Yours Book 2: Gaining Experience (Yours Series)

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opyright
© 2016 by Blue Saffire.

A
ll rights reserved
. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

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lue Saffire
/Perceptive Illusions Publishing, Inc.

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P
ublisher’s Note
: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

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rdering Information
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Y
ours 2
: Gaining Experience/ Blue Saffire. -- 1st ed.

T
o all my
sisters that share their lives with me. Love you Firettes.

S
ephora

T
welve long hours
, twelve long excruciating hours, it has been twelve hours since I left that horror scene back at the hotel. For twelve hours I have been shattered and numb. It only took Luke half an hour to have me booked on a flight.

Unfortunately, or maybe it was fortunate, I had to wait two hours for my flight. I was in a daze at first and didn’t realize that my flight was actually booked for New York. I had no idea why Luke would send me to New York. New York is the last place I want to go. So much pain and devastation lives in New York for me.

The last thing I want to do is go to the one place that could make this all feel that much worse. So for almost two hours I sat and thought to myself. Mark had once said that Luke only wanted the best for me and that I did make my own decisions. Luke was just always there to make it all happen.

Mark was right. It had become so natural to me to lean on Luke to make things better. When our family started to crumble Lucian was the one there to make sure we didn’t crumble with it. I’ve been fighting for my independence all this time, but the first thing I do when something goes wrong is run to my big brother to fix it.

So I sat in the airport and let my brain chasten me about my latest choices.
When are you going to take charge of your life? Have you learned nothing in the last three months? You are so much stronger than this. You can’t go back to the old Sephora. You won’t fit in her box anymore.

Think about it. Everything is different. You have a job now, your own money. Daddy can’t take things away from us anymore. You don’t have to rely on anyone to do what you want or to be strong. Don’t mess this up for us, Sephora.

There are a million Nick’s in the world and you are young. You have time to find love, but first you have to find you. Do what is right for you Sephora. You have come a long way. Don’t let this stop you know. If he doesn’t love you, it’s his loss. You are beautiful inside and out.

I don’t need Lucian to bail me out. I do have my own money. I’m not the teenage girl that had the rug pulled out from under her feet. My father can never hurt me again and lately I haven’t let my mother’s words get to me either.

In fact, Nicholas Lincoln will never get a chance to hurt me again either. I’m over people taking me and my feelings for granted. Speaking of taking things for granted. There is someone I have taken for granted for too long and it is time that I be a real friend.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed the number this time instead of sending a text. It just rang out to voicemail the first time, but I am not giving up this time. After my fifth call an aggravated sounding Kimmie answered the phone. I don’t give her time to fuss at me and to tell me to get lost. I dove right in.

“I need you. And you need me. Where are you,” I said with a trembling voice.

Kimmie sighed into the phone. “Yeah, you couldn’t have called at a better time. I need you more than you know,” she sniffled. “I’m in Seattle.”

I leapt to my feet almost ready to shout. I can’t believe she is right here. I almost left not knowing my friend was right under my nose. I left the gate to the flight to New York behind without a second thought. My feet were carrying me forward before I had a full plan in place.

“Kimmie, text me your address. I’m here in Seattle at the airport. I’ll jump in a cab,” I said into the phone.

“Oh my God, are you serious? What are you doing here? Did Nick tell you I was here,” Kimmie gasped.

“Long story,” I said trying to keep my words from quivering. “Everything has changed and I think I’m ready to change too, but we can talk about that when I get there.”

“Okay… I just sent you the address. Sophi,” Kimmie murmured.

“Yeah, Kim,” I replied.

“I still love him, okay,” she whispered. “Don’t judge me for that.”

“I think you know me better than that. Besides, I don’t know what happened.”

“I know. I just wanted to say it now. Before you get here,” with that Kimmie hung up the phone without me getting to say another word.

“Men are stupid,” I grumbled under my breath as I got into a waiting cab.

And that is how I ended up in Kimmie’s Seattle apartment, twelve hours later. I am curled into a ball spooning with my best friend as we fall to pieces together. I will be strong later, but for now I just need to be.

* * *

N
ick

“I don’t want a drink,” I growl and narrow my eyes at Luke. “I want Sephora. You know where she is, don’t you? Luke this is not the time to play games with me. Tell me where she is.”

I haven’t slept since yesterday before leaving for a day of what should have been the best deal of my career. Sephora and her team managed to turn my million-dollar idea into a multi-billion-dollar idea, all in the span of three months. The woman is more amazing than I had ever dreamed she would be.

I don’t just love Sephora. I am in love to the point of obsession. If I were honest, I may have closed my eyes, but I haven’t really slept since the last time she was in my arms. On the inside, I had been beside myself that she would finally be joining me in Seattle.

All I could think about as I sat in my meeting was when I would finally have her in my arms. And then everything changed. I watched as the weasel face VP, that never really wanted to complete the deal, entered the meeting with a smug smile on his face.

He planted a file in front of the President and the CFO and whispered something to them both. A break was called to the meeting and I got on the phone immediately with the team back in New York. I was frustrated when no one could give me insight as to what could be going on.

When the meeting was called back into session the CFO announces that the deal was off the table, due to some information that recently came to their attention but they would not elaborate. To say I was furious was an understatement.

I left the meeting not showing how enraged I was, but I certainly planned to get to the bottom of things. That is until I returned to my hotel suite to stumble over Sephora’s luggage. I knew something was off right away.

My suspicions were confirmed once I saw the rumpled bedding and the discarded towels in my bathroom. A million thoughts ran through my mind. I know it was Sephora’s luggage. It was the set I bought for her. What I didn’t understand was why it was here so soon. I had planned to meet her at the airport that evening.

Kevin was the first person I called. My friend has always been more than a friend, business partner, driver or my chef. Kevin Briggs started out as my personal security before even I knew it. My parents contacted him when they sent me off the boarding school.

Kevin and Luke have been with me through some of the toughest times in my life. I prayed this wouldn’t be another. I exited the room to question the front desk as I told Kevin what was going on. It wasn’t long before he had his team digging into the matter.

I was blinded by rage when I did speak to the desk clerk. She told me the details nervously, fearing for her job. What she didn’t know was that I owned the place and the only one out to lose their job was her manager that forced her to give a key to my room to someone without checking their ID.

Once I had the information I needed I returned to my room to pack my things in case I needed to go after Sephora. I didn’t know how much of a head start she had on me. As I paced my room waiting for a word from Kevin a knock came at the door. I held my breath with hopes that it would be Sephora returning. On the other side of the door, I found the nervous desk clerk and an old man.

The man explained that he was a cab driver and Sephora had paid him to drop her off at the train station and paid him extra to deliver the package with her collar inside. The sight of her collar stuffed inside an empty makeup bag gutted me.

When I ask the driver how long ago he dropped her off, he said at least three hours. She could have been anywhere by then. I texted Kevin with the information to see if he could find her train.

I smashed my phone against the wall when he informed me that her train left two hours ago for California. It is only now that I am sitting here looking at Lucian, that I know Sephora never got on a train and the cab driver probably never dropped her at the train station in the first place.

“You can take that tone with me if you want, but I think you would be better off if you understood what my sister is thinking right now,” Luke says with a smug grin on his face.

I grit my teeth knowing he is right. I need to know what the hell happened. Why would Sephora take off the way she did and why would she take off her necklace? I run a frustrated hand through my hair and reluctantly nod for him to go on.

“Sephora walked in on a naked Jillian in your bed. She said Jillian’s face was flushed and the sheets look like you two just finished fucking. Jillian made it seem like you were in the shower and you two were plotting on a way to tell her the truth about the two of you. She made it sound like you used Sophi for this deal,” Luke says angrily.

“And you believed this shit,” I ask incredulously.

“Not at first, but the way Sophi describe the scene I didn’t know what to believe. When she first called I was pissed, I thought you had hurt her physically. I had made the arrangements for her to get away before I had the details. When I called her back with the information she told me what happened,” Luke shrugs. “I was skeptical at first, but Jillian put on one great show from what Sephora described. I ask Sophi if she really thought you were in the bathroom, she said she heard someone moving around in the shower. It was your room, bro. What do you want us to think?”

“I expect my best friend and the woman I love to know me better than to think that I would be fucking the devils spawn. I loathe that woman. I wouldn’t touch her if she was the last woman on earth,” I growl. “Fuck!”

Luke sighs and pulls his phone from his pants pocket. I stand to get that drink he mentioned earlier. I don’t understand how Sephora can think that I would do something like this. Four fucking years I remained celibate, not a date, not a quick fuck. I waited four years to be with the only woman that can drive me insane with want and desire, while causing me to see life through a source of light once again.

I would never betray what we have. It is my hope that one of these days I will be able to share my demons with her and she won’t go running and screaming from me. My past is just so bitter for me to swallow that I don’t want to taint her innocence and beauty with my truth, although I know that I have to in order for us to move forward.

I am ripped from my thoughts by Luke’s growl. “What do you mean she never arrived,” Luke snarls. “When did you plan to inform me of this?”

I look up to see all the blood has drained from his face. This is not good. My chest tightens as I realize that no one knows where Sephora is. This has really become a nightmare.

“Where are you, my butterfly,” I mutter to myself.