Never Say Never, Part One (Second Chance Romance, Book 1) by Melissa Shaw Page B

there’s been endless trouble since you forced yourself into my life.”  
    “What?!”  
    “You heard me.” Emily joined the flow of walkers along the main street, heading in the direction of the apartment. She was out of a job, she had no fucking prospects and no method of getting her kids back without money. They’d have to take her mother out of the old age home.  
    And it was his fault.  
    “You’ve been nothing but trouble since the minute you walked into The Tease, drunk because of some tragic break up or make up or whatever the fuck it is that’s going on in your life, that you refuse to talk about.”  
    “Hold on a minute,” Chase answered, raising his hand in objection.
    But she wouldn’t be deterred from her diatribe. “Oh ho, Mr. Mystery man. You’re so desperate for attention or popularity that you’re relying on me for your emotional needs.”  
    “Excuse me,” he replied, tone dangerously quiet, “but I’m not the one who came looking for me at the hospital. I wouldn’t even have known you existed if you hadn’t turned up in your cute skirt with a Hallmark card.”  
    “I left. I said no to you. I didn’t want this complication in my life, but you came after me.” Emily should’ve known better than to trust him.  
    “I saved your ass from that fat gorilla and you’re taking issue here. You’d have been dead if it wasn’t for me.” He stopped and she turned to him.  
    “Ditto.”  
    They glared at each other, feet apart with pedestrians rushing between them. Nobody cared about the fighting couple in the morning traffic.  
    “Emily, this can’t be the end.”  
    “Then how come it is?”  
    “Wasn’t that a line from Friends?” Chase rearranged his dark wavy hair.  
    “Don’t call me again.” Emily turned and jogged off into the crowd, her bag jostling against her side and her heart sitting in the sole of her foot. It had sunk into non-existence. She’d been so stupid to allow herself to feel for Chase.  
    Emily let herself into the apartment twenty five minutes later and locked the door behind her. She couldn’t risk Chase barging in and stealing her heart back.  
    What now? What could she do? Where could she go?  
    This wasn’t how it was meant to be.  
    She dropped her bag on the unsteady table and hurried to the cookie jar on top of her grumbling fridge – it was almost out of coolant, she was sure, it was more like an incubator these days.  
    Emily took it down, unscrewed it and fished out handfuls of dollars, then dumped them on the countertop. She got her wallet out of her bag and brought out crinkled bills she’d scrunched into it before she’d left the club.  
    She sat down to count.  
    “$2000.”  
    It was enough to rent a cheap apartment for a month and some food, but she didn’t have job, and the old age home was a good portion of her profit a month.  
    She was screwed.
    Emily racked her brains for a friend to call, anyone who could help her get a job, but there was no one.  
    Ring, ring, ring.
    The triple tone for a call went off on her phone and she grappled it out of her handbag, ready to give Chase another piece of her mind. She’d told him not to call, but he couldn’t let it go.  
    Talk about obsessive.  
    But it wasn’t Chase.  
    Dickhead.
    The title flashed on the screen and her neck muscles tightened. It was the word she’d used to save Big Nick’s number.
    “What do you want?”  
    “That’s a nice way to say hello, baby girl.” Nick made his tone obsequious and she gagged a little.  
    “Get to the point, Nick. I’m not in the mood for this.”  
    “Yeah, that was an awesome show you put on in the club. Looks like you’re out of a job because of that faggot boyfriend of yours.”  
    She held the phone at arm’s length and revulsion spiraling within her.  
    “What the fuck do you want?” Emily shrieked it, then brought the cursed piece of technology back to her ear.  
    “I think you know what I