Cougar Love - Sequel to Cougar Boss

Chapter 2

"Eric, please point the gun at me. Olivia has nothing to do with this. You're right about everything. I'm to blame. I should've been better for mom. I should've been better for you. I'm sorry for all that I've done," she said.

Eric watched her for a minute then broke into laughter. "Oh, you have no idea how good this feels. You must really care about her," he said, moving closer to me.

As terrified as I was, I wanted the gun to stay aimed at me instead of Amelia because I now understood why she'd pushed me away so many times in the past.

I had become a weakness to her and now Eric was using that against her. If we ever came out of this alive, Amelia was going to push me away for good. Today it was Eric, tomorrow it'd be someone else. I was a threat to her.

"Shoot me." I didn't want to see Amelia lower her guard to protect me when I was partly responsible for everything that was happening. All she'd ever done was care for me and it took such a dangerous occurrence for me to see it, to believe it.

"What?" Eric said.

"Liv, what're you doing?" Amelia asked in panic.

"Oh, she's good. I see why you like her," he said.

"I said shoot me." I moved closer to him.

"Olivia, stop it!" Amelia said.

He aimed the gun at my chest and I was certain he was going to pull the trigger because an evil cynical look came across his face and he tightened the hold on the gun.

"I love you, Amelia," I said and closed my eyes right at the same time a shot was fired.

But this time, it wasn't me he shot. It was Amelia.

I woke up drenched in sweat, screaming in panic. I couldn't breathe and there was incredible pain in my chest.

Amelia was dead.

No, no, she was alive. Eric had shot me, not her. Another painful jab attacked my ribcage. I winced as I fell back on the bed while reality slowly took shape, but even as it dawned, the physical pain remained.

I closed my eyes, thought about everything that had happened the last few months and slowly, each deep calming breath I inhaled seemed to take away the tension and the pain.

The scene unraveled the same way every night.

I'd wake up short of breath, almost as if I was drowning and couldn't get enough air to my lungs.

Oddly enough, this whole thing had started when Amelia had moved back to the Gallagher Residence.

My nightmares had been silenced by her presence. Any post traumatic stress I'd suffered from the day of the shooting had been drowned out by the joy and happiness I'd greedily and selfishly engrossed myself in from the moment Amelia had said she loved me.

Amelia was alive. I had lived through the gunshot. Eric was gone. We were safe. I should've taken comfort in that, but Amelia's presence had shielded me from the darkness, which was why I woke up screaming every night, thinking Eric had shot her instead of me. Why I woke up screaming and crying uncontrollably.

"So how does it feel like being the boss lady?" Rex asked playfully during lunch on a Tuesday afternoon.

It was unbelievably overwhelming. Running such a behemoth of company required every bit of my strength and took up almost all of my time. I was always under pressure and was still trying to find some sort of balance.