Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
I flick my sandwich over, realizing I’ve been standing here and staring at it for far too long. It’s nearly raw on one side and black on the other.
Damn him and his distracting, disarming presence.
“Are you going to eat that?” he asks. I turn and find him eying the plate.
“Yes. Absolutely yes. I’ll make you another.”
“I happen to have a thing for char. Usually on hotdogs and marshmallows, but this could be another surprising favorite.”
Surprising is right. I can’t believe this guy has ever eaten a hot dog or a marshmallow in his life. Those seem like resoundingly normal things, but they’re also total junk food, and someone with abs and pecs and muscles for days probably doesn’t even have a cheat minute.
I slide it across the island yet again and start working on getting a third together. I do remember to shut the stove off so the pan doesn’t start smoking. Gas and cast iron—two things I haven’t had the pleasure of cooking on before.
“But…yes. I’ll be going back to work,” he adds.
“For the rest of the week?”
“Quite possibly. I left instructions on the note. The number of a driver, my credit card information, and anything else you might need.”
“You did. It was…slightly shocking. The credit card thing. And the cat posts and litterboxes. Thank you for that.”
He seems momentarily disarmed by my niceness, and I hate that. I’m not this mean, surly, demanding person. If there’s a fight in me, I’d like it to be for good. The world could use less pain. That’s what my mom would have wanted.
“I won’t be using your credit card.”
“I thought you’d say that. But you can. Seriously. Just don’t order a plane or a car. It has a limit.”
“I won’t even be using it to order pizza. The fridge is fully stocked, and I have my own credit cards too. Thank you, though. It’s incredibly…kind.”
At first, I thought it was a one-upper in the game of destruction we’d unwittingly unleashed on each other. A big chess move, though don’t ask me what kind, because I don’t even know how to play. Then I saw the cat posts and the litter boxes, which were picked out with so much care. I’d passed it off as an assistant doing Thorn’s bidding, but now, I’m not so sure.
He obliterates the sandwich and nods at me. “Alright, then. I’ll be heading back.”
“The world still needs saving,” I comment.
“It’ll always need saving. Good and bad are things you can count on, like funerals and taxes. There’ll always be a need for security.”
“But you have to stay one step ahead of the other up-and-comers who want to take your spot, eat at your table, and steal your mergers.”
He looks like he wants to shrug but doesn’t. “And we’re getting your life back together and giving your image an overhaul. I think you’ll like it.”
“Do I get a say in it?” I ask.
“You can tell us to scrap everything when we’re done if you like.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but you won’t because we offer a one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee or your money back,” he says confidently.
“I’m not paying you.”
“I think we both know what this has cost already.”
I’m not the same person I was before meeting him. I know from past experience how many ups and downs can be crammed into a very short time, but it seems fitting that my brand won’t be the same either. Change isn’t always bad. I have to learn that.
“So I’ll see you when it’s done? Or you’ll get someone else to show me?”
“They’ll call. I’m only supervising. I’m not heading this project,” he tells me.
“Yes, because of the world and the merger.”
“Yes.”
I don’t know how many times we’ve both said yes in the past two minutes. Too many. Thorn looks collected, even more so because of the fancy, expensive black clothing that fits his body like a chef’s kiss, but I realize he’s not entirely calm and unruffled, which makes me feel not exactly calm and quite unruffled. I fall back on humor to save me.
“What if I refuse to leave here? I’ll have squatters rights eventually, won’t I? Wait, I forgot. You know a really good security firm that could come and remove me. Anyway, I’ll be leaving at the end of the week. You have my phone, and the one you left with the note is way too nice. I can’t accept it, even as a loaner. I’m supposed to unplug while I’m here anyway. How will you get in touch with me?”
“I happen to know this really good security firm…”
“Ahh. That does make sense, doesn’t it, in a mildly stalkerish way.”
“Yes.”
I’m glad I haven’t put another sandwich on. I’d char it beyond recognition for sure. Thorn takes every ounce of my focus right now. He steals all the oxygen in the room by looking so different and so him, by showing up and being nice and using phrases like, I’m sorry, and saving the world.