like it. The passenger side window sticks, so I’ve made sure to not let anybody roll it down, and it doesn’t have Bluetooth for my phone, but Vincent assured me the engine is solid and the AC is so cold it almost makes snow. But the car is the smallest, most inconsequential change that I’ve gone through in the last month.I told Ruth I wasn’t going to marry Bradley. Her response was about what I expected; first, she got indignant and asked me if I was crazy, then she tried to be nice and persuade me that being taken care of by him and his money would be best for me. Then when she saw I wasn’t going to budge, she threw a hissy fit and broke a few glasses and some plates.“You’re just going to run off with some jerk who does oil changes for a living?” she shouted at me. Her classism was despicable. “Do you know the kind of life

Gunsyn Krovsky is a devil.The most feared kingpin in the ruthless Russian Mafia, he has the world on the palm of his hands. When Irene witnesses one of his murders, he knows she must be taken care of and made to keep shut, perhaps for the rest of her life.But there's something about Irene, something that keeps him from eliminating her right away. She's smashed into his soul, and makes him rethink everything. His empire, his life, his worth, his future. More so, she has something he desperately needs.But once the devil gets his taste, will be let her go free? Or will he make Irene his forever?---------------------1 - Irene.“Why are men such wimps these days? Is it that hard to just ask a girl out?”Kyle grins and shakes his head as he throws another portion of fries in the fryer. “Don’t you have a date tonight, Irene?”“Only because Breanna set it up for me,” I reply as I clock out.“She really wanted that studly investment banker dude to offer to be her sugar daddy,” Chris, the

As the man moves toward me, my body finally wakes up, and I remember how to move my legs. But as I turn to run, my hands forget how to hold things and I drop my phone and purse onto the pavement.“Help!” I cry out. My voice echoes off the lonely walls of the alley. I hear the sound of quickened steps behind me. My body goes tense, preparing itself for the stab in the back I’m surely about to receive. I open my mouth to scream again, but a rough palm clasps my lips and squeezes my jaw shut, causing me to almost bite my tongue.“Oh, no, no, no,” my attacker whispers in my ear. “Don’t do that, beautiful. You really don’t want to do that.”I brace myself as tears spill from my eyes.He’s going to kill me. I’m about to be lying on the pavement, dead, just like that poor man he just murdered. And there’s nothing I can do about it.“Christ, what a turn of events,” he growls, pulling me close. He’s enormous and towers over me like a wild beast, his muscled body threatening to crush mine again