Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 119184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
I clear my throat, wishing I could suffocate. She’s the last person I want to be talking about this with. Maybe the second last, after my old man.
“Those days are behind me,” I say carefully. “I’m not like that anymore. Those times caused me grief, Nancy.”
“Whatevs.” She rolls her eyes, snorting. “Jesus, just tell me you think I’m ugly. It’d be a lot more believable than this horseshit.”
“I’m not the same man I was a few years ago. I don’t like casual sex, Nancy. No more than I like you rubbing it in my face,” I growl.
“Why?”
Because I don’t fucking like you.
I could say it, and to her, it’s probably not good enough.
“Time for you to go,” I snap, standing and waving at the door. “Come on. Don’t make me drag you.”
“Leave?”
It’s like a foreign concept she can’t understand.
Enough.
I start walking, and she finally moves. I escort her all the way to the door, one hand on the small of her back.
“It’s not going to happen, Nancy. Help me let you down easy. This doesn’t need to get ugly.”
“What isn’t, Brady?” Her breath hitches like she truly doesn’t get it.
“Us.” I stop and stare at her. “Look, I know it’s what our families want, but sometimes what they want isn’t always what we need. We’re grown-ass adults. We don’t need to follow a plan drawn up when we were kids.”
“What you need, you mean.”
She’s right. That’s exactly what I mean.
For the first time, I see something like real hurt on her face, and I’m not happy. But this is the route she chose.
“We can be cordial,” I tell her, though I don’t know if that’s something she can ever wrap her head around.
At this point, I’m prepared to say anything that will get her out of my condo before she bashes me in the face with her designer purse.
“Whatever. Fuck you, Brady Pruitt,” she spits, turning so abruptly I almost crash into her. “You’ve made your choice, but let me tell you something. I’m not covering for your noncommittal playboy ass anymore.”
I should’ve known she wouldn’t go down easy.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that next time your parents drop hints and ask how things are going, I’ll tell them the truth. All the gory little details.” She lifts her chin with a terrible smile. “I’ll tell Mommy you’re too immature, playing with animals and chasing one-night stands like you’re eighteen. And Daddy, I wonder what he’ll think when I say your dick doesn’t work? Seriously, Brady, why can’t you grow up?”
Fuck. This.
I stare her down, refusing to engage in something so high school petty.
Maybe she wants a fight. She wants me to roar and scream and give her more leverage to skewer me, but I’m the bigger person.
I’m not giving her a damn inch.
I’m also not going to break down and sleep with her just so she’ll play nice and show some basic decency.
No, this bullshit only ends one way, and it has everything to do with Lena Joly helping me buy breathing space.
V
Woof!
(Lena)
I am not upset.
I will not get upset.
I definitely can’t afford to get upset, because that upsets Dr. Ezzie.
Just in case my body betrays me, I repeat the mantra two more times.
Doing it, that’s easier said than done, especially considering my hands are still shaking after that awful encounter with Harry every time I think of it.
Yes, even though it was a couple days ago.
Ugh.
Years have passed, and it still feels like a trauma response. My body’s still hardwired to reject him in the most visceral way possible.
Smarmy, soulless asshole.
It’s embarrassing that I ever thought I loved him. Me, Lena—the girlie who hands out tough love advice every time a friend panics over a guy.
God, the way I held Elle’s hand last year during her whole fake-engagement-turned-real with billionaire hottie August Marshall . . . Where would my bestie be without me?
I have a good head on my shoulders and a heart wrapped in barbed wire. I can forgive my younger self for a lack of judgment.
It’s going to be okay. I’m older and wiser and determined to never let a man like Harry walk all over me again.
Sighing, I suck in a deep breath and knock gently on Dr. Ezzie’s door.
“Come in.”
I am not upset.
I step inside her adorably cramped office, closing the door carefully behind me. Dr. Ezzie sits at her computer. The usual laser focus gleams in her eyes, but her shoulders are slumped.
Crap.
This doesn’t look good already.
“Hi, Lena. Is everything okay?” She gives me a tired smile.
“Um, mostly. I actually just wanted to talk to you about a man you met with a couple days ago. Harry Jay.”
“The investor, yes.” Her brows knit together. “You know about that? Do you know him?”
“I—” My mouth clamps shut. Where do I begin? “I knew him in college. He’s a big-time real estate investor now, right?”