Read Online London Calling: BWWM New Adult Romance (Chase Brothers Book 2) by Nana Malone - Free Book Online Page B

would say, bollocks. What’s going on?"
    He ground his teeth together. What the hell did she know? "Everything is fine. Let's just get to work."
    She spread her arms. "I came ready to work. You’re the one acting all crazy. Sniping at that poor girl."
    “Fucking drop it, Abbie. You are my assistant. Act like it.”
    She blinked at him in surprise, then threw her hands up. “It’s your show. Like always. But try to keep in mind that this is my career too. I’m hitched to you like an unwanted albatross. So your damage is my damage.”
    He could see the hurt in her eyes and he wanted to make it better, to soothe the lash, but he couldn’t seem to contain the anger ricocheting inside him.
    He snatched up his favorite Nikon and left Abbie to finish the lighting. He didn't need the shrink lesson from her. Not right now. He had work to do.

Eight
    I mani placed her hands against the brick in the courtyard and sucked in several deep breaths. What the fuck was she going to do? She would give a million dollars to start the day all over again. As it was, she was already in the hole a couple of grand. What was a million more?
    “Think, Imani, think. There is a way out of this mess. You just have to find it.” One problem at a time. Of her current stink piles, Ryan was the most pressing. She had to talk to Charles—alone. And pronto. For the last two years she’d been trying to bury the memories of her first year. She’d worked her ass off to get back to normal. No way she was going back to being that girl. “Are you out here hiding from me or from our new photographer?”
    Hearing Ryan behind her, she whirled around with her hands up. When in doubt, go for bravado. She tilted her chin up. "Maybe you've forgotten how this works. You stay the fuck away from me, you don’t touch me, you don’t speak to me, you don’t even so much as look at me and you get to keep your nutsack. I can’t imagine that is hard for you to remember. What the fuck are you doing here? You must have known I had the lead."
    His smile was slight, but practiced. "Charles called and it was a good part. You can’t expect me to not take a job that would be good for my career.”
    She shook her head. “I should have known all those pleas for forgiveness were total bullshit. You gave me your word, but here you still are.”
    He ran his hands through his hair. “Look, what happened between us was…regrettable. But I don’t know how long you expect me to pay penance for it. I fucked up. I know it. I’ve said I’m sorry. I’ve given you space to heal or forget or whatever. But I need to work. If you don’t want to be near me then you can quit.”
    Anger coursed through her, making her vibrate. “Regrettable? Did you just fucking say regrettable? You know what you did to me. You knew the second you did it. That’s why you showed up at my flat the next day crying like a baby, begging for my forgiveness. And you thought I would just conveniently forget? That it’s been two whole years so I wouldn’t remember?” She stared him down, daring him to refute her words and he had the good sense to slide his gaze away. “What you did…” Her voice broke and trailed off. How dare he stroll back into her life and think she would have no problem with him?
    “I’m sorry, Imani. I never meant to hurt you. But it’s been long enough. You can’t punish me forever.”
    She dug into a well of strength she wasn’t sure she had, but she wasn't letting him get away with this like he had before. She was not the same girl, alone and ashamed and willing to accept her culpability. “Why don’t we call a spade a spade, Ryan? You raped me. I loved you and you raped me.”
    He flinched backward as if she’d physically slapped him. “You know it wasn’t like that. You act like I was some stranger who dragged you off the street and assaulted you.”
    “You did assault me, you piece of shit. I said no.”
    He took a step toward her and she immediately took one back.