Just Can't Let Go Read Online Free

“Fine, Phoenix. Fine.”
    â€œWell, all right. I got this. I’m officially your manager now. Think I’ll rename my company Phoenix Stars Branding and Imaging Corporation.”
    It wasn’t the manager title I was worried about. “What if Devereaux finds out we’ve been fucking for years?”
    â€œI got this. I told you Dev has daddy issues. She doesn’t even know the dude. On her birth certificate her father is listed as unknown. There’s no way she’s going to let our daughter grow up without my being in the house. You keep making love to me and let me take care of Dev.”
    Shaking my head, I glanced at my phone. “Oh, shit! I gotta go. I’ma see you tonight?”
    â€œYou know it,” he said. “Soon as I’m done taking care of the home front, I’ll be over.” I could hear in his tone that there was a smile on his face.
    Oh, damn! Buster said he was flying in. “Wait, I need to go over these lines tonight. Come by tomorrow.”
    Joy turned to disappointment in his voice when Phoenix said, “Cool.”
    We never ended a conversation by saying bye. I whispered, “I love you, my babe.” I contemplated going to the garage, getting in my car, going home, and leaving this opportunity behind. That was the respectable thing to do for Buster, myself, Phoenix, and Dev.
    Softly, he said, “I love you, too, my babe.”
    With less than a minute to make the biggest decision of my career, I didn’t want to be a second late if I were going back into that reading room.

CHAPTER 2
    Alexis
    T he valet attendant at T.I.’s Scales 925 opened the door to the white convertible Lexus my fiancé, James Wilcox, gifted me. I stepped out modeling my five-inch red Louboutin pumps, a diamond anklet, and a silky salmon-colored dress that barely covered my bootylicious buns. The newest Michael Kors purse dangled on my forearm.
    My engagement ring was where it belonged. At home. In the black box it came in. Inside my drawer. All the way to the back. For what it was worth, James could have it back and ship it to his side piece in LA. The ice my ex-girlfriend, Chanel, gave me was in my purse. Missing her, I dug into my bag, put her ring on the thin twenty-four-inch chain, then wore it around my neck. Legally I could say I do to either of them.
    I wasn’t here to meet James or Chanel. I needed to talk heart-to-heart with my brother.
    I took my ticket, told the tall, handsome, blond-haired guy, “Thanks,” and then strutted up the sidewalk and into the front entrance.
    The scene was popping off, as usual.
    A lot happened to me twelve weeks ago that I couldn’t shake. My life was one big lie. Hell, I was so good at deceiving people I didn’t know what to believe myself, especially when it came to love. Being in college was the main thing that kept me from going insane. Dreading that summer break was here. Non-fam who rubbed me wrong could get their ass kicked. Wish I’d never begged my mother to help me find my father. Biggest mistake of my life.
    Taking one class would’ve kept me partially occupied. Too late to enroll. Shouldn’t blame my fiancé, my ex-girlfriend, my mother, or my brother for my dilemma.
    I stood in dining area number one; fluffed my dress. I stared at the round, pale man cracking chicken bones with his teeth. He gazed at the flat screen television in front of him. I looked around for my brother; he wasn’t in this section.
    The choices I’d made three months ago had gotten me in this horrible situation. I shook my hands as though they were dripping wet recalling the way I’d leaned on my brother’s stovetop, let him penetrate me from behind until he came inside of me. That hadn’t seemed like a bad idea at the time, when I had no idea my father was his father, too. Around that incident on a different day, one Saturday morning I’d pulled down his pants in my mom’s