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  Into the Light

  Part 2 of The Dark Angel Series

  Kat T. Masen

  Into the Light is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Into the Light is a registered trademark of Kat T. Masen.

  Copyright © 2014 by Kat T. Masen

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design by Clarissa Yeo

  www.yocladesigns.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  DEDICATION

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  DEDICATION

  To my street team,

  Thank you, Dark Angels, for your blood, sweat, and laughs.

  Chapter 1

  Nikki

  “Right there…right there…who’s your daddy?” Rocky hissed breathlessly while I ran my tongue along the tip of his cock, swallowing all his delicious juices. It had been our morning ritual lately, blow jobs before breakfast. It was quick and Rocky didn’t last long, which only meant that I gave great head – obviously.

  I pulled his boxers up, satisfied with myself for getting that done in less than two minutes. Now I had peace and quiet for the next half hour before we had to pack and head back home to the city. The Hamptons was a great place to relax, but I missed the pressure of work. I missed bossing people around and telling people to shove their million-dollar lawsuits up their asses. But I never called myself a workaholic. I wasn’t Charlie.

  If there was one word to describe Charlie it would be determined. Most of the time (and I emphasize MOST of the time) she knew what she wanted and was unstoppable. In college, she would cram in studying every second of the day she had free, which worked to my advantage because, let’s face it, I was too busy up to my ears full of Rocky’s jizz to be cramming like her, which explains why I’m a mom to a six-year-old at the ripe old age of twenty-six.

  She aced college, graduated almost top of the class, and without her we wouldn’t be Mason & Romano. She was steadfast and knew exactly how to make our firm a success. To add to that, the woman was a fucking goddess. She would walk down the street and you could see guys, strangers, walk past her with their dicks practically saluting her.

  The only area she couldn’t get right was her love life. I mean failure of epic proportions. She dated randomly throughout college but something or someone always held her back. I didn’t push, I wasn’t that type of person but I did work hard to organize blind dates with the hottest guys in college. I mean the ones that if Rocky wasn’t my husband, I would have rode them faster than a rollercoaster at Disney World. The point is that no one piqued her interest until Julian Baker came along.

  There is no question that he is Mr. Perfect, kinda scary because really there is no such thing. Everyone has a flaw, but with Julian, it was impossible to find it. When Charlie announced they were engaged, I was in shock because they had only been together six months. He was handsome so their babies would have made the Beckham kids look ugly, but she was still my best friend and something didn’t feel right.

  That was just the tip of the iceberg, until that beautiful jerk walked back into Charlie’s life. I knew who Lex Edwards was. Rocky rambled on about him every time he was on page six. In my lifetime, I never would have figured out it was the same man – THE Alex who Charlie would scream out for in her sleep. Her waking up drenched in a cold sweat with tears streaming down her face was exhausting that first six months we lived together. When I pieced the puzzle together, I realized there was more to this story than Charlie let on.

  Lex irked me, rubbed me up the wrong way. Not the way I normally would like to be rubbed up, but hey, the man was obscenely gorgeous. He had some hold over Charlie and without a shadow of a doubt, every time he was near her, her vagina celebrated like it won the Super Bowl. Bottom line is I loathed him. My best friend was fucked up royally over what he did to her and you always gotta have your girl’s back when the going gets tough. The thing is, I saw a change in him over the weekend. He wasn’t the man I thought he was. OK, yeah, I was becoming a soft bitch, but he revealed himself this weekend and I no longer saw him as the man who was splashed all over the tabloids. I saw a man who fell in love with a girl and did what he thought was right by everyone. Just because I saw this other side of him didn’t mean I lightened up, I was still a bitch – a hot bitch who gave the best head to her husband.

  I rolled over to my side and checked my cell quickly before hopping into the shower. In thirty minutes I was dressed, packed and ready to pick up Will from next door. I knew it would be a shit fight; Will hated leaving his friends, so I decided to grab a quick cup of coffee from the kitchen so I could muster the energy to deal with his impending tantrum.

  I found Rocky pacing up and down the kitchen clearly upset about something. “Babe, what’s wrong?” I asked as I poured myself that much needed cup of coffee. He threw me the paper, my eyes darting to the article he pointed to. My heart sank because I knew half of it was bullshit, but Charlie wouldn’t believe that. The house was quiet which I knew wouldn’t last once word got out. “Where is she?” I asked.

  “She drove back to the city, asked me to get her car back.” He looked worried. He always had a soft spot for her. He treated her like a sister and I loved him even more for it. I paced up and down the kitchen, mirroring Rocky.

  “Where’s Lex?”

  “Still sleeping I guess.”

  “Shit, Rocky. What did she say? Was she upset? Of course she would be upset.” I was panicked.

  “Babe, calm down.”

  I grabbed my cell and tried to dial her number. Straight to voicemail. I left a message as well as texted her. Lex needed to wake up. As the thought left my mind, he walked into the kitchen looking very content. He looked different, jubilant, like a man who got laid by the girl he was in love with.

  “Morning. Have you guys seen Charlotte?” he asked cheerfully.

  If this was two weeks ago I would have gladly thrown the paper at his face and told him he was nothing more than a selfish man-whore. But like I said, something changed. He was different. I saw this side to him that Charlie was once, and still was, in love with. This happy carefree fun-loving guy who adored her. I wasn’t surprised they were fucking all over The Hamptons. There was so much sexual tension between them that a hundred dildos couldn’t ease it. It only meant they were also having hot sex all over the joint. Eww. I wondered if they did it in the hot tub that night after we did… I told Rocky it was gross to jizz in the water but he said with my tits bouncing in front of him all wet, he couldn’t help himself.

  Rocky and I looked at each other as Lex asked about Charlie again. I stood there, arms folded, as Rocky passed him the paper. Lex looked at it confused. I watched his face ch
ange from confusion to rage as he read. He slammed the paper down on the table and grabbed his cell, muttering the words ‘you stupid bitch.’

  “Kate. Get me Victoria on the phone right now.” He slammed the cell down, leaning on the table for support. “Where is she?”

  “She went back to the city.”

  “How long ago?”

  “About half an hour.”

  “FUCK!” He slammed his fist against the counter startling the both of us. “This is the fucking bullshit press. Victoria is a fucking business colleague and nothing more. These pictures are not of us fucking. I’ve never touched the stupid whore nor would I ever!”

  I don’t know why I believed him. The thing is that even though I disliked him, he proved me wrong, something quite unheard of. He loved Charlie. And yeah, I knew the past was fucked up but that was seven years ago and they had both grown since then. I didn’t understand why Charlie had this massive trust issue, why she couldn’t see how much he loved her. I also knew tabloids could spin shit out of their asses and manipulate photos. I learned that the hard way when there was a photo of Rocky a few years back at a sporting event and it looked like a chick was blowing him. Now, I didn’t want to go taking his side, but I knew how stubborn Charlie was and right now I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy. Not that I was gonna tell him that.

  We needed to get back to the city as soon as possible and fix the damage that had been done. I knew Charlie and right now she would be shutting everyone out because that’s what she did. I tried her cell again, it went to voicemail. I asked Rocky to get Will from next door. It wasn’t long before Adriana and Elijah walked in.

  “Hey guys, what’s happening?” Adriana asked as she sat down at the table grabbing a banana and peeling it. She looked from me to Lex, confused by our silence.

  “Charlie’s gone,” I answered.

  “Gone? Where?”

  I handed her the paper, watching as Lex was standing at the window gazing outside. His eyes were glazed over and his expression looked heartbroken. Maybe he knew just like me how Charlie would take this.

  “Lex, is this true?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me, Adriana?” he shot back.

  “But the photos look, well...”

  “What, Adriana?”

  “Well, they look like what the article says.”

  “FUCK, ADRIANA!”

  “Lex, calm down,” Elijah said.

  “Don’t you get it? She finally fucking told me she trusts me and wants a future with me and then this happens. THIS IS SO FUCKED UP!” He slammed his fist on the counter, startling us. “Last night…” he mumbled.

  “Last night what?” Adriana asked as she put her arm around her brother’s shoulder, attempting to comfort him.

  “Lex, we need to head back,” I said. “Let me deal with her in the meantime. She needs to calm down. You need to make sure whoever posted this article retracts their words. Look, Will is going to be here any minute. Can you please not mention why she left?”

  A few seconds later Will walked in. He was elated to see Lex who tried his best not to show any anger in front of the child. I had to hand it to him, taking a kid’s feelings into account was hard to do when you were feeling like complete shit. Will asked where Charlie was so of course Adriana quickly explained that something urgent came up in the city. He didn’t seem to notice anything else but he begged Lex to ride in the car with us. Of course Lex agreed and that was the end of the conversation.

  We packed our things and drove out of the Hamptons. Adriana and Elijah took Charlie’s car and the rest of us took the RV that Rocky borrowed from a friend. I sat in the back with Will as he quietly played his DS. Every so often he would look up and asked if we were home yet. I scoured my emails for anything from Charlie. Nothing. Frustrated, I placed the cell back in my bag and stared out the window. Lex was texting furiously on his blackberry; the constant pinging sound kept coming through. Thankfully he at least had the decency to not answer calls because his words would be enough to make Will scared of him for life. A few moments later my cell vibrated. I grabbed it out of my purse. It was Eric.

  “What do you want?” I answered. I didn’t want to say his name because I knew Lex was listening.

  “Nikki what the hell is going on?” His voice was all high pitched, typical Eric in panic mode.

  “With what?” I asked, playing dumb.

  “With Charlie. She texted me and I found her crying in the basement of her building. She didn’t want to tell me what happened but Emma said there was some article about Lex being caught with his pants down this morning.”

  “Correct,” I answered.

  “Nikki, why are you talking like that? Oh wait, shit, is he with you?”

  “Sure, okay, yes, get the papers drawn up.”

  “Okay sorry, didn’t realize. Listen, she is in the office. It’s weird, Niks. She took a shower and got changed and it was like a different person emerged from the bathroom. She told me not to forward any personal calls to her, make sure security did not allow Lex in the building and she said no one was to enter her office including me. I don’t understand what I suddenly did wrong?” His voice quieted down. He was hurt and betrayed but he didn’t know the Charlie I knew. The one who, when in that dark place, didn’t care for anyone.

  “Let’s meet at midday. We’ll discuss any concerns then.”

  I hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

  Lex and Rocky glared through the rearview mirror. With Will in the car he couldn’t ask any questions so I wasn’t surprised that he texted me, clearly an act of desperation.

  Was that her??? Tell me what the fuck is going on.

  I didn’t appreciate him going off at me considering it wasn’t my dick that landed him in this hot mess but I did sympathize with him. I cringed, not liking that I was becoming a soft pussy all of a sudden. What the hell was wrong with me?

  No, it wasn’t her. I don’t know what’s going on apart from the fact that she has told our security you are not to enter our building so don’t even try to see her at work, Edwards.

  He clenched his fists into a ball as he read my text. It was the last of the conversation as we crossed the bridge into the city.

  The sky was gray as we drove in, a far stretch from the perfect blue we had experienced the past few days. The weather alerts predicted severe storms the next few days. How ironic, I thought. Rocky drove to the Waldorf where Lex was staying. As he pulled into the valet parking, I asked Rocky to park the car for a moment so I could have a word with Lex alone.

  “Do not fuck this up any further, you understand? Let her cool down. She is stubborn and if you push her, she will fucking run to Julian and then you might as well say bon voyage.”

  “What the fuck do you want me to do, Nikki? Stand here and do nothing? I need to see her and explain. You think I don’t know full well that she will run to him? That she’s probably already with him!”

  “Explain what, Lex? She won’t listen to you. I am warning you, do not attempt to approach her. Let me speak to her or I swear to God I will chop off your balls and wear them around the city as earrings.”

  “I’m sorry, Nikki, I can’t. I need to see her.”

  “Don’t be a stubborn asshole. Once again you broke her and once again I am left picking up the pieces. When I met that girl she was broken beyond repair. I don’t know exactly what else you did besides leave her but every night she would cry herself to sleep, wake up screaming your name. You might think this is fixable and maybe it is but you need to back off right now.”

  He looked at me, defeated. His eyes no longer shone that green that he was known for. Instead they looked dark, the ramifications of this situation weighing him down. He walked away to the entrance of the hotel before he disappeared through the glass doors. Heading back to the car I asked Rocky to take Will home as I headed into the office.

  As I entered the reception area, I caught sight of Eric sitting in his office. I walked in, closing the door beh
ind me.

  “What the hell happened, Nikki?”

  “Look, Eric, I don’t want to get into the semantics. How is she?”

  “A total mess when I found her.”

  “When you found her?”

  “Yeah, on the floor of the parking lot. She was crying. She texted me to meet her.”

  “And now?”

  “She’s in her office. She asked that no calls be transferred to her because she is working on the Mackenzie case. She seems to be okay now. I can’t believe Lex screwed her over again. I mean, those photos. WOW! Can’t the guy keep his beautiful dick in his pants?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me, Eric?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I can’t believe you actually bought that bullshit,” I answered, infuriated by his thirst for gossip.

  “What, you’re defending him now?” Stunned, he let out a laugh, thinking this was all a big fucking joke.

  “It was a piece of poorly written trash with a pathetic attempt at Photoshop. Do you think that a man who flew back to New York and almost blew a ten million-dollar business deal would do that if he didn’t love her? Do you honestly think that a man who makes millions of dollars a year would be stupid enough to fuck another business associate when he is trying to win back the only girl who holds his heart? It’s people like you that keep these fucking tabloids running. Honestly, Eric, I expected more from you.”

  “Nikki, I’m sorry, but...”

  “No buts, Eric. Stay out of this. Do not poison her mind, you understand? That girl is hurting right now even though she won’t admit it. All your ‘he’s a jerk and you’ve got Julian’ talk is not what she needs right now.”

  I stormed out of his office, furious at his narrow-minded attitude. I took a deep breath as I headed to her office. I didn’t knock; there was no point so I just barged in. She sat there silently typing on her computer. What concerned me was how normal she looked. Her hair was pinned up in a perfect bun, her clothes neatly pressed, her makeup flawless and if you didn’t know Charlie like I knew her, you would think nothing was wrong at all.