And a naked Gabriella Moreitti with her ass snuggled up to Drake’s crotch. The crack in my heart tore upward, but I was numb. I felt like I was having an out of body experience, like I was watching everything happen from a distance. My body felt cold, my eyes oddly dry. There was no rage, like I was sure there should have been. No murderous craving for vengeance. Without realizing it, I moved to the side of the bed where Drake was.

He groaned when I leaned over and kissed is cheek. “Goodbye, Drake,” I whispered.

As I straightened, he stretched out and turned on his back. Even as I turned away his eyes opened. “Is it morning yet?” he asked, a slur to his words even now. “Come back to bed, Angel.”

I didn’t turn around as I moved toward the door and met Shane. His face was clouded with emotions, but I saw the tears glazing those beautiful eyes of his. I knew that he was hurting for me.  As I went to move past him he pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

I didn’t raise my head to meet his eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” I assured him and stepped back. “I…I’ll see you around, Shane.”

“Angel?” Drake was waking up more now. I closed my eyes, trying to draw strength from deep down as I finally turned and met his gaze.

“Bye, Drake,” I said in a dead voice and walked away.

Chapter 20

…Emmie…

I wasn’t completely asleep when my phone rang.

Nik was playing with my hair, his fingers stroking through the ends in a way that was both soothing and arousing. It wasn’t too late, just after eleven, but I had learned that with a baby eleven was late enough.

Nik’s dick was twitching every now and then against my ass. I wasn’t sure if he was just teasing me, or if he was going to try to get me to turn over and let him prove all over again that he worshiped my body. I was also unsure as to whether or not I would let him.  Mia would be up at the crack of dawn wanting a dry diaper and some breakfast.

But still, this was Nik. He was worth feeling sleep deprived.

That thought was just crossing my mind when my phone went off. Nik sighed and kissed my cheek as he reached across me and picked up the phone from my bedside table.

“It’s Shane,” he informed me with a frown.

“Answer it,” I told him, still clinging to that pre-sleep phase.

“Hello?” Nik paused and I could feel the tension filling his body.

That tension was all I needed to wake up. Something told me I wasn’t going to like the reason for Shane’s call. It was after two on the East Coast, so I was sure that whatever was going on wasn’t going to be amusing. He knew better than to call after nine my time because of Mia’s bedtime. The look on Nik’s face confirmed my suspicions. His blue eyes were on fire with a temper that looked close to boiling over.

Nik kept listening for a long moment and then, without another word, he gave me the phone. Muttering some curses that I would have smacked him in the back of the head for saying in front of our daughter or Lucy, he started pulling on clothes.

“Shane?” I greeted.

“Emmie!” Shane sounded strange to me. A mixture of emotions in the way he said my name. My heart clenched because whatever was wrong was bad. Very bad. “Emmie, I need you.”

“What’s going on? Are you okay? Is Drake?” Fear made me grip the phone tighter. “Lana?”

“I… Drake got drunk at a party at Axton’s. Liam is in town and he threw a party without Axton knowing about it. Axton invited Drake over after work yesterday and… He started drinking again, Em.”

I bit my lip. “That isn’t the end of the world, Shane. We all knew that he could have set backs. All we have to do is show him that we love him and support him through…”

Shane cut me off. “Emmie, that isn’t what I’m calling you about!” He paused, blowing out a frustrated sigh. “Drake is passed out in his bed, Emmie. And he isn’t alone.”

“Don’t tell me he got Lana drunk too!” I pushed the hair out of my face, already imagining the fit that Jesse was going to throw as soon as he heard about Lana’s partying with Drake…

“It isn’t Lana.” The words came out soft, as if he was trying to break something major to me. I wasn’t all that worried about myself right then. Drake had cheated on Lana. Oh, fuck! Jesse was going to kill him!

“Gabriella Moreitti is in bed with him.”

My head snapped back as if Shane had physically slapped me. No. No. NO! “I don’t believe you,” I whispered. I thought I was rid of that stupid bitch when Axton told me he had called things off with her. He hadn’t reverted to his old ways and let her back in his life after the last bitchy trick she had pulled months ago. Now…

“I swear to you, Emmie. I witnessed it with my own eyes. They are both naked and in bed…Lana just left…”

“Lana! Why the fuck wasn’t she with him in the first place?” I demanded.

“Because she was with me all afternoon yesterday getting ink. She wanted to surprise him with… That doesn’t even matter right now, Emmie!” he exclaimed. “Don’t you dare put this off on Lana. She’s destroyed right now!”

I sucked in a deep breath, trying to gain control over myself. I couldn’t keep blaming Lana for Drake’s mistakes. Everything she had ever done had been to help him, even if I hadn’t seen it that way at the time. Lana was the best thing to ever happen to Drake.

And now he had completely fucked that all up!

Not even I could fix this for him.

“He’s still passed out, Emmie. Both of them are.”

“What do you want me to do, Shane?” I asked.

He blew out a long breath full of frustration, disgust, disappointment, and rage. “If you can’t come take care of this, then no one will. Because if I have to do it, I will kill him. Lana is… I think she needs Layla.”

“How pissed was she?” I know I would have been tearing the place apart if I had found Nik in the same situation. And Lana, she was as big a firecracker as I was when it came to raging.

“That’s just it. She was all calm. Her eyes were all dead, and she even kissed him goodbye before leaving. She wasn’t herself. I’m worried about her. Please, Emmie. Come help me.” His voice was broken.

“I’ll be on the next flight out.”

“Thank you, Emmie.”