Saved by the Bad Boy

Chapter One

Chapter One

Chance

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore just outside my office window did little to distract me from my work. The soothing sound in the background, the perfect white noise, actually enhanced my thinking abilities.

I worked on a design that would enable our machine to not only use the waves of the ocean to generate electricity, but also to store the energy for future use. This was my dream, and it was my job to make it happen.

My older brothers had given me all the time I would need to make my dream come true, which was great. It was much easier to think creatively without anyone breathing down my back. And one had to be on the creative side to invent something like I was trying to.

My computer dinged, telling me that my assistant in the reception area had messaged me. It seemed that I had a personal visitor, and he wanted to know if I should send her in now.

I had no idea who ‘her’ was, but still, I replied with a yes.

Closing my laptop, I looked at the door, wondering who was about to come through it. The door moved, and in stepped a young woman. It took me a second to realize I knew her.

“Ruby Salazar,” I said in greeting as I stood and went to her.

I held out both hands and she took them, smiling at me with the biggest and brightest smile I had ever seen. “Chance Duran.”

Leaving a kiss on her cheek, I asked, “What do I owe the pleasure of this visit from one of my oldest friends?”

A blush colored her plump cheeks. “It’s kind of a long story. Think we can sit down and talk about it?”

Leading her to the sitting area nearest the open window, I sat down with her on the white leather sofa. “I love long stories. Please, tell me your tale, Ruby.”

“I should warn you that this tale does not have a happy ending.” A slight frown pulled her full, caramel-colored lips down into a horseshoe shape.

“Maybe I can fix that for you,” I said with a grin. “I hate to see you frown, Ruby.”

“Well, it’s hard not to. See, I came to you because I didn’t know who else could — or would — help me with this problem that I’ve gotten myself into.” She fidgeted in the seat, revealing that she was nervous about what she had to say to me, which was ridiculous.

“Ruby, it may have been a while since we’ve seen each other, but we’ve known each other since kindergarten. You know that you can tell me anything.”

Her dark eyes lit up as she looked into mine. “Chance, this is exactly why I came to you. We have this long history between us. I feel closer to you than I have ever felt to anyone. So, try not to judge me too harshly.”

“I would never do such a thing.” She had me anxious to hear what she had to say. “Just dive right in and start talking, girl. You can trust me.”

“I know I can.” She closed her eyes and laid her head back on the sofa. “It all started two years ago. I met a man who’d moved into Brownsville from Matamoros, Mexico. He and some of his friends came to the fishing charter company that I work for. They wanted to go deep-sea fishing, and I set them up on a trip for that morning. I guess I made some kind of an impact on the leader of the group, a man named Logan.”

“Because he asked you out?” I took a guess.

Nodding, she sighed. “He did ask me out. And it was the best date I’d ever been on. He took me on a private plane, keeping everything a secret. It kind of made me nervous, but also excited.”

“I can see that. Where did he take you?” I thought that was risky behavior and not much like the Ruby I knew. But I could see the attraction of it.

“Marina Del Rey, in California. We had dinner on a private yacht. It wasn’t his, but it did belong to some group he was a part of. And we had the whole gorgeous thing to ourselves. Well, there was the crew, but other than them, we were alone. And they stayed scarce, you know what I mean?”

“I do. They kept to themselves, only popping out when they saw that you two needed something. I’ve been on a few of those myself. One of my brothers has one. It’s quite the adventure, and so luxurious, too. So, I’m going to venture a guess and say that this guy swept you off your feet from the get-go.”

“Yes, he did.” Her cheeks went scarlet, as she must’ve been remembering the night they had on the yacht. “He was sort of full of fire, and the passion was like nothing I had ever experienced before. And he didn’t let up on me either, which flattered me. You know what I mean?”

“Of course.” I knew that it could be hard not to be attracted to people with passionate personalities. But I also knew that passionate people could be over-the-top at times. “You’re here, talking to me, though. So, this whirlwind love affair must’ve gone haywire at some point.”

“It was a whirlwind. You got that right. He took me all over the place. He showed me things I had no idea even existed. He lived in a world that was as foreign to me as life on another planet. The opulence overtook me. I fell for the money, the lifestyle, all of it.”

“So, this guy is part of the billionaire circle?” I, too, was a part of that circle, but I preferred not to be too flashy about that fact. Not that I was cheap. I was just more down to Earth than others who were as fortunate as me.

“No, he’s not. But I didn’t realize that until it was too late. Not that I was with him only for the money. You know that’s not me. I was with him mostly because he was always there, scooping me up, taking me to exotic places, feeding me insanely good food, and the s*x was on the amazing side as well.”

“You haven’t said one word about love.”

“We said the words to each other. I meant them. I don’t think he did, though. I think I was more of an object to him than the love of his life. See, he went from treating me like a queen to treating me like I belonged to him. He stopped asking me if I wanted to go with him places and began telling me about the things we would be doing. I had my job to think about, not that he cared about me making money to pay my bills. But he didn’t pay them, so what else was I going to do but keep working? He didn’t seem to understand that, though.”

“And this is what led to your breakup?” I realized that she had left out that ending. “Did you break up with him?”

She nodded then gulped. “In like the worst way ever, Chance.”

“And what is the worst way ever?” I really had no idea about that. Breaking up was never easy or nice, so they all seemed like bad ways to me.

“I left him at the altar. I was going to marry him. I really was. But when I stood there, looking at all our guests, I saw something that just didn’t sit right with me. It became clear to me who Logan really was.”

“And who was he?”

“He works as the manager of a car dealership here in Brownsville. When we met, he had just moved into town to take the job.”

“Which dealership is it?”

“The Lamborghini dealership.” She shook her head. “But I think that’s just a cover. I don’t think he really runs anything there. His real job doesn’t have a thing to do with expensive cars. I think he’s involved with something much worse. Things I shouldn’t elaborate on, or it might put you in danger.”

“I’m not afraid.”

Her hand wrapped around mine as her smile beamed. “I know you’re not. But I’m afraid for you. So, let’s leave it at that. See, when I stood there looking at all the people who’d come to our wedding, I finally noticed something about Logan and his friends that I had never noticed before. They were exceptionally tight.”

“How do you mean?”

“So, Logan had only introduced me to his mother once. His father passed away a couple of years before we met. Other than his mother, there were no other relatives of his at our wedding. Instead, his half of the church was filled with men in black suits. Some had women with them, but most didn’t. His mother sat alone in the front, dabbing her eyes with a linen handkerchief.”

“A lot of moms cry at their son’s wedding.” I knew my mother had cried at all my brothers’ weddings. “It doesn’t mean she doesn’t like you.”

“No. I mean, I know she didn’t know me well enough to even form an opinion of me. Like I said, he took me to meet her only once. It was more like that she was the only one showing any emotion on his side. The others just stared at me. It was almost like they were sizing me up or something. It gave me chills.”

“What about the man waiting for you at the end of the aisle?” The groom mattered more than his guests, after all.

“Logan looked at me with no smile on his face. He showed no emotions either, which was odd to me. The man had been full of passion. Yet he stood there, stone-still, no evidence of happiness on his face at all. I’d been smiling all morning as I got ready for my big day. My family and friends were all smiles too. My mother had shining eyes as she looked at me with so much love. My father even smiled at me.”

“So, what made you turn tail and run?”

“It was the look on Logan’s face when I failed to step forward while the wedding march played on and on. His jaw clenched. His eyes narrowed. And then I saw his hands ball into fists. He looked at the man who stood beside him, his best man — a man I hadn’t even met before — and he nodded just a little. That man began glaring at me, the same way Logan was.”

“Wow.” I couldn’t imagine anyone doing something like that at their wedding. “I mean, I get that he would become nervous when you didn’t start walking down the aisle. But being angry? So uncool.”

Despite the heaviness of the story, I couldn’t help but be glad that Ruby had come to me with this. Talking to her now, it was like no time had passed.

“Yeah, I know. I sort of froze with fear as he and his best man glared at me. And then I looked at Logan’s guests and found they finally were showing some emotion; only the emotion was anger, hatred even. So, I turned and walked away. I didn’t run. I had made a decision, and that decision was that I didn’t know Logan well enough to marry him. And I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to date him anymore.”

“So, did you see him again after you left him standing at the altar?”

“He came to the dressing room where I had already changed into the clothes I’d come to the church in. He was beyond angry with me. I told him that I felt that something was off and that this wasn’t the right time for me to make such a huge and life-changing decision. And I said that I was sorry. He told me that if I didn’t get my a*s back into that wedding gown and back down that aisle, I would find out how sorry I was going to be.”

“Wow.” I didn’t know what else to say to something that horrible. “He seems like a total asshole.”

“He’s more than just an asshole.” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “He told me that if I didn’t marry him, things wouldn’t work out for me. And that is when he made a slight admission as to what he really was. He said that he could make it so I wouldn’t wake up the next morning if I didn’t do as he said.”

My adrenaline went crazy, and I jumped up. “No way!” I’d never been so mad in my life. I slammed my fist into my palm. “Where is this asshole?”

“No.” She reached out, taking my hand and pulling me to sit down again. “Chance, no way in hell. He’s dangerous. Far too dangerous for you to go beat up. I managed to talk my way out of things with him. I told him that I just wasn’t marriage material. I told him that I hadn’t thought about it before but that I wouldn’t be a good wife to him. I said that he deserved more than I could give. I wasn’t good enough for him. I said all those things to pump up his ego and to make him think that I’d finally realized things about myself that I didn’t like. And he went for it too. Which made me happy.”

“So, he left you alone after that day?”

“Pretty much, yeah. That was six months ago. But then, two days ago, I ran into him. He said that he hadn’t found anyone better than me and that we should give it another shot — which I was never going to do. So, I told him a lie.”

“About what?”

“About you and me.”

“Us?” I was lost as to what she was saying. “What about us?”

“I didn’t want him bothering me anymore. Like, not ever again. So, I told him that you and I had made a pact when we were kids. You do remember the pact we made, don’t you?”

“The one about marrying each other if neither of us had found the right person by the time we turn forty?” I remembered it well. But I hadn’t ever really thought it would come to us getting married for real.

“Yeah, that pact. Our one and only pact. But I changed up the terms a bit when I told him about it. I said that you and I had been in love since we were kids, and we had finally realized it. I told him that was why I couldn’t give him my heart; it had always belonged to you.”

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“I know we’re fifteen years shy of being forty since we’re both twenty-five, but I’m going to ask you if you’ll marry me, Chance Duran. Marry me to keep that man away from me. That’s the only way I’m going to be safe.”