Due to some awful circumstances, the nineteen-year-old Leila Cole has a financial burden to bear. In her quest to navigate through the complexities of her life, she gets into more troubles. A night out with her best friend to have fun, quickly gets out of hand when she has a meaningless and wild one-night-stand with Lorenzo Henshaw - the handsome and charming stranger she met at the party. Her night of inebriated decision-making turns out to be more than what she bargained for. It yields results and she begins to see her life fall apart as she gets sacked from her part-time job. Fate brings her and Lorenzo together when she starts working for him. Working closely together, they try to suppress their growing feelings for each other due to their bad experiences in their past relationships. But will Leila stay when she learns loving Lorenzo would make her life chaotic?
Chapter 1 Vicious cycle
Sometimes, I wondered when I'd finally break loose from this vicious cycle of abuse. It usually happens in four stages.
He'd get angry over a slight issue and beat my brains out. I would refuse to respond to his texts nor pick his calls. He'd come over to my apartment with a banquet of flowers promising and begging never to lay a finger on me. And then, I'd accept him.
I couldn't let go of him. Atleast, not now. Not when he was paying for my mother's treatment which I couldn't afford.
"Fucking slut!" He cursed. I have never been shot or stabbed before but the insults that spewed from Jake's lips-each time we had a disagreement, usually gave me a good idea on how either of those would feel.
"No, you don't get-" I tried to explain to him before he cut me off.
"You probably think I'm dumb!" He barked, his blue eyes smouldering with anger, burning brighter than ever.
"He only asked if I was the waitress he saw the other day-"
"Then you started smiling at him . . ." He trailed off, running his finger through his dishevelled jet black hair.
"It was just a friendly smile," I defended, shrugging my shoulders tiredly. Before I knew it, his coarse palm collided with my delicate cheeks violently, the force jerking my face in another direction. I held my cheeks, staring at the tiles.
"The fact that you fucking little bitch think you can challenge me after I've caught you in your promiscuous ways is appalling." He said, walking towards me and I began to move backwards in fear until I had gotten to the end of the wall.
He held my neck tightly, strangling it. I could feel life squeezing out of me as I struggled to croak out words of plea, hoping he'd listen to me.
"Look at the way he was smiling. . . looking at you lustfully and you were letting him stare at you." He enunciated every syllable when he got to 'lustfully' and tears streamed down my cheeks.
"P-please," I croaked out.
Thankfully, he let go of me.
I took in ragged breaths and coughed. Soon, he held my arm and his lucid eyes formed into a contrite expression and he started uttering his usual words of apology. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." He scratched the back of his neck then ran his fingers through his hair. I averted my gaze and wiggled my arm from his hold.
"Please, I'm sorry baby."
"For what?" I asked, and touched my aching throat.
"I'll just let you calm down but come to the room when you're ready to talk." He said calmly, before heading towards his room.
I wondered how long I'd continue like this with him and if his case was a mental illness. Ofcourse, I'd leave him after he has finished paying for Mom's treatment or when I no longer need his financial support. Even though I held on to him because of the financial support I got from him, I was worried about the girl that would date him after me. She would go through hell; nobody deserved that.
I grabbed my phone from the leather handbag I usually carried whenever I went to work; It matched with my uniform. I texted Amy, my best friend.
Me: Girl, he strangled me and accused me of cheating again.
Her reply came in almost immediately.
Amy: Isn't he tired of that? You should come home already.
I replied as soon as I saw her text.
Me: Maybe you should ask him and yeah, I'll come home soon.
I kept my phone in my bag and retrieved my handkerchief and wiped my face. I wanted to head home without informing him and then the doorbell rang. On opening the door, I saw a caramel skinned girl dressed all back, probably in her early twenties with blonde frizzy curls and dark shades which gave her a formidable appearance.
It occured to me that I had never met any of Jake's siblings in the past months that we had been dating. I assumed she was Jake's sister because he once told me that he doesn't have any female friends.
"Hey," I greeted, smiling while stretching out my hand for a handshake.
She gave me a withering look, frowning. "Who are you?" She questioned, raising a curious brow at me and I withdrew my hand still wearing a beautiful smile on my face. I hoped it was contagious.
"I'm Leila, Jake's girlfriend." I replied, beaming.
The girl let out a bitter chuckle. "Wow, so you're the slut who has been having an affair with my boyfriend." I didn't know if it was a question or not but she raised a curious brow at me, then continued. "And you dare open your lousy mouth to call yourself his girlfriend?"
My heartbeat raced at the mention of that word: Slut. I clutched my purse tightly with one hand, the other fist clenching as anger coursed through my veins.
"Excuse me, who are you?" I asked, surprised. She ignored me, pushing past my shoulder as she made her way into Jake's apartment.
"Baby," she called out and Jake rushed in, eyes wide. I stood there, watching them through the door that was ajar.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her in a frantic tone. "This is my boyfriend's house, am I not allowed to come here anymore?" She asked, jokingly while throwing her hands around his tensed shoulders and he pushed her away, peeking through the house to check if I was still around.
His blue eyes met my cold stare, and his face morphed into a sober expression. "It's not what it looks like." He said and I bent down to pick my bag that had fallen when she called him 'baby'.
"In my presence you're still trying to explain to your slut?" The stupid blondie asked him angrily. The wave of anger that crashed on me manifested in my actions as I walked into the house and gave her a resounding warning of her life.
Unfazed, I faced her specifically, "Apparently, you are the slut. If he had you already, then why did he go after me?"
Chapter 1 Vicious cycle
21/11/2022
Chapter 2 Two
21/11/2022
Chapter 3 Three
21/11/2022
Chapter 4 Confused.
21/11/2022
Chapter 5 Memories of her
21/11/2022
Chapter 6 A talk with Dad
21/11/2022
Chapter 7 Devil calls!
21/11/2022
Chapter 8 Revelation
21/11/2022
Chapter 9 A bad day
21/11/2022
Chapter 10 Mistake, again!
21/11/2022
Chapter 11 Him again
26/11/2022
Chapter 12 Pregnant
26/11/2022
Chapter 13 I'm not keeping the baby.
30/11/2022
Chapter 14 Becoming close
30/11/2022
Chapter 15 Feelings
15/12/2022
Chapter 16 Gist!
15/12/2022
Chapter 17 Meeting grandfather
15/12/2022
Chapter 18 A bad news
19/12/2022
Chapter 19 Back to school
19/12/2022
Chapter 20 Rekindled friendship
19/12/2022
Chapter 21 Stalker
19/12/2022
Chapter 22 Work
19/12/2022
Chapter 23 Spending time with him
21/12/2022
Chapter 24 A date
21/12/2022
Chapter 25 Cheers
21/12/2022
Chapter 26 Fired
21/12/2022
Chapter 27 Sad
21/12/2022
Chapter 28 Hope
21/12/2022
Chapter 29 Late for the interview
21/12/2022
Chapter 30 Surprised
21/12/2022
Chapter 31 Throbbing headache
21/12/2022
Chapter 32 Pressure and memories
21/12/2022
Chapter 33 Warning and a mistake
21/12/2022
Chapter 34 Headache
21/12/2022
Chapter 35 Confrontation
21/12/2022
Chapter 36 A revelation
21/12/2022
Chapter 37 Feelings
21/12/2022
Chapter 38 Growing feelings
21/12/2022
Chapter 39 Confession
23/12/2022
Chapter 40 Trust
24/12/2022