To Love You Hurts

To Love You Hurts

Jay Crawley

5.0
Comment(s)
36
View
19
Chapters

"You know what happens when you run, spitfire." Tobias nips my lower lip with his teeth then soothes the sting with the gentle caress of his tongue. "I catch you!" --- I should have known that Tobias Landry was behind the circus of my troubles. He, who once was a man I adored in my past life, is now a man who leaves nothing but devastation in his wake everywhere he turns. He can pretend all he likes that he is innocent, but the slight twitch in his left eye says a completely different story. I will fight him to the end to keep the bakery that I have poured my sweat, blood, and tears into! Even, if that means that I have to marry him and give in to his sexual desires. My name is Keri Appleton and this is a dangerous and sultry tale about lies, secrets, and the fine line between love and obsession.

To Love You Hurts Chapter 1 How Can Fate Be So Cruel.

PROLOGUE:

TOBIAS:

Our eyes met from across the room as she stands at the bar, ordering herself a drink.

My glass is half full. Whiskey.

The ambient colour of love, lust, and sin. Burns you right down to the core, menacingly destroying your insides with no fucks given.

Love.

Some say it is a distraction to a path of destruction, and I, for one, can vouch for that.

I have been burned not once, but twice by Keri Appleton and each time, I've only just managed to claw my way out of the hole of self-torment I dug for myself.

But this time around, I won't let her go.

She is mine. She has always been mine. Even when she left the country without saying goodbye, even now, when she believes that she isn't tied to me.

She looks different. She's filled out in places that make her look devastatingly gorgeous; almost being enough to make my heart cease on the spot.

My thumb twitches as I roll my heavy steel ring around my finger like it somewhat calms the hostility that is burning deep inside me.

"She looks Happy," Melanie says across the table from me as her gaze follows mine.

My eyes narrow when my gaze shifts to the man standing next to her with his hand on her hip, whispering in her ear.

"Happy?" I snort. "That's not her being happy. That is revenge." After all these years, I'm intrigued to find out why she has returned. With him.

I stand up from my chair, downing the rest of my whiskey. I need to know why she is here. Of all days, why make yourself seen?

"Mr. Landry, where are you going? We still need to close this deal." Mr. Adem calls out to me over the loud music.

I ignore him. Melanie is more than capable of handling all the paperwork on our end of the deal.

Strolling towards Keri, I pass Davis sitting at the table, his chin touching his chest, swaying side to side with a bottle of beer still in his grasp.

Ava sits beside him with their daughter sound asleep in her arms as she pats her bottom, rocking back and forth in her chair.

The closer I get to Keri, the more I feel like I need to obliterate something. Preferably her.

Setting her glass on the bar top, she turns away and heads towards the back exit door. I follow her, keeping my distance, and the second I step outside, the cold air snakes its icy tentacles around the base of my throat as I shove the door open.

"It's okay, my little darlings, I'll be back soon. Mummy just needs to... Oh..." I reach around her curvy body, forcing the door behind her shut as I press her body against it. "Tobias!" She exclaims, swallowing thickly with her wide eyes darting between me and her phone.

"Mummy, Mummy... where are you? We can't see you," a high-pitched voice screams through the other end of the phone.

Anger disperses across my chest. Did I hear right? Was the voice of a little girl calling Keri mummy, on the other end of the phone?

I rip the phone out of her hand, "No, please... Tobias!" her voice fills with panic as I lift the phone to my face to see who she is talking to.

I stumble back, feeling like I've been kicked in the gut as my gaze collides with not one, but two sets of eyes that look identical to mine.

"Mummy? Mummy... who is that man? He doesn't look like our uncle?"

"Tobias... I..."

"You're a mother?" I spit out with venom, unable to hide the rage behind my words.

"I... yes," she replies softly, hanging her head in shame.

"Are they..." My voice trails off, knowing that they can't be. "When were you going to tell me?"

I pass her the phone back as she slouches against the door with tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Don't you think I have a right to know that my wife fell pregnant to a man who took her away from me?" I ask darkly, anxiously waiting for her reaction after she registers what I've just said.

Her head snaps up with a look of shock burning brightly in her eyes, "your wife?"

Pressing my hands against the door on either side of her head. I cage her in between my arms, leaning my head next to hers, my lips a whisper away from her ear.

"That's right, spitfire," I whisper in a raspy voice, filling my lungs with her scent. "You are still my wife, and I am your husband. Those divorce papers you sent me, I never signed them."

---

FOUR YEARS EARLIER:

My heart sinks into the pit of my stomach as I continue to read the letter left on my bakery's doorstep upon my arrival this morning.

"Mother..." I hiss, refraining from finishing my sentence.

I clench my jaw, screwing up the letter as I refuse to let Landry Enterprise spoil my day. Especially when I haven't had the chance to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee just yet.

I toss the letter into the garbage where it belongs.

You know what they say: out of sight, out of mind.

If they want my company, they will have to take me to court because I'm not selling it to them.

As the bell on the door chimes, I look up to see who my first customer of the day is, and a wide grin spreads across my face.

"Chase!" I scream, moving out from behind the counter, I run straight into his open arms. "What... When did you get into town? You should have called me, I would've picked you up from the airport. " I coo as I step back and take a good look at him.

It's been 8 days since I dropped him off at the airport for a business trip, and my gods, those 8 days felt like 8 long and lonely excruciating weeks.

Chase and I have been dating for about two years now. It hasn't been easy when he spends most of his time flying back and forth between Auckland and Wellington for his job. I run my fingers through his hair, missing the silky sensation upon my fingertips.

"Keri, there's something that I need to tell you." He sighs, placing his hands on my shoulders with a distressed look tarnishing his handsome features.

My smile instantly falters, and I know, I just know that what he has to say next isn't going to sit well with me. My pulse begins to spike as I notice the sweat that beads along his brow line as he refuses to meet my gaze.

He reeks of guilt, sin, and betrayal. A smell that I am all too familiar with.

"What's wrong?" I take two steps back and wrap my arms around my waist as I anxiously await his response while my voice quavers.

He blows air out of his nose, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen, you gotta believe me, babe." He murmurs in a pleading tone with his shoulders sagging at the same time.

"Chase, I can't forgive you if I don't know what it is that you have done wrong."

He raises his gaze to meet mine taking a step toward me, and the bell to the door goes off again.

In walks the most beautiful female I've not seen in a long time. And for good reason.

"Ava?" I whisper with tears brimming my eyes as I take in her appearance.

As the pieces to the puzzle slowly start to fall into place, I begin to feel sick with repulsion.

"Keri please..." Chase pleads as he rushes toward me.

I shake my head, holding my hand up as my heart starts to shatter in the nest of my chest.

"You and my sister?!" I can barely contain the horror in my voice as shock and animosity swirl in the pools of my eyes.

I look past Chase, watching as my younger sister stands behind the man, I thought loved me in return, rubbing her swelling belly.

"And you, you are meant to be my sister." I sob, "How could you do this to me after everything I have done for you, for the both of you?"

Raising my hand, I violently wipe away the tears that stain my face with deception and heartache.

"It was only one time," Chase quickly states in his defense

"You say it like it's meant to dull the unnecessary pain that you have both caused me. If you wanted to be together, you should have told me first Chase." I swallow thickly trying to suppress the emotions that are coaxing the back of my throat.

Ava sucks on her upper teeth as she holds out her hand revealing an elegant engagement ring that sparkles when the light hits it on her slender finger.

"Well, now you know." She says in a snarky tone, adding salt to my wounds. "It was better this way, like ripping off a band-aid wouldn't you say?" She snickers.

And just like that, the genuine nature of my little sisters' feelings for me became evident.

Such a fool I was. I should have known something was stirring in her pot the moment she so innocently asked me for Chase's address in Wellington a few months ago when she flew out there.

She insisted that she wanted to speak to him about something important. Initially, I thought she was planning to throw me a surprise birthday party in a few days.

"Shut up, Ava. Didn't I tell you to wait in the car for my text?" Chase hisses with a look of pity pooling in his chocolate brown eyes.

"You did, but when have I ever done something that is required of me?" She sighs, turning her hand over to admire her engagement ring.

"I'm happy for the pair of you." I sniffle, straightening my posture as I refuse to let them tear me apart in my bakery which is supposed to be my safe haven.

"Keri, if you'll just sit down and give me a chance to explain what happened between us, I think you-"

"OUT!" I snap, cutting him off. "I want you both to get out of my bakery, now."

"Keri, please..."

"No," I retort looking at Chase through narrowed eyes. "You have no right to ask anything of me. You have made your bed, now it is time for you to sleep in it."

I turn around and walk to the back of the building, pulling ingredients down from the shelves to start making my infamous chocolate brownies for the day.

I'm barely keeping it together and I want them both gone from my life, for good.

How could he do this to me?

How could he sleep with me, knowing that he had gotten my sister pregnant?

I feel sick just thinking about our passionate nights spent under the stars on his balcony. As soon as I hear the door close behind them and the feeling of being all alone washed over me. I slide down the cold steel refrigerator and I let the torrent of tears loose.

I'm on the brink of losing my bakery, I've lost my boyfriend and it seems like my sanity is hanging on by a thread too.

How, how can fate be so cruel?

Continue Reading

Other books by Jay Crawley

More
Hidden Secrets: A Screwed Up Love Story.

Hidden Secrets: A Screwed Up Love Story.

Romance

4.7

"Fuck.." I moan as my feverish skin makes me dizzy with lust. [Yes.] "Evet, Mila. You make me want to ravage you when I should be disgusted by the thought of even touching you." He mutters. "But I'm not. Instead, everything about you makes me mad with desire and I can not control it. God's, I tried to but I don't want to anymore." He removes his hand from the wall, wrapping his fingers around my jaw and he forces me to stare up at him. "You've already had a taste of me and one taste is all you get." I swallow loudly, throwing his words back at him. >>> Mila Starkk is a lively young woman trapped in a terrible relationship with her mafia-infiltrated boyfriend, Ace. After the Esposito boss points a gun at her, she flees, seeking sanctuary in an Irish bar that no Italian soldier would dare enter. She has a one-night fling with a seductive Turkish gentleman. The following day, she is dragged through an alleyway with a knife pointed at her, and by chance, stabs one of the guys before fleeing to the Esposito family for protection; starting a war between the Irishmen. She is thrust into an entirely new world, assigned on missions under their protection, and when she learns she is pregnant, she assures Ace that he is the father. After giving birth, she is given the orders to destroy Aydem Burak, Sedar Ozturk's second cousin. The Don of the Turkish Mafia. Mila is sent by the Esposito's to steal something from Aydem that will financially cripple him. From the time she enters his company, sparks fly between them and when her baby is held as ransom for her completion of the mission, she must decide where her allegiance

You'll also like

Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback

Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback

Huo Wuer
4.5

Rain hammered against the asphalt as my sedan spun violently into the guardrail on the I-95. Blood trickled down my temple, stinging my eyes, while the rhythmic slap of the windshield wipers mocked my panic. Trembling, I dialed my husband, Clive. His executive assistant answered instead, his voice professional and utterly cold. "Mr. Wilson says to stop the theatrics. He said, and I quote, 'Hang up. Tell her I don’t have time for her emotional blackmail tonight.'" The line went dead while I was still trapped in the wreckage. At the hospital, I watched the news footage of Clive wrapping his jacket around his "fragile" ex-girlfriend, Angelena, shielding her from the storm I was currently bleeding in. When I returned to our penthouse, I found a prenatal ultrasound in his suit pocket, dated the day he claimed to be on a business trip. Instead of an apology, Clive met me with a sneer. He told me I was nothing but an "expensive decoration" his father bought to make him look stable. He froze my bank accounts and cut off my cards, waiting for the hunger to drive me back to his feet. I stared at the man I had loved for four years, realizing he didn't just want a wife; he wanted a prop he could switch off. He thought he could starve me into submission while he played father to another woman's child. But Clive forgot one thing. Before I was his trophy wife, I was Starfall—the legendary voice actress who vanished at the height of her fame. "I'm not jealous, Clive. I'm done." I grabbed my old microphone and walked out. I’m not just leaving him; I’m taking the lead role in the biggest saga in Hollywood—the one Angelena is desperate for. This time, the "decoration" is going to burn his world down.

The Billionaire's Secret Triplets: Mom's Revenge

The Billionaire's Secret Triplets: Mom's Revenge

HONEY MULLINS
5.0

Six years ago, I was a naive girl sold by my father to the powerful Sanders estate, only to be tossed onto the streets after a brutal assault they labeled "marital infidelity." I fled the country pregnant and broken, hiding from the shadow of a husband I had never even met. Now, I’ve returned to New York with my triplets to sign the final divorce papers and disappear forever. But Archibald Sanders—the man I was told was a crippled recluse—intercepted us with the cold precision of a predator. He didn't see the woman his family destroyed; he saw a gold-digger who had shamed his name. His security team hunted us to a grimy motel, using tactical force to snatch my children away and drag me to his glass-walled empire. In his office, he loomed over me, demanding a DNA test and threatening to throw me in prison while my babies were lost to the foster system. He was convinced I’d cheated, yet he stared at my sons with a haunting confusion, unable to ignore the stormy blue eyes that were a perfect mirror of his own. I stood there, paralyzed by his scent—the sharp tang of rain and expensive leather that triggered the icy dread of my worst nightmares. How could he accuse me of betrayal when he felt exactly like the monster who had shattered my life in that dark hotel room? "I'll sign anything," I sobbed, "just give me my kids." But the game changed when my five-year-old son hacked the tower’s security, holding the skyscraper hostage to save me. In the chaos, a fragile, silent boy—Archibald’s secret son—wandered into the room and reached for me as if I were his missing soul. Archibald’s face turned to stone as he tore up the agreement and locked the doors. "Until I find out why my son is looking at you like that," he growled, "you aren't going anywhere."

The Silent Bride's Billion Dollar Contract

The Silent Bride's Billion Dollar Contract

Landslide
5.0

My bank account showed exactly $42.18, and my student loan notifications were flashing red. I lived in a sweltering Queens apartment with my Aunt Lydia, where the air was thick with the smell of stale frying oil and the constant threat of being homeless. Lydia handed me a grainy photo of a man twice my age and told me she had already "sold" me to him. He was a dry cleaner looking for a wife, and in exchange for my hand, he would pay off her credit cards and my debt. If I didn't show up for the date that night, my boxes would be on the curb by midnight. I arrived at the cafe in a state of panic, my selective mutism making it impossible to even breathe. In the crowded room, I accidentally sat at the wrong table. Instead of the man from the photo, I found myself facing Gerhard Holcomb—the cold, terrifyingly handsome billionaire whose family owned the very museum where I worked. He didn't send me away; instead, he studied my trembling hands and offered me a different deal: a two-year contract marriage, a two-million-dollar payout, and a strict clause forbidding any children. I signed the papers and moved into his Park Avenue penthouse, thinking I was finally safe. But when I went back to the old apartment to retrieve the only memento of my dead parents, Lydia lashed out, leaving me bleeding from a head wound. Gerhard’s retaliation was absolute—he had her arrested and her building foreclosed on within hours, claiming he was simply "protecting his assets." As I recovered in his silent, glass-walled home, I saw a call from a famous socialite flash on his phone, and a cold truth settled in my gut. I wasn't just a wife; I was a placeholder, a silent shield used to fend off the women from his past. I looked at the massive pink diamond on my finger and realized the silence I had lived in my whole life was about to become my most expensive prison. I had traded a life of poverty for a high-stakes game of shadows, and now I had to survive the man who claimed to own me.

One Night With My Billionaire Boss

One Night With My Billionaire Boss

Nathaniel Stone
4.5

I woke up on silk sheets that smelled of expensive cedar and cold sandalwood, a world away from my cramped apartment in Brooklyn. Beside me lay Ezra Gardner—my boss, the billionaire CEO of Gardner Holdings, and the man who could end my career with a snap of his fingers. He didn’t offer an apology for the night before; instead, he looked at me with terrifying clarity and proposed a cold, calculated business arrangement. "Marriage. It stabilizes the board and solves the PR crisis before it begins." He dressed me in archival Chanel and sent me home in his Maybach, but my life was already falling apart. My boyfriend, Irving, claimed he had passed out early, yet his location data placed him at my best friend’s apartment until three in the morning. When I tried to run, I realized Ezra was already ten steps ahead, tracking my movements and uncovering the secret I’d spent twenty years hiding: my connection to the powerful Senator Grimes. I was trapped between a CEO who treated me like a line item on a quarterly report and a boyfriend who had been using me while sleeping with my closest friend. I felt like a pawn in a game I didn't understand, wondering why a man like Ezra would walk up forty flights of stairs on a broken leg just to make sure I was safe. "Showtime, Mrs. Gardner." Standing on the red carpet in a gown that cost more than my life, I watched my cheating ex-boyfriend’s face turn pale as Ezra claimed me in front of the world. I wasn't just an assistant anymore; I was a weapon, and it was time to burn their world down.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
To Love You Hurts To Love You Hurts Jay Crawley Billionaires
“"You know what happens when you run, spitfire." Tobias nips my lower lip with his teeth then soothes the sting with the gentle caress of his tongue. "I catch you!" --- I should have known that Tobias Landry was behind the circus of my troubles. He, who once was a man I adored in my past life, is now a man who leaves nothing but devastation in his wake everywhere he turns. He can pretend all he likes that he is innocent, but the slight twitch in his left eye says a completely different story. I will fight him to the end to keep the bakery that I have poured my sweat, blood, and tears into! Even, if that means that I have to marry him and give in to his sexual desires. My name is Keri Appleton and this is a dangerous and sultry tale about lies, secrets, and the fine line between love and obsession.”
1

Chapter 1 How Can Fate Be So Cruel.

15/11/2024

2

Chapter 2 The Devil In The Flesh.

15/11/2024

3

Chapter 3 Apple Turnovers.

15/11/2024

4

Chapter 4 By The End Of The Week.

15/11/2024

5

Chapter 5 Marry Me.

15/11/2024

6

Chapter 6 Run Hard, Run Fierce.

15/11/2024

7

Chapter 7 I'll Make You Love Me Again.

15/11/2024

8

Chapter 8 A Truth & The Vow.

15/11/2024

9

Chapter 9 Candy Floss With A Sprinkle Of Cinnamon.

15/11/2024

10

Chapter 10 I Am Not For Sale.

15/11/2024

11

Chapter 11 Taste You With My Tongue.

19/11/2024

12

Chapter 12 I'm Coming.

19/11/2024

13

Chapter 13 Shhh, I've Got You.

19/11/2024

14

Chapter 14 Sleeping With The Enemy.

19/11/2024

15

Chapter 15 Not Here, Not Ever.

19/11/2024

16

Chapter 16 Stay Away.

19/11/2024

17

Chapter 17 If The Offer Still Stands.

23/11/2024

18

Chapter 18 Men And Their Ego's

23/11/2024

19

Chapter 19 Pathetic.

23/11/2024