Read Wild For You: Forever Wild #5 for Free Online

I thought I was doing him a favor by setting him up with that gig, but he really didn’t even need the money; it was just extra cash for him to leave me with. God, how could I have been so stupid?
    I opened the door and heard Wes crooning “Young and Beautiful” by Lana Del Ray. Normally I would have found it incredibly sexy, but not today. Now I just wanted to choke him with one of Paige’s loofahs.
    “Hey, Val, is that you?” Wes stopped singing and yelled.
    “It is,” I said, takin g a few steps toward the shower; the only thing separating us was the kitten print shower curtain that I got as a gag gift for Christmas.
    He opened the curtain, a huge grin on his face and nothing else. “Care to join me?”
    I folded my arms over my chest. “Did you take money from Max Green?”
    He blinked hard, taking a slight step back. “What?”
    “You heard me. Did you take money from Max Green?”
    “I mean ...” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes and no.”
    I couldn’t cry. I wanted to cry so badly and the tears wanted to burst through my eyes but I was done crying for him. “What do you mean yes and no? Just give me a straight answer. Be real with me, Wes. Be honest for once, if you even know the meaning of that word.”
    He turned off the shower and grabbed a towel from the rack, wrapping it around his waist. “Okay, yes , I did take the money he offered me.”
    I put my hand over my mouth, gasping. “No.” I shook my head. “No, no, no. I didn’t want you to say it was true.”
    He stepped out of the shower. “But I wasn’t going to leave you. You have to believe me.”
    “Then why did you take his money? How am I supposed to believe you? You’ve had all of that money for weeks and you didn’t give it back? And you didn’t tell me anything about it?”
    “Valerie, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to hurt you. You have to believe me that I never planned on doing anything to hurt you and I didn’t think you’d ever find out.” He put his hands on my shoulders.
    I shook my head, stepping back, the tears falling down my cheeks. I couldn’t be there with him. My throat felt like it was closing up and I was going to suffocate. “I can’t believe you would do this to me. After all we’ve been through. You said you loved me. That you belonged to me. But you’ve been keeping secrets from me and made deals with someone else!”
    “Valerie, I do love you! That’s not what happened at all! Please you have to believe me.”
    “I ... I ... I have to go.” I shook my head and turned away, running out of the room.
    “Valerie!” he called.
    But I didn’t look back. I didn’t want to listen to whatever other excuses he had. I just had to get away. I reached the front door, throwing it open and ran out.
    “Valerie, please wait!” He was still yelling after me. I wasn’t sure if he put on any clothes or if he was in a towel because I didn’t loo k. I just kept running and kept my head down, my tears blurring my vision.
    I kept going. I walked until I ended up on Michigan Avenue right in front of Paige’s work. My feet were killing me since I walked almost five miles in heels, but I couldn’t stop. Paige was in those pictures and she had to know the truth about what happened. My roommate was always honest, even if she didn’t happen to tell me about this little back room deal with Wes and Max.
    I walked into the store that smelled like pressed powder and expensive perfume. None of the other saleswomen in their all black attire with black aprons approached me, I must have looked even worse than I felt. When I got back to the eye makeup counter where Paige specialized in smoky eye application techniques, I knew how bad I looked because one of her co-workers nudged her and Paige looked up, gasping as soon as she saw me.
    “Omigod! Val!” She stepped off the podium and walked over to me. “What the hell happened to you?”
    “Can we talk?” I asked.
    “Yeah, sure.” She looked around. “How about