At that moment, Lisa knew she had made the right decision confiding in her. She blew out a breath, relieved. She didn’t have to suffer in silence anymore. When Sawyer filed for divorce at the end of the seven nights with her, she’d have her friends to count on.
The room tilted, and her legs trembled as if they couldn’t support her weight. Guess she was still too woozy to stand. She dropped into the chair and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you, but I owe it to Sawyer to give him the truth before anyone else.”
Rachel’s lips pressed into a straight line. “Does it have something to do with the break-in at your condo and your brakes getting cut?”
She wished she knew. “Maybe? There’s a lot of people who’d love to see me dead.”
Rachel walked over and sat on the bed so that their knees touched. “Well, there’s a lot more people who just plain old love you. Whatever you did in the past won’t change how I and the other girls feel about you. If you need our help, don’t hesitate to ask. In fact, I’ve got a suitcase of clothes out in the hallway for you.”
Lisa took Rachel’s hands. “Thank you.”
The curtain slid open, and Sawyer stuck his head inside. “Is it safe to come back in?”
“It is,” Rachel said, standing. “We’re going to let her rest now, but there’s a suitcase filled with clothes for her to take with her when you leave.” She put her hands on her hips. “Sawyer, I’m only going to say this once. You’re one of Logan’s best friends and you saved my ass before, so I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. But Lisa’s one of my best friends, and I’ll always choose her over you. So please don’t do anything to fuck it up. Are we clear?”
Sawyer turned to Logan. “Is she taking Domme classes or something?”
Logan looked horrified. “Over my dead body.”
Rachel threw her arms around his neck playfully. “Hey, I thought you liked when I—”
“Good-bye,” Logan said, covering Rachel’s lips with his fingers. He yanked her out of there before she could finish her sentence. “Feel better, Lisa.”
An awkward silence filled the room. So many emotions poured through her right then, she didn’t know which one to deal with first.
“Yeah,” Sawyer finally said. “That was nice of them, right? Logan’s letting us borrow his car—”
“You told your group of friends about me.”
He nodded once. “I told my friends.”
“You should have asked me first.”
“This isn’t only about you.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight from foot to foot. “These guys had my back when you left me gutted. They were the ones who saved me when I thought I was beyond saving. Pulled me off the twisted and dangerous road I was on and got me back onto the straight and narrow.”
Her heart clenched at hearing how much she’d hurt him. If only there had been another way to protect him, she would’ve taken it. She didn’t regret her actions, because they had kept him alive, but she did regret how he’d suffered as a result. “What are you talking about? What happened after I left? Does this have anything to do with why you lost billions?”
“I tried to forget you,” he admitted, staring at her so intently, she could almost feel the heat of it burn into her. “I practically drank myself into a coma those first few months you were gone. I went to the bars, to strip clubs, picked up women . . . ” He stopped, as if realizing what he had said, and she tried not to let on how much it hurt her. “Nothing helped. Nothing until Vegas. I went there on business.” A look of bliss entered his eyes. “The lights, the food, the free booze, the accessibility of drugs. It was intoxicating. A fantasy world. It started innocently enough. A few hands of blackjack here. An hour of poker there. Then it was craps. Roulette. It didn’t matter whether I was winning or losing, because the potential to win was always there. That’s all I thought about. That next hand and whether or not it would be the one to turn my luck around. Maybe then I could find you and bring you home.”
A tear slid down her cheek. She didn’t want to hear the rest. Didn’t want to know that she’d caused the man she loved more than life itself such torment. She knew all too well about gambling and its consequences from watching her parents. People didn’t understand that for some, gambling was like a drug.
Was there something about her that caused those around her to escape into the high that gambling afforded them? Or was it a coincidence that her husband shared the same addiction as her parents?