All Chapters of Asking for a Friend: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

LAYTONThree weeks after New Hampshire, I still hadn’t given Banks an answer to his odd request. I couldn’t really believe he would even ask such a thing, it was unheard of. As far as I knew, anyway. I’d done some homework since getting back from the meeting and it turned out that every property Banks owned had him listed as the architect.I didn’t know why the hell it was so important to him, but it was clearly something he’d been doing for a long time. Most architects didn’t have the money to cover the cost of a building if he threatened to pull out if they didn’t give him credit. I wasn’t most people.But I still hadn’t decided what I was going to do. Despite the fact that my inheritance was large enough to tide over several small countries for a year, and I’d had my own success and didn’t live too extravagantly. I had paid a small fortune for my apartment, but I figured that was both an investment and my sanctuary.My car was nice and I wore only tailored clothes. I wasn’t selfish

MARISSAFrustrated over Layton’s attitude about Banks wanting to take credit for his design, I left the office after our meeting. The only good thing that had come out of the day was meeting Craig.Layton talked to me about Craig sometimes and he mentioned him often. I knew Craig was not only Layton’s preferred contractor, but also his best friend.Meeting him was a big deal for me, and I’d been nervous about it. But it turned out I didn’t have to be. Craig and I were on the same line of the same page about the Banks thing, and generally speaking, Craig seemed like a great guy.I was surprised by how relaxed and easygoing he was. Before I got to know Layton, I wouldn’t have thought there was one easygoing bone in his body. I definitely wouldn’t have expected his best friend to be a guy like Craig.He had an easy smile, could talk the ear off a donkey if he liked you it seemed, or listen seriously when the situation called for it. It didn’t hurt that he wasn’t an ugly guy either. In fa

LAYTONOne of the things I loved most about my apartment was the view. It was in one of Boston’s old corner buildings and had a hundred and eighty degree view of the city below.I sat in my kitchen with a glass of water in front of me, my tie hanging loosely around my neck. I was already dressed for the office party later, but I wasn’t in much of a party mood.If my girls weren’t coming with me and Marissa hadn’t mentioned earlier how excited Annie was about the party, I would have gone to do the opening and then come straight back home.A night on my couch sounded like a much better idea than a night out. Especially because it was a night out during which I had to make a decision I really didn’t want to have to make.I didn’t feel like there really was a right decision to make in my situation. Every time I thought I knew what I was going to do, I realized I didn’t actually want to do whatever it was I’d decided on.It was annoying the shit out of me. I usually made up my mind fast on

MARISSAMy worst nightmare was coming true. It was like watching every bad dream I’d ever had coming true, seeing Brice walking toward us when Annie was standing right beside me. She’d never seen him, so she wouldn’t know he was her father.But would he tell her? Why was he here? Was he going to try to take her from me? My eyes fell to the envelope he was carrying and ice cold terror stabbed me in the heart. That was the kind of envelope that lawyers carried legal documents around in.What if he’d already done something to get custody of her? A sob ripped out of my chest. Layton’s hand was on mine instantly and he stepped to the side to shield me from Brice.Denise saw Layton and I staring at Brice. Since I felt the blood draining from my face, I was assuming she also saw how pale I was and the expression of pure rage Layton was wearing. Without having been asked to do it, she put her hand on Annie’s arm. “Come with me, sweetie. I think your mom and Layton need to get some work done.”

LAYTONAfter watching Brice walk away, I went to find Marissa and Annie. I wanted nothing more than to take Marissa into my arms and hold her until I knew she wasn’t hurting over what Brice did to her anymore.When she told me her story, it took everything I had not to walk over and knock him the fuck out—for starters. Aggression had never been my first reaction to news, but it was when Marissa finally told me what he did. Everything.Being left at the altar would have been bad enough, but the other stuff? It was no wonder she had such trust issues, that she was so fiercely protective of Annie and so sensitive about having to be reliable.I didn’t blame her, I probably would have taken my child and moved to the Arctic Circle or somewhere equally as sparsely populated to ensure my kid never had to deal with that kind of behavior from anyone. A lot of how she had acted and reacted since I met her made more sense to me now, just like this deal with Banks and Brice made more sense to me n