On the Edge (The Grange Complex Book 1) novel Chapter 27

Sasha

The day I drove away from the complex, I found myself howling in misery. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t crying over Dexter, but over that gorgeous, stunning apartment. It finally had been sold and I was never going to get that kind of opportunity ever again. My life in the Grange was over.

After I got on the road to the city, it finally hit me. I had fallen in love with Dexter Tyndall, a man that had screwed enough women to fill the whole of Edinburgh, most of the coast, and probably halfway to England. He had bipolar and many problems, but he loved his uncomplicated lifestyle. He could sleep with any woman he chose and the fact that he might have to care about anyone else’s feelings never entered his head. He made the choice to be this person and he wasn’t going to change.

After my drama with Kirk, I promised myself that I would never ever fall in love again. The timing couldn’t have been any worse. I had gone through that terrible breakup, I had experienced so much sorrow and beatings and abuse. I was too old for this crap. Dexter wasn’t my Prince Charming. He was the Prince of Darkness. We all had issues. It was probably straight after his father’s death when he began slipping away from reality, self-medicating and using alcohol to make himself feel better, but I had an ugly past too. He wasn’t the only one who’d been suffering.

That was a few days ago. Now I was coping again, living my own better life.

“Hello, Earth to Sasha, are you even with me?” Gina asked. We had arranged to meet up for a drink and she wanted to see my new place. We were discussing the upcoming pole competition in London. Gina had taken part in it years ago and she offered to train me for it. I jumped at this opportunity straight away.

I shook my head and smiled, knowing that yet again I was driving myself crackers with thoughts about Dexter. I left a few days ago while he was busy with his “fiancee.” Correction. I ran away to avoid the confrontation. That part of my life was over and he was wrong. Our business was finished, even though I bloody loved him, but that was a small and unimportant detail.

“Sorry, what were we talking about?” I asked.

Gina took a sip of her wine and peered at me. Her crazy red hair seemed to have a mind of its own today. She looked like her head was on fire.

“Come on, spill it: what’s his name and what did he do to you?” she asked. I learned that Gina was very intelligent. She had a master’s in psychology and some other qualifications, but her own life was a mystery.

“Oh, it’s no one. Don’t worry about it. No one worth talking about,” I said, brushing it off.

“You’re competing in about two week’s time, darling, and if you aren’t focused enough, this won’t work. Tell me—who is this guy and what’s he done to you?”

“His name is Dexter and he won’t ruin this for me this time around. I’ll be all right,” I stated with determination.

Gina didn’t usually discuss men and their problems with me. She thought that it was the biggest waste of time. As far as I knew, she was single and too busy with work to even consider being tied down. I had been going to pole-dancing training often, at least four times a week, practising whatever new routine that Gina had given me. Tonight we were discussing my plan for the competition. Most of the time I was listening, but it was impossible for me not to think about Dexter.

“Have lots of sex before the competition. That should solve the problem straight away,” she said, winking at me.

My heart was shattered, but I had a new flat in the city, new friends, and everything was slowly moving in the right direction. I needed to look at the bright side.

A week ago, I had applied for a permanent job in the hospital and I was hoping to get an interview. I needed a full-time position and I wanted a normal social life again. These were just small steps. I made the decision that I was going to live my life the way I wanted, not like I used to.

Gina picked up a gossip magazine from her bag and started turning the pages. The wine was slowly going to my head, and I thought that for a moment I spotted Dexter’s face on some of the pages.

“Sorry, can I have a look at this for a second?” I asked, pointing at the magazine. Gina nodded and handed it to me. I started turning the pages frantically until I found what I was looking for. There it was: Dexter Tyndall with Victoria Cross at some kind of charity banquet. My jaw dropped and I stared at his face for several seconds in disbelief. The bitch looked stunning wearing a white low-cut dress, posing with Dex outside the building. Dexter was in his tuxedo, looking gorgeous. He wasn’t smiling, just staring blankly at the camera. I read the note underneath.

Victoria Cross and her partner fundraising money for starving children in Africa.

She must have blackmailed him into doing that. Dexter wouldn’t just agree, but then he wasn’t ill anymore, so maybe he had gone back to his usual self. I felt guilty that I escaped without discussing anything, without even a goodbye. Victoria was a leech and he had to do what she said. I couldn’t really get involved. His illness and his overactive libido brought him into that mess.

“What’s wrong? Who is he?” Gina asked, snapping the paper away from me. I ran my hand through my hair, breathing harder than I should.

“That’s the guy that I’ve been trying to forget,” I said.

“Dexter Tyndall. Holy moly, he’s hot and looks like a real asshole. Care to tell me what happened between you two?”

“It’s a long story. We had the most amazing sex. It was my fault, though. I thought that I was ready for a no-strings-attached relationship, but I was wrong.”

“Wrong? What, were you stupid enough to fall for that prick?”

“Something like that, but he’s in the past now. We are done and we don’t have to see each other ever again.”

“Rubbish, you’re still badly hung up on him. I’m going to set you up with someone.”

I was trying to pretend that I was fine, but deep down I was raging. Dexter and Victoria. I wasn’t supposed to care about them.

“What for, a date?” I asked, ready to get that thought out of her head.

She patted me on the shoulder and took the magazine away from me. It was strange, but after spending so much time together we had grown unexpectedly close.

“I think so. You need one night with a hot random stranger to forget about this Scottish sex god forever.”