SECOND CHANCE MINE

  USA TODAY & WALLSTREET JOURNAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  M. ROBINSON

  SECOND CHANCE MINE

  M. ROBINSON

  © 2022 Second Chance Mine by M. Robinson

  All rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictitiously. All characters are a figment of the author’s imagination, and all incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s mind's eye and are not to be interpreted as real. Though several people, places, and events portrayed in this book are correct, the story is fiction that the author has made up for entertainment purposes only.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  The Beckham Dynasty

  Second Chance Series

  Other Series to Check Out

  Meet M. Robinson

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Adrian

  Now

  I was a man who prided himself on control, and for a brief moment, I didn’t have any. After ten years of not seeing Paige’s beautiful face, I never imagined she’d be standing right in front of me—in my friend Tristian’s home of all places. They were throwing a party for the baby he and his wife Belle were expecting.

  I didn’t usually make time for these types of celebrations. Not because I didn’t want to. It was due to the fact my company demanded my undivided attention. I was the definition of a workaholic. Except it didn’t feel like work, I genuinely found happiness in being the best at what I did.

  I was only there to meet his wife’s executive assistant. When I spoke to Tristian two months ago, I told him how difficult it’d been for me to find one who was worth a damn. I had yet to hire anyone who could fill the demands I required. Since his wife was pregnant, she offered her executive assistant (EA ) EA for the time being, and I was in no position to turn down her offer.

  Belle and Tristian were born into corporate empires. Their families had a generational rivalry for decades until they tied the knot a couple of months ago. Overnight, they became heirs to their families’ legacies, but they also worked their asses off to fill in the roles as CEOs for their respective businesses. I knew if Belle was referring to her EA, then she’d be at the top of her game and that was what I desperately needed.

  For the next six months, I wanted someone who worked as hard as I did at my company. I was the CEO of ACE Enterprises, which I established seven years ago. I was the best corporate raider in the industry; buying businesses and selling off their parts was what I excelled at. Hence, the name of my company. After two years, ACE went public and within a year, we were already a Fortune 500 company.

  At the time, we were top ten on that list, and I wouldn’t stop until we were number one.

  However, my thoughts suddenly shifted from work to the woman I couldn’t take my eyes off of as I followed Tristian into his kitchen. She was talking to his wife. It was only then I realized…

  I was there to meet her.

  “Paige,” Belle announced to us, nodding in our direction. “I’d like to introduce you to—”

  As soon as her gaze locked with mine, I was thrown back to another place and time. Instantly, my mind raged war within itself, consumed with the memory of the last time I saw her hazel eyes connecting with mine. Although, the hurt expression on her face back then was much different than how she was furiously glaring at me at this moment. I couldn’t decipher which was worse.

  The past or the present.

  The unexpected rage in Paige’s stare was enough to render Tristian’s wife speechless.

  Within seconds, Paige spewed, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Her sharp tone caught them off guard. Belle lightly gasped while

  Tristian immediately asked, “I take it you two know each other?”

  Without taking my intense stare off of her, I responded, “You could say that.”

  “You could say a lot of things,” she added. “Most of them would be lies.”

  “Cherry—”

  “Don’t you dare call me that,” she warned through a clenched jaw.

  The memory of why I gave her the nickname played out between us as if it were happening right then and there and not almost a decade and a half ago. I’d be lying if I said I never thought about her. Especially when I was around my younger brother, who used to be her best friend.

  Paige’s steady composure was solid while she continued to act like she wasn’t once mine. It didn’t matter how pissed off she appeared, I knew what was beneath her blue dress and fuck-me heels.

  Shifting my gaze to Tristian, he read my mind.

  “Belle, let’s give them some privacy.”

  She nodded. “We’ll be in the living room.” They left, leaving us alone in their kitchen.

  Despite Paige’s anger directed at me, I swept a strand of her bright red hair away from her face and placed it behind her ear like I used to. Only reigniting this deep connection that had always been there between us.

  No matter how much we tried to stay away from one another…

  We couldn’t.

  I couldn’t.

  She may have been my brother’s best friend, but she was also the only woman I’d ever loved. It didn’t stop me from breaking her heart, though.

  Bottom line, I did what I had to do.

  My fingers lingered against her soft cheek for a second before she abruptly snapped back.

  “Don’t touch me.” Maintaining the hard edge in her tone, she bit out her words. “I won’t ask you again, Adrian. What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Unable to hold back the grin, I baited her. “I don’t remember you having such a dirty mouth, Cherry. What happened to my good girl?”

  She narrowed her vicious gaze at me. “She grew up and realized she was just another conquest for you. Like all the other girls before and after her.”

  “Paige,” I coaxed, remaining in control. “Is this how you’re going to behave?”

  “Don’t talk to me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “You know exactly what you’re doing. Now answer my question, why the hell are you here?”

  I did the only thing I could do, I replied with the truth…

  “I’m here to see you.”

  One

  Paige

  Then: Nineteen years old

  “Cade, I can’t believe you’re moving in with your brother.”

  He simply shrugged, throwing a stack of shirts at me. “Hang those up.”

  I smiled, cocking my head to the side. “I didn’t hear the word please.”

  “I thought you were going to help me unpack?” He grinned.

  “What do you think I’m doing?”

  “Riding my ass about moving in with my brother.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You two have a love/ hate relationship, remember? You always have, so it’s a little surprising you agreed to be his roommate is all.”

  “I needed a place to live, and his roommate just graduated. It worked out for both of us. Besides, Adrian graduates this year. This may be the only time we’ll have to bond before he enters the real world.”

  “Bond. Really?”

  He smirked, shaking his head. “Why do you have to analyze everything?”

  “Because I’m your best friend and that’s what best friends do.”

  “You don’t see me riding your ass about choosing to live in the dorms.”

  “I didn’t have much of a choice. It was included in my scholarship.”

  “Oh, come on! Don’t give me that shit. Your mom is an ER doctor, she could have footed the bill.”

  “That’s wouldn’t be very independent of me.”

  “Fine, you could have moved in with me and I could have footed the bill with my trust fund.”

  “I know, but we’re in college now.”

  “And that matters why?”

  “In high school, everyone knew we were just best friends.”

  “Point being?”

  “I don’t want people getting the wrong idea.”

  He threw his shirt in my face. “Like you’re not going to sleep in my bed anyway.”

  “No, sir.” I adamantly shook my head. “You have a girlfriend now. We don’t have slumber parties when you have a girlfriend.”

  “Never stopped you before.”

  “But I
like this one. She’s sweet and smart.”

  With an infatuated expression, he stated, “Hayley’s great. She’s sexy as fuck too.”

  I nodded, placing his shirt he just threw at me on a hanger. “She does have a great rack.”

  “And her ass,” he added with a huge smile. “It’s a ten out of ten.”

  “Why, Cade.” I beamed back at him. “You sound awfully smitten. Is she the one?”

  During the summer, he met Hayley at Clearwater Beach, and they have basically been inseparable ever since. They’d been together for the past month. From the moment I met her, I knew she was different from most of the girls he usually dated over the years. I liked her. A lot. She genuinely seemed like she was falling in love with him and that’s all I wanted for my best friend.

  One of the best parts of their relationship was that Hayley wasn’t intimidated by the friendship Cade and I had. She knew we learned early on we were just meant to be best friends. At thirteen, we were one another’s first kiss. We thought maybe there was something there, but we couldn’t have been more wrong on that notion. It felt like I was kissing my brother and he said it seemed like he was kissing his sister.

  No emotions at all.

  Not one.

  We both quickly realized we were meant to be best friends and nothing more.

  In the past, our close relationship was an issue for all his girlfriends. They constantly complained about our friendship and as soon as they did, Cade would cut them loose. He never entertained their demands of putting them before me.

  It was always us before anyone else.

  No matter what.

  Hayley never made me feel like the third wheel I was. They included me in everything they did. It wasn’t anything new for Cade to have some sort of girl in his life. He was kind, respectful, funny, and extremely good-looking. Not to mention, he was Adrian Drake’s younger brother by three years. Girls were constantly trying to use Cade just to get to Adrian.

  It was as sad as it was pathetic.

  However, Cade used it to his advantage. He loved the attention he didn’t have to work for. It was always just there.

  They may have been related, but the Drake brothers were like night and day. Complete opposites of one another. While Cade was reserved and more laidback, Adrian was the life of the party. He was the big man on our college campus. The same way he was in our high school before he graduated. Now he was officially the president of the best statewide fraternity at our university.

  Everyone knew who he was. At times, I wondered if Cade felt like he was living in Adrian’s shadow. Although he never admitted it to me, it didn’t take the thought away.

  One of the only things they had in common was they were both wicked smart. It was in the Drake genes. Their father was a coding engineer, working with the elite around the world. It didn’t surprise me they both graduated at the top of their classes. There wasn’t anything the Drake brothers couldn’t do, and they proved that time and time again.

  Yet, where they really differed was their love lives—or lack thereof for Adrian. Cade was a relationship kind of guy and Adrian… Let’s just say he was a bedhopping kind of man. We’d never seen him with the same girl twice. His reputation as a man whore preceded him wherever he went, but chicks didn’t seem to care as long as they got one night with him. It was pitiful to watch.

  Truly pitiful.

  If Cade didn’t have to try to score with chicks, Adrian put in no effort whatsoever. All he had to do was flash that incredible smile of his and panties literally dropped at his feet.

  Through the years, Adrian and Cade’s relationship hit highs and lows. Sometimes they were on good terms, other times they were at each other’s throat. But in the end, they were always there for one another. Especially when we were younger and Cade would get bullied. Adrian was the king of getting into fights. At one point, it seemed like it was all he did.

  Ignoring my question, Cade exclaimed, “Hayley knows how important you are to me, Paige. She wouldn’t care if you slept in my bed.”

  I opened my mouth to reply how ridiculous that was, but a deep, familiar voice rasped, “What if she wants to sleep in my bed?”

  Our gazes darted toward Adrian. He was leaning against the doorframe of Cade’s new bedroom, looking every bit the playboy he was.

  I’d known the Drake brothers since I was seven years old. After my parents got a divorce, we moved from Kentucky into the house next door to them in Tampa, Florida. My mom was hired as the new emergency room doctor in the Bay area—working fifty, sometimes sixty hours a week. I was alone a lot. Mostly after I was old enough to stay home by myself. Her career had always come first, but I was a close second. It was the reason for their divorce to begin with.

  My father wasn’t in my life. Not for lack of trying on my part. He didn’t care to have me in his world. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him. He was a workaholic like my mother. His business was the only thing that mattered to him. He stopped paying child support after the first year of their divorce. My mom didn’t care. We didn’t need his money. She made more than enough for the comfortable life we lived.

  Sometimes I thought about him. Although, I tried really hard not to. It hurt too much.

  I remembered the day as if it were yesterday. I met Adrian before I met Cade. His bedroom window was parallel to mine and two days after we moved in, I was sitting in the nook by my window, drawing in my sketchbook. I loved to draw, still did.

  Then all of a sudden, I heard a door slam and looked up.

  “Adrian Michael Drake!” The door to his bedroom flew open. “How many times have I told you that you can’t slam the door to your bedroom?”

  “But, Mom—”

  “Don’t you, ‘But, Mom,’ me, young man. You got in trouble at school again for fighting.”

  “It’s not fighting when he doesn’t hit you back.”

  “How could he? You tackled him to the ground.”

  “He deserved it.”

  “Adrian…”

  “What was I supposed to do? He was bullying Cade.”

  She took a deep breath, looking at him the same way my mom did when she was disappointed in me.

  “I appreciate you defending your little brother, but you need to learn to use your words.”

  “I did.” He nodded. “I warned him last week that if he stole Cade’s lunch again, I was going to beat him into the ground. You’re always saying I don’t follow through on my promises, so I was just doing what you wanted.”

  She pointed at him. “Don’t you dare twist my words. That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  “Can you just ground me and get it over with?”

  She shook her head, backing away. “Just wait till your father gets home.”

  “Mom—”

  She didn’t let him finish. She turned around and left, closing the door behind her.

  I didn’t realize I was staring at him until he caught me, which made me slightly gasp.

  Neither one of us said a word for what felt like forever until he finally asked in an annoyed voice, “What are you looking at?”

  My eyes widened. “I…I…I…”

  “You…you…you…what?”

  Feeling panicky, I blurted, “I think it’s nice you were sticking up for your brother.”

  His eyes tightened. “Are you always a snoop?”

  “No,” I said a little too loudly. “I’m not a nosey girl.”

  “Then why are you listening?”

  “I didn’t mean to.” I pointed to his house. “Your window is open and it’s right next to mine.”

  “Is that your room?”

  I nodded again, feeling less jumpy.

  “Well next time,” he stomped toward his window and before slamming it shut, he ordered, “mind your own business.”