Sweet Possession (Carson-Fox Resorts #2)

Chapter 23

Fox

C ora and I talked for a little while longer after she’d told me whatAnnaliese had said to her. Thankfully, we moved into the bedroom, the two of us getting comfy on the bed while we spoke.

I knew it was going to take more than one night to rebuild herconfidence, what Annaliese had said to her had rocked her to her core, but I was determined to do everything in my power to help rid Cora’s demons.

Talking turned to kissing, kissing turned to the two of us stripping ourclothes off, and as I thrust slowly inside her, I whispered in her ear how much I loved her. How happy she made me. How I would do anything for her. She cried when we came together.

When the sun’s rays were beginning to rise, she finally fell asleep inmy arms.

I was too riled up to sleep though. Everything Annaliese had saidchurned over in my head, and the more I thought about it, the more convinced I wasthatLily was behind it. She’d put Annaliese up to sneaking into the party and confronting Cora.

I needed evidence though. Sure, I had the camera footage of Coraentering the bathroom, and Annaliese following a few seconds later. The two of them were in the bathroom for a few minutes before Annaliese walked out with a grin on her face like a cat who had caught a canary. Shortly after, Cora followed, looking like her world hadjustbeen flipped upside down.

Butthatwasn’t enough. Especially as Annaliese had denied Lily’sinvolvement, claimingthatshe acted on her own. I was going to be speaking to Lily about it regardless, but without any fucking proofthatshe’d breached her contract in some way, I’d be hard pushed to fire her without a lawsuit biting me on the ass.

Not disturbing Cora, I crept out of bed and cleared the glass up. I’dsmashed the vase of roses in a fit of rage when Nash sent me the security footage after I’d told him something had happened. The entire time, my mind went through what I was going to do about Lily.

But until I had spoken to her and gotten a feel for whether she knewwhat Annaliese had been up to, or if she had been kept in the dark, I couldn’t put any plans in motion.

There was no time like the present, and the sooner I dealt with thissituation, the better it would be for Cora.

Once I’d showered in the other bathroom and dressed, I dialedNash’s number.

“What the fuck, Fox? It’s noteven8 am,”he grumbled, his voice thickwith sleep.

“Need a favor,”I replied, not giving a shitthatI’d woken him.

“What?” he huffed.

“I need to head out to deal with Lily. Can you or Sav come to our suiteso Cora’s not alone when she wakes up?”

“Yeah, of course,”Nash replied, suddenly wide awake.“Give us fiveminutes.”

“How’s she doing?”Sav asked, taking the phone from Nash. The twoof them knewthatAnnaliese had followed Cora into the toilet and agreed with methatsomething must have happened in the bathroom.

Poor Sav was beside herself with worry, blaming herself for lettingCora go to the toilet on her own. I’d tried to reassure her, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a small part of methatwas annoyed she hadn’t gone with Cora. All of this could have been avoided if Sav had stayed with her.

Thatwasn’t fair though, the only person to blame was Annaliese.

And maybe Lily.

“She’s okay, we talked earlier and straightened things out. I’ll fill youin later, right now, I need to deal with Lily.”

“Of course, we’ll get dressed and come over,”Sav replied eagerly.

Less than ten minutes later, I was in my car heading to Lily’sapartment after making Nash and Sav promise methatthey wouldn’t leave Cora alone, and would take her home once she woke up.

The closer I got to Lily’s place, the more my blood boiled. It didn’tmatter whether she’d put Annaliese up to cornering Cora or not, the fact remained the same. Annaliese had confronted Cora because Lily couldn’t get over us not being a thing anymore.

Tough shit. She needed to get over it, and quickly. I wouldn’t stand forher jealousy upsetting Cora a second time.

Lily’s apartment was a twenty-minute drive from the heart of Vegas.I’d only been there a couple of times, preferring Lily to come to mine whenever we’d fucked.

Once I’d parked up next to Lily’s car, I made my way to the communalentry and pressed the buzzer for apartment six. When there was no answer after a few seconds, I pressed it again, this time holding it down for longer.

“Hello,”Lily’s sleepy voice chimed through the intercom.

“Open the door, Lily. We need to talk,”I said, making sure she knew Iwouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Fox? What are you doing here?”

“Just open the door, Lily,” I growled, impatience getting the better of me.

A sharp buzz rang out into the morning air, letting me know she’dopened the door. I yanked it open and stormed up the flight of stairs to her apartment, finding her opening her doorjustas I hit the landing.

“Fox, what’s going on?”Lily said, her brows furrowed as she wrappedher robe around her. Her hair was tussled, her eyes thick with sleep.

“Cut the bullshit, Lily. Do you have any fucking idea the hurt you’vecaused?”I shoved past her into the small apartment before spinning around to face her with my hands on her hips.

She shut the door, turning to face me with confusion writtenover her face.“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“So you’re telling me you didn’t put Annaliese up to sneaking intoNash and Sav’s party last night and confronting Cora?”I snarled, unable to rein my temper in.“You didn’t get her to tell Cora a whole heap of bullshit about you and me, and other women I’ve been with?”

Lily’s brows rose in surprise as her mouth dropped open.“Fox…I…I’m sorry, but no, I didn’t know Annaliese had donethat. I certainly didn’t put her up to it.”

She spoke with conviction in her voice, and for the first time since I’dseen the footage, I wondered if I’d gotten it wrong. Either Lily was an impeccable liar or she genuinely didn’t know .

“What’s going on?”a voice rumbled from behind me.

Spinning, it was to find a man wearing only a pair of gray boxersemerging from the door I knew led to Lily’s bedroom. He was a scrawny guy, not someone I would have pegged as Lily’s type. NotthatI gave a damn who Lily fucked.

“Nothing, Robbie,”Lily said, crossing the room to him and taking hishand.“Go back to bed, I’ll be in soon,”she purred in a voice I knew too well.

He looked from Lily to me, sizing me up.“No, I’m not leaving you,”hesaid, the hint of nerves in his tone betraying his bravado.

“It’s nothing to worry about. This is my boss,”Lily said,waving a hand to me.“Fox, this is Robbie. He’s…well, he’s a friend of mine,”she said, her cheeks blushing.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, a slither of tension easing from meat how Lily was gazing up at Robbie. It was like he’d hung the moonjustfor her.

Thank fuck. She’d moved on.

Butthen, if she’d moved on, why the hell did Annaliese do what shedid?

“It’s nice to meet you, Robbie,”I said, playing nice.“I’m sorry to havedisturbed you both, I jumped to the wrong conclusion about a situation. I shouldn’t have barged in here.”

Lily muttered something to him, low enoughthatI couldn’t hear. Hislips pursed into a thin line before he threw me a look of contempt.

“Please, baby,”Lily said, stroking her hand down his bare chest. Theman melted under her touch, giving her a kiss before disappearing back into the bedroom.

When the door shut, Lily turned to face me again.“I’m sorry, I shouldhave told you about Robbie.”

I shrugged.“You don’t owe me anything, Lily. ”

“Right,”she said, her gaze dropping to her feet.

“Have you been seeing him for long?”I didn’t care, but I hadbarged in and accused her of somethingthatI now wasn’t as convinced she’d done. The least I could do was give her the time of day.

Her eyes lifted, and a small smile crept over her lips.“I met him acouple of days after I embarrassed myself by turning up at your place. Things have been going well between us.”

“I’m happy for you.”Truth was, I didn’t give a shit if she was happy ornot, so long as she kept the fuck away from Cora.

“Thank you. That’s why I emailed you the other week. I didn’t wantthere to be any awkwardness between us. You’ve moved on and so have I.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek, considering everythingthathadhappened in the last twelve hours.“Youreallydidn’t know about Annaliese?”

“No. We…erm, we had a massive falling out a few days ago.She tried it on with Robbie andthentold me he came onto her. We haven’t spoken since,”she replied, a pained expression twisting her face.

The two of them had been friends for several years, if Lily wasn’tworking,thenshe’d be with Annaliese. Sucked to have a friend betray you likethat.

I sighed.“I’m sorry things are rough between you two. Think you’ll beable to sort it out?”

She shook her head.“Is there any way to come back from your bestfriend trying to make a move on the guy youreallylike?”

“Her loss, Lily. You don’t need a friend likethatin your life,”I replied,a brief pang of sympathy running through me for her.“Anyway, I should get going, I’m sorry to have barged in the way I did.”

“It’s okay,”she said, walking me to the door.“If your girlfriend was upset,thenit’s only right you’d want to get to the bottom of it. ”

I opened the door, pausing before I stepped out.“If you andAnnaliese have fallen out, why would she imply to Corathatthere was a chance of you and I getting back together?”

Lily shrugged.“Maybe she thought if she managed to break you andCora upthenI’d finish things with Robbie in hopes we’d rekindle something?Thenshe could steal him like she wanted to? Or maybe she figured you’d react like this, and it would result in me getting fired? Anything is possible. I’m beginning to realize I didn’t know herthatwell after all.”

I churnedthatover. Both were a possibility, but it had backfired onAnnaliese, whatever her game plan was.

“Take care of yourself, Lily. And I hope things work out well with youand Robbie,”I said, stepping out onto the landing.

“Thanks, Fox. And I hope things work out with Cora. Itreallyseemslike she makes you happy.”

I bobbed my head before heading back out to my car, more thanready to get the hell away from Lily.

I didn’t go back to the hotel after leaving Lily’s, nor did I go home. Foran hour, I drove out of the city limits and along the winding roads, wanting to clear my head.

Cora’s reaction to what Annaliese had said to her shook me morethan I cared to admit. When Cora had disappeared into the bedroom after telling me she wanted to sleep alone, I told myselfthatI needed to stay awake all night for fearthatshe would sneak out and vanish into thin air.

I was terrified that I was going to lose her.

I couldn’t lose her.

I’d barely survived the heartache of losing the only other person in mylife who I loved. Losing Jessie had been the worst time, but I’d gotten through it.

I wasn’t sure I would be as successful if I lost Cora.

The answer to proving to Corajusthow much she meant to me, andensuringthatshe couldn’t walk away from me was obvious. Slamming my brakes on, I spun the car around on the deserted road and headed back into the city.

For the next couple of hours, I browsed jewelry shop after jewelryshop trying to find the perfect ring, but none were special enough for my girl. I needed help to pick one, and I knew exactly who I was going to ask to come ring shopping with me.

CheckingthatNash had taken Cora back to the house, I headedhome, desperate to see her. When I reached the house though, Nash’s car was nowhere to be seen.

I cursed him for not staying with Cora until I got back.

The house was quiet as I threw my house keys into the bowl I kept bythe door. I expected Cora would be in the kitchen, her safe haven, but the kitchen was empty. Figuring she was in the bedroom, I headed for the stairs but I didn’tmake itthatfar when my gaze caught on a figure at the bottom of the garden.

By the pool .

The blood in my veins turned to ice at the sight. Panic crawled up mythroat and gripped my windpipe, preventing me from taking in any air. I tore through the house, ripping open the backdoors, and storming towards Cora, who sat on the side of the pool dangling her feet in the water as she read a book.

She promised.

She fucking promised me she wouldn’t go near the water without me.

“Cora!”I bellowed, my voice reverberating around the garden.

I couldn’t say whether she heard me calling her name, she musthave, it was loud enough. But around me, my garden vanished, replaced by the garden of my childhood home.

Cora was nowhere to be seen, but as I neared the pool, my stomachlurched into my throat as her petite form floated facedown on the surface of the water. She was still. Her long, brown hair gently swayed around her as the light breeze blew her body across the water.

“Cora!”I yelled, preparing to throw myself in the water to get to her,but I was being held back by something.

“Daddy, please, you’re scaring me,”her voice broke through the darkstorm clouds surrounding me. I blinked several times, clearing the memory from my mind, my surroundings coming back into sharp focus.

Cora was standing in front of me, her Harry Potter book discarded ina puddle, water droplets dripping down her smooth legs to her bare feet. Her little hands gripped my shirt, holding me back with more strength than I knew she had in her.

I looked down, jumping back in horror when I realized I’d beengripping her upper arms. Angry red marks marred her skin, leaving behind the imprint of my fingers.

I choked in horror. I’d hurt her. The one thing I promised I’d neverdo .

“Cora…I’m sorry,”I said, fear still gripping me in its sharp claws.“I…didn’t mean-”

“It’s okay, Daddy. You haven’t hurt me,”she replied, her eyes wide.

Scared.

I needed to get the fuck away from her. I was scaring her.

I was scaring myself.

“No, it’s not okay, Cora,”I ground out, clenching my teeth so hard Icould feel them cracking.“I need to go.”I turned, practically sprinting back to the house.

“Where are you going?”Cora yelled, trying to keep up with me.“Please, don’t go, Daddy,”she cried, ripping my heart to shreds.

But I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t think. The image of her floating facedown in the pool circled my head.

I was going to be sick.

“Stay in the house, Cora,” I growled with unrestrained anger. “And don’t go near that fucking pool.”

I was going to fill that damn pool in, that way she’d never fall in and drown.

I grabbed my keys and yanked the front door open before storming tomy car. The door almost ripped off its hinges with how hard I tugged it open.

Switching the ignition on, I floored it down my drive, peering in therearview mirrorjustbefore I pulled onto the road.

The last thing I saw was Cora standing in the doorway, tearsstreaking down her cheeks.