184Tyler's mouth dropped as he gaped at her saying those words. "Good friends? I never said we could not be good friends. But even to be friends, you have to communicate. But you didn't, Claire. You left me hanging like it didn't matter." "I..." She stared at him in disbelief. "I seriously don't know what you're saying, Tyler. When did I not communicate?" "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Claire. The flowers, the message, my feelings... complete radio silence." He stepped closer. Claire shifted away uncomfortably, "I really don't know what you're saying. I really don't. What flowers?" "WHAT FLOWERS?" He laughed frustratedly. "Are you joking with me? You can't really forget it. I sent you fucking flowers with a note in it, Claire. It was on the very day I told you that I like you. Do you remember anything?" Claire reeled back to that day. She had been shaken to her core when he said he liked her. Tyler had come to her life like a creak providing light in a closed dark ca
185Claire's heart stopped beating as everything around her began to throb. The corner of her eyes pained and blurred out her peripheral vision. It was as if all her focus was directed to the man in the center of her vision and white blinking dots squirmed on the corner. "You are joking with me, right?" Her tone was bled dry of emotions, her baritone hoarse like she would cry any moment now. However, Tyler's serious face and how still he was sitting, looking at her reaction to the news suggested that he wasn't. He wouldn't joke with her about such a sensitive topic. Ezma had been everything to him. His first love. He was still stuck on her, and definitely, he wouldn't joke like this and humiliate himself as well. "T-this can't... This... I..." Claire couldn't form a comprehensible sentence as her lungs were aching for oxygen.She felt her fingers turning cold and the tips burned like she dipped them in ice. The back of her neck pricked with a stinging sensation while her forehead b
186"There comes my hero! You're just in time, Tye. I was about to serve lasagna to everyone." Tia Murphy glowed joyfully upon seeing her son. She came over to him and hugged him. Tyler hugged back with a sigh and a small smile. His mother was a little... Overbearing. But she loved him like her precious diamonds. He chuckled because his comparison was inaccurate. Tia loved him more than diamonds. He knew that because once he and Shawn pulled a prank on her. It was around the time when he was a teenager and Shawn was younger. They fake called her as a kidnapper and lied that Tyler was taken down. The price for saving his life was in billions. She hadn't hesitated to sell her diamonds worth billions. It was intimated to them by their father, who was involved in the prank with the boys. He was at the house with his wife when the call came. John Murphy had witnessed her cry and sob as she frantically stuffed her jewelry in a bag to take them to sell. He had been amused too, because he k
187"Tye! Are you okay, sweetheart?" Tia rose from the corner of the couch and hurried at Tyler who was choking on his food."Here, drink water." Tia helped him take gulps of water as she rubbed his back.While she attended to Tyler, Shawn covered his mouth to hide his laugh."What the hell did you do to my baby, you little demon?" Tia scolded Shawn."I didn't do anything. Ask your twenty-nine year old baby if you don't believe me... Which I know you don't!" Shawn made a face.Tia was about to give him a piece of her mind when Tyler held her hand. “I'm fine, mom.” He kissed her knuckles and coaxed her to go back to her place. “You were leaving, weren't you? Why are you sitting here still? Go join the dirty bikers club and soil our name.” Tia glared at her younger one. Shawn rolled his eyes, “I changed my mind, mom. My brother can't carry the burden of our business alone on his shoulders. I'm staying back so I can help him carry the load.”“You will join the business only when you'r
188Tyler spent the night battling with himself. He was amused by the disclosure his brother made regarding Mr. Argent's impression of him. It was... A nice thing to hear.He was described as a playboy on the internet as his PR kept releasing false dating rumors. A few days before he arrived at Bloomcrest, his PR created a controversy featuring him. Despite all that Mr. Argent considered him suitable for his gorgeous daughter. Claire was an epitome of elegance and happiness. She could get any man. Why him? His head ached thinking about it all night. The next morning when he came down to the breakfast table, Tia was absent. "Your mother had a morning yoga class." His father informed, making him exhale in relief. Tyler joined him for breakfast. His father was constantly gazing at him while he pretended to read a report on his tablet. He randomly swiped his finger on the screen, his eyes mindlessly staring at it. He was giving a commendable show of being busy. "You don't have to pret
189In the afternoon, Argent Mansion, "Claire, baby, should I bring your lunch to your room?" Claire stared at the door with puffy red eyes as she breathed noisily. She was in a chaotic state with hair in disarray, her lipstick smudged around her lips, her mascara running with tears, and her lips quivering as she attempted to keep her sobs in. She was not in the mindset to reply to her mother. But she couldn't keep her waiting either. Hence, gathering some strength, she answered, "I'm not hungry, mom." She hated how her voice sounded. It was raspy and bled with pain. "What do you mean you're not hungry? You didn't come down for dinner last night. Then you also skipped breakfast. Your father was worried, Laire. He had an important meeting to attend, otherwise he was going to come to see you." Her mother spoke worried from the other side of the door. She came several times since morning, and even yesterday to call her for dinner. Her mother knew she was suffering, but she couldn'
190Many women shared their own painful stories. Claire was motivated by them. Some of them send happiness and strength her way. She was about to close the app when a certain thread of comments caught her eyes. They spoke exactly what she had in mind. Reply: "What about Hunter? Where is he?" Reply: "Exactly! I'm sure he has realized he fúcked up. What now? Is he going back to Claire to apologize?"Reply: "He should! Even if he goes on his knees, it'll not be enough. Claire lost so much because of him."Reply: "God! So happy to see someone speaking my mind out. I want them together again, please!"Reply: "Claire's a gem. She's the real MVP, holding her head high despite everything. Let Hunter go crawling to her. But don't take him back, girl!" Reply: "Noo! Go away, hater! Claire and Hunter should be endgame. Don't you see it? When she loved him, he didn't. Now I hope the distance made his heart beat for her. I want to see them together... And maybe Zara's interference made him fall
191"You want me vulnerable, dependent on you... So you can use me. Isn't that right?" Tension and astonishment coiled through him. He stood transfixed, his heart speeding. Tyler gawked at her as he fought to block out her words."Claire, no..." He began serenely. "Don't lie!" Claire snapped, her tone sharp. "You've been waiting for the perfect moment to strike, haven't you? Now you're exploiting Hunter's infidelity to further your own agenda!" "Claire, stop. You're overthinking." Although her allegation pumped his own exasperation, he kept it under control. She was mournful and disturbed. Two angry individuals shouting at each other wasn't going to do them any good. That's why Tyler took it on himself to function with calmness, and handle this matter. "You're angry now, Claire. We'll talk when you're in a better mood." Tyler announced and started his walk to the door. "No, stay right here. You're not going anywhere unless I have this sorted." Claire pushed him away from the door
273Hunter's POV She stopped just a hand's distance away and blinked her doey eyes at me, "I know we've been through so much, and our past is complicated. But I don't want to rush into anything this time. I want to love the good part we missed before. I want us to take our time, to enjoy each other's company, to fall in love all over again. I want you to make me feel special.""I want our second chance to be different. I want it to be about us, about our love, about our connection. I want it to be real, and true, and raw. I want us to be vulnerable, to be open, to be honest with each other. I want this time to be our time. Our time to love, to laugh, to live. Our time to be us." Her lips trembled. She was having a war with herself whether to tell it to me or not. She chose to do it anyway and risk it all... Because, by sharing her feelings with me, she was exposing how desperately she wanted me. "I want us to create new memories, to make new mistakes, to learn from each other all o
272Hunter's POV "Claire, what's wrong? I thought we cleared our misunderstanding in the elevator." I said as I tried to move closer to her. It compelled her to take three, long steps away and put distance between us that overwhelmed me. A feeling of dread made my stomach heavy. What happened to her? Did I do something wrong? Was it because of Penelope? Yeah, it could be her. They have been friends for years, and while Claire didn't stop me from chasing her away, it doesn't mean she appreciated it. "If it's about Penelope then I can call her and apologize. I'm sorry, I didn't think it would hurt you to see me sending her away. But I did—" "It's not about Penny, alright." The heaviness in her voice made me stare at her. We've been so good. I was starting to believe it wasn't a dream. But we're going back to square one. I ran my fingers through my hair. My body was burning from heat and sweat. The suit was suddenly too tight for me and I had to undo the first few buttons and fan
271Hunter's POV"Why are you following me? Go! Don't you have a meeting to attend?" She feigned a glare, but the playfulness in her gaze and the excitement in her voice told me she loved me trailing after her."The biggest challenge at hand is just accomplished. Why would I bother about work? My PA will take care of it. It's time to celebrate!" I said smugly, walking behind her like her shadow. Claire tried not to blush but the way she lowered her gaze, I swear it took everything in me to not grasp her and kiss her on the lips. I can't believe she's doing it again. Can't believe that I could be forgiven so quickly again.She had been so mad at me. She had expressed her disgust loudly and made sure I felt every bit of her loath. But look at me, I'm following after her like I did earlier and she was happy. Her smile told me she was pleased. She liked it. She enjoyed it. Could I really be this lucky? Or is Claire stupid? She can't give me a second chance despite the pain she suffered
270Claire's POV Hunter is a man with a lust for revenge. He won't abandon his enemies unless he's seen them grasping for breath and bleeding in every way possible. What he's done to Tyler is somewhere unfair too. And though Tyler could fight back, he's been the bigger person between the two. All he's done is defend himself and avoid Hunter's attacks. But it should come to an end. I know both men. While one openly declares war and strikes mercilessly, the other one observes everything silently and creates his strategies. Tyler may look non-violent, but that's only on the surface. He's holding it together because of me these days. But when he'll snap, the explosion will be catastrophic. "And please stop being so abrasive and return his company shares back to him."Hunter sighed as he moved closer to me, "So, your friend wasn't lying about it." "About what?" "Second chance." A soft grateful smile seeped into his lips like honey.On the other hand, my jaw dropped in stupor. I gave h
269Claire's POV I could think of nothing else except for his hard body and how it felt under my belly when I was on his shoulder. My eyes lingered on his throat. There were crimson patterns my nails carved on his skin. In the reflection they looked hot on him. Suddenly an urge to trace them with my tongue throbbed through me. I stared at his throat before raising my eyes to his mouth— his mouth that I loved kissing. I think I'm the first woman in this world who desires a man more than a man would do to a woman. But can you blame me? When the man is Hunter MacIntyre, lust and arousal personified, sense and wisdom stops working. He had a strange kind of animal magnetism that drew me to him. I felt sixteen all over again and my thighs trembled. "I saw you burning Tia Murphy's car." I spoke to ease the tension between us. "It was not needed if you ask me." "Not needed?" My breaths hitched when he spoke. His voice was hoarse and it felt like he was going through the same painful mome
268Claire's POVA new variant of anger pumped through my veins, one that has never plagued me before. I was seeing red everywhere I saw and the desire to feel Hunter's blood on my fingers made me clench my teeth to control whatever crazy fit was taking over my body.I have been jealous before, but this was beyond my imagination. My heart was smoldering outrageously and my breathing was ragged. Hunter's expressions and his words worked like a dose of stimulant, triggering my indignation to another level of madness. How dare he say that? I've been thinking about him, non-stop, since we separated. I never had the chance to shift my focus on another man— he had always been on my mind, and yet he had the guts to say those things to annoy me. I stormed outside the mall from the main gate through which Penny and I had entered. It was dumb because Penny's car was parked in the opposite direction. I stopped to exhale a breath. People around me peered at me curiously. Some stopped to gossip
267The look of possessiveness on Claire's face made Hunter's heart whirl. He'd been praying to see this look in her eyes. Praying to know whether her heart still beat for him. Guess, it never fell out of love from him. The realization whipped smugness into his looks as Hunter amazedly grinned. He was loving seeing his Dove deal with the trouble that was Mona Rocha. "You bítch, what do you want? Weren't you kissing his enemy a few days back to insult him. So why this sudden show of possessiveness? Back off, he's mine now." Mona sneered as she managed to free herself from Claire's grip. She scooted towards Hunter and wound her hands around his arm. He wasn't happy by her sudden closeness. Hunter was about to pull away when Claire let out an animalistic cry before grabbing the front of Mona's top and shoved her aside. "You aggressive whóre! What the fuck is your problem?" Claire snickered, "It's you who have a problem understanding that you're greatly loathed by him.""Loathed by
266As they stole a glance from behind the wall, their faces went pale because a woman was pinning Hunter against the wall, trying to touch him desperately. On the other hand, he had a hateful scowl on his face as he aggressively held her arms to keep her away from him. "What part of 'I don't like you' was clear to you? What is your problem, huh? Stop coming after me, Mona. I've told you many times I'm not interested either in you or your twin sister. Can't you see the ring on my finger? I'm fucking taken." He gritted those words out as his eyes hardened in detestation. The woman, nevertheless, moved closer and pressed a hand on his crotch, causing his eyes to freeze on her face. Claire's heart nearly stopped at the shock as her fingers trembled on the wall where she had placed them. Her teeth clenched as her stomach fluttered in a fit of rage, watching the woman touch Hunter inappropriately.Her gaze lingered on her hand for as long as it was there. She didn't know that she was hol
265Even though the girls had a head mask that completely covered their faces, they chose to take cover behind cars as they closed in on Reggie stealthily. They crouched down to become smaller and avoid their reflections getting caught in the side mirrors of the parked car.Reggie was best in his field. His circumspection earned him the position he worked on. He wouldn't be the country's wealthiest man's chief bodyguard if he was lazy or sloppy. His confident stance said that he knew what he was doing, and the way he kept looking around from time to time, it showed he was multitasking between avoiding spectators and carrying out the order given to him.A point came when Tia suddenly halted in her tracks to rummage something in her purse. A low curse came from her mouth which was quite audible in the empty parking lot. She turned around and that's when Reggie's heightened senses kicked in. He leapt behind a car so smoothly that Claire and Penny's jaw unhinged, eyes stared unblinkingly a