Read Online Trust by J. C. Valentine - Free Book Online Page A

derail, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop it.”
    Without a word, Felix turned and headed for the sanctuary of his office. He wasn’t in the mood to philosophize, but Jon was, and he wasn’t about to let him walk away. “I don’t want to talk about it,” Felix snapped as he strode across the room to the wall of windows. Somewhere out there, Poppy was on her way home. Alone.
    “Is this about you and Poppy?” Jon questioned. “Because if this is about what we talked about, then I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.”
    Felix rounded on him, his anger at himself aimed at his friend. “You were right. Poppy left because I lied to her, okay? I lied, and she caught me, and now it’s all over. Done! She doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore.” His voice shook and he swallowed convulsively to force down the lump forming in his throat.
    Slumping into one of the leather club chairs normally reserved for his clients, Jon sat back and propped his left ankle on his right knee. “Well, now I’m intrigued. I think it’s time to tell me exactly what you lied about, so we can come up with a way to fix this together.”
    Felix stared at Jon, dumbfounded. He expected his friend to come down on him, shun him for being a complete idiot and chasing away the one good thing in his life, but he was offering him a chance to make it right. He dared not hope for such a thing, but Felix went to sit down across from Jon all the same. If there were any chance, no matter how slim, of winning Poppy back, then he would do it. “Everything?”
    “Everything. Start from the beginning.”
    Could it be so simple? Could the answer to his problems be solved by laying it all on the line and confessing? Did Jon have the answer to his problems? There was only one way to find out.
    Felix settled in. He was about to spill his guts, let Jon in on the biggest secret he ever had. At the end of it all, he hoped they could come up with a good solution, because the last thing he wanted to do was lose the best thing that had ever happened to him.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    7
     
    Poppy was restless. She couldn’t sleep worth a damn and it was all Felix Sinclair’s fault. If he had left her alone to stew in her misery, then she would be…exactly where she was right now.
    Tossing and turning all night had become a ritual for her. If she were lucky, she managed a couple hours of sleep each night, and it looked like tonight she had met her quota. The sun was still hours away from rising. She hated this time of night, when the whole world except her seemed to be at rest. It was an eerie silence, like a blanket of nothingness had been laid down. She felt alone, desolate, and absolutely wretched.
    Throwing her arm over her face, she focused on her steady breathing, trying desperately to lull herself back to sleep , but her eyelids felt like they had springs in them and her thoughts were running wild.
    She tried again and again, burning through another wasted hour, but it was no use. She was wide awake. Still, she didn’t have the strength or the will to get out of bed. It had become her sanctuary, her safe place to fall. If she turned over to face his side of the bed, she could still smell Felix on the sheets. It was all she had left of him, and didn’t that just make her the most pitiful creature on the planet.
    Looking around the room, Poppy noted all the things that belonged to Felix. By her not allowing him back into the house, she had inadvertently trapped herself inside with him. There was no place that she could look without being reminded of him. He was everywhere—in her nose, in her bed, on her nightstand, strewn across the bathroom counter.
    There was no escape. No relief. Just constant, unrelenting heartache.
    Irritated with herself and the endle ss bout of melancholy, Poppy threw back the blankets and kicked her legs over the side of the bed. She was on her way to the bathroom for a good long soak in the tub when she