Blake: A Bad Boy Romance by Laura Day Page B

few months three years ago. I finally ended things with him, but he didn’t take it well. He kept saying, who do you think you are that you can break up with me? Don’t you know who I am? His family is heir to a logging fortune. They spent a lot of money in local politics and a lot of people owe them a lot of favors.
     
    He knows what he’s doing. He knows how to stay on the right side of the law. The few times he’s done something he’s been arrested for, they’ve just been misdemeanors. He’s been hit with a few fines, but he just pays them and goes home and starts up again. I have a restraining order against him, but none of these are from his number and I can’t prove he did it. He’s a very smart man.”
     
    “There has to be something we can do,” Blake said and Ivy noticed how easily and comfortably he used the word “we.” He didn’t offer to be there for Ivy; he didn’t need to say the words. He just was there for her, however she needed him to be. What had happened to self-centered Blake from high school? She had grown up in the intervening years. Maybe he had, too.
     
    “We have a file on him, but...” She shrugged her shoulders. “Until he actually physically harms me, there’s not much the law can do. I talked to his mother once. We were on the courthouse steps. I was crying and begging her to talk to her son and get him to stop. Do you know what she said to me? She said, My son is a good boy. You did this to him; this is your fault, and then she walked away like it was nothing.”
     
    Blake shook his head in and slammed his hand on the counter. “There has to be something we can do.”
     
    “It’s best to just ignore him. Eventually he’ll get bored and move on to something else.”
     
    “That's not good enough,” Blake said. “I know someone. He’s a private detective.”
     
    “A private detective can’t do anything,” Ivy said with a shake of her head.
     
    “He can follow this creep around. He can get information, prove this jerk is harassing you.”
     
    Ivy didn’t say anything. She and her father had tried everything. They had talked to the police, the FBI, the Federal Marshals, everyone. But Darryl almost never broke the actual law. There was nothing to catch him with, nothing to charge him for.  But it made people feel good to try and help. So she didn’t stop Blake when he made the phone call.
     
    He went into his bedroom and she could hear his muffled voice through the wall. She could hear him offering names and details. She wished he wouldn’t. Fighting Darryl was like trying to fight the wind. It was pointless. All you could do is lean into it and hope it passed over you without destroying anything.
     
    A few minutes later he came back out and sat down on the couch next to Ivy. “What did he-”
     
    “No,” Ivy cut him off. “I don’t want to talk about Darryl anymore. We weren’t even together that long. There’s not even that much to talk about. I don’t want him to ruin today, or last night. I want to forget about him for just a little while.”
     
    “Okay,” Blake said quietly as he took his place next to Ivy on the couch and she, again, leaned into him.
     
    She finished her coffee and put the empty cup on the coffee table. Blake wrapped his arms around her and she knew he still had a million questions about Darryl, but she appreciated that he was letting them be for the moment.
     
    “We have to go back home this weekend,” Ivy said with a sigh. “Do me a favor and let’s not talk about this. Whatever it is. When we go home, can we pretend like nothing happened?”
     
    “I hate pretending,” Blake said. “I don’t want to lie about this. Lying about it make it seems like we're doing something wrong. We’re both adults. We can be together if we want.”
     
    “Our parents have a lot going on right now. This will only add to their stress. I’m not asking you to lie. I’m just asking you to keep it private.”
     
    “For how