The CEO's Rose

Chapter 137: Worried Friend

Amy’s POV

"You did what with who?!"

Amy had not meant to yell, but Vivian’s words had completely caught her off guard.

"I went out to a fast food place with Bryce," Vivian said the words in a slow, calm tone. Speaking to Amy as though she were a toddler on the verge of having a tantrum. Any other day, that would have bothered Amy, but since she truly felt like she was about to lose it, her friend unconsciously trying to soothe her barely registered. In that moment, all that mattered to her was what her friend had just said.

It was now official.

Vivian Rose was trying to kill Amy, pointing a shaky finger at her friend. frёewebηovel.cѳm

She took a few deep breaths before speaking.

"No, no, before that. Did you just tell me that you got into a car with that man and let him drive you somewhere instead of taking yourself there in your own car, so that you would at least have a way of escaping if things went south,"

Instead of answering, Vivian cast her gaze downwards, her and her shoulders slumped.

"Vivian, do you not recall the last time when he made you walk after taking you out on a date?"

Her friend raised her head and nodded. "I remember, he might deny it even to this day. But I remember it. That is why I had some money on me so that if anything like that happened again, I would be able to return home safely,"

Did Vivian have any idea how heartbreaking that statement was?

It was one thing to carry extra money on you when you were going out on the first few dates with someone. But Bryce was somebody that Vivian had dated for years.

And yet she felt the need, a rightful need for that matter, to have cash in hand in case the man decided to leave her behind.

Looking at her friend, she realized that Vivian was well aware of how messed up that was, and instead of being mad, she felt her heartbreak,... oh Viv.

***

Her best friend’s life was a hot mess, and Amy could not help but feel a little responsible for that. Perhaps if she had gotten to Ryan Terrell’s best friend a little bit earlier, all of this could have been avoided. The truth would have gotten out sooner, and the disaster currently unfolding before her never would have happened.

But Amy had been too slow to act.

Now there was nothing for it. All that Amy could do was what she had always done. Which was to support her friend as best she could.

Vivian had had a good thing going with Ryan Terrell, but because of a misunderstanding, she had pushed the man away. Now the billionaire was with Gwendolyn Stuart the fourth, and Vivian was down in the dumps, and Bryce, parasite that he was, was back. One thing that the man had going for himself was the ability to pick out whenever Vivian was at her lowest.

He always seemed to show up right around then, and instead of helping, he excelled at dragging Amy’s friend even lower. Looking at her friend, Amy could not help but feel sorry for her.

It was as clear as day that being around Bryce was making her worse and worse.

Subjecting herself to that man’s presence was killing Vivian.

To make himself feel better, Bryce had never had any problems tearing Vivian down, and it seemed that even though they were not boyfriend and girlfriend again, that part of their interactions had not changed. That weasel was still feeding on Vivian’s confidence in order to boost his worthless ego.

As mad as that made Amy, she could not do anything about it, and that terrified her.

She knew very well where the whole thing was going.Vivian was exposing herself to the man as some form of punishment for herself.

But Bryce was clinging to Vivian because from what Amy could gather, the man truly believed that it was his right to treat her badly. He might have been playing ball for now, pretending as though he was fine with the two of them not being anything more.

But Amy knew it was just a matter of time before Bryce tried to put the moves on Vivian, (if he had not done so already).

Bryce was a petty man that much Amy knew.

If he did manage to get Vivian to be his girlfriend again. Then there was no doubt in Amy’s mind that things would get worse. There was just no way that the man would be forgiving all of those months that Vivian had pushed him away.

If Vivian fully let that man back into her life, Bryce would make it his life’s mission to punish her for ever daring to think that she could get away from him.

Amy did not want that, she wanted Vivian to come back to her senses and make a run for it.

***

But that did not seem like it would be happening any time in the near future and that was stressing Amy out. She needed to find a way to get her friend back on the healing path that she had been on before things had fallen apart.

Just what would it take to get Vivian out of her funk?

Whatever it was that was needed, Amy hoped that it happened before something truly awful happened to her best friend. She just could not stand the thought of that parasite Bryce hurting Vivian more than he already was.

Once again Amy found herself wishing that she had started trying to get to the bottom of the fallout between Ryan and Vivian a bit sooner.

If she had done that. That wonderful man would have still been in Vivian’s life and Amy would not have been feeling as though she were about to be crushed by the weight of the worry that she had for her best friend.