Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
So, instead, I sat by Felix’s side. As hard as it was to watch him, knowing he was in his final days, it was easier than facing everything tearing through me.
Grace stepped out, pulling me from my thoughts, dabbing under her eyes as she sat in the chair next to me. We each took a sip of our coffee before she exhaled, the sound low and deliberate, breaking the brewing tension without easing it.
“You know, Felix asked about Aspen earlier today?”
Though I expected it, her name struck my chest like a battering ram, sending me reeling no matter how tightly I braced. “Oh, yeah?” I asked, avoiding any details until I had a better feel for Grace’s thoughts.
“Yeah. And she’s been avoiding my calls, being vague in her responses about the wedding.”
“Hmmm…”
“You want to tell me what’s going on between you two?”
No waited on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t bother. Against Grace and her questions, it wouldn’t stand a chance. She could give the Spanish Inquisition a run for its money.
I sipped my coffee, buying precious seconds to come up with an answer. However, my mind lagged under the stress of Felix’s decline on top of all my plans crumbling over the last few weeks. I was wrung out, and my shoulders sagged.
“We had an argument, and the marriage might be off,” I muttered, ripping the bandage off in the most childish way—like saying it fast and under my breath would make it less shocking and convince Grace to let it go.
Yeah, fucking right.
“Well, then fix it,” she stated, the words sharp and overly simplified.
My brows pulled together as I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes, unsure if she was serious.
“Listen, Lucian.” She shifted in her seat to face me better and rested her hand on mine. “First, Aspen has made you a better man. I’ve seen you happier in the past few months than I have in years. You need to do what it takes to hold onto that—onto her.”
I opened my mouth, ready to fire back with a rebuttal I hadn’t figured out yet.
“Second,” she continued, cutting me off. “I really like her, and I want to keep her friendship. I’d hate to have to abandon you to keep her friendship.”
I sank lower in my chair and frowned, on the edge of pouting. “Yeah, well, if we’re not getting married, she doesn’t have a reason to stick around.”
“Why? Because it was all a set-up to begin with?” She spoke with aloof calm, but her words landed like an atomic bomb.
My eyes shot wide as an ice-cold wave sent an electric shock vibrating through my veins. Darkness crept around the edges of my vision, and the hallway tilted and swayed. Slowly, I lifted my gaze to hers, unable to hide the truth—my shock too raw, too explosive to mask with a lie. “How did you know?”
Her brow lifted, and that all-knowing look cut straight through me. “Because I know you.”
I looked away, shame curling around my shoulders, pulling them in.
She squeezed my hand, and I stole a quick glance to find a reassuring smile—so much like my mom’s that my heart clenched. Suddenly, I was ten again, caught stealing a candy bar. My parents punished me, of course, but then soothed me when tears sprang to my eyes, terrified I’d end up in jail. That same comfort now left me both aching for the past and embarrassed for feeling it again at almost forty.
“I saw your face the day you made that bargain with Felix. I saw the confidence that you’d never have to follow through—the hope that it would be too late before you got the chance. Then he got sick, and I saw the panic flare when you realized a countdown had started.” She ducked her head, trying to lock eyes with mine. “And the man who hadn’t mentioned a woman in fifteen years, all of a sudden, is on the verge of marriage, just when Felix decided to quit treatment.”
I swallowed. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
A small smile curved her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Because it made Felix so happy. It gave him something else to focus on and look forward to. So, I let you continue the lie. But then, something changed. Your stoic, evasive responses softened. You softened when this mystery woman, all of a sudden, had a name—when she became real. Because you liked Aspen and it wasn’t a lie anymore.”
“Of course, I liked her. I was going to marry her.” I scoffed, brushing aside the insinuation that Aspen had somehow softened me—that somehow, because of her, I embraced the bargain. “It might have been an arrangement, but I had to at least like her to tie myself to her.”
“I said you liked her.”
I furrowed my brows, not understanding her need to repeat that part. “Yeah…”