Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 129027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
“I’m so blessed to invite you to one of the most exciting days in any parent’s life—the celebration of Bill’s and my beautiful daughter Kira’s engagement to a worthy young man. We’ve loved Drew’s family forever and couldn’t be more excited that these two love birds are about to tie the knot. Thank you all for coming to celebrate the union of true love.”
Everyone starts to clap.
“I now present to you the future Mr. and Mrs. Underwood.”
More clapping as Kira and Drew start down the stairs, arm in arm. I hang back like I know I’m supposed to, but only as far as I can while keeping Kira in view. A peek over the balustrade shows that the room downstairs is packed. Any one of those men could be the stalker, using tonight as an opportunity to get close to her.
I wait until Kira and Drew are at the bottom of the stairs and being received by guests before making my way quietly and efficiently down, hanging back against the wall. My eyes stay on Kira as her mother directs her with a hand firmly at the small of her back. I see the way Kira immediately stiffens at the gesture.
Like a beauty pageant contestant, Kira’s smiling with all her teeth. It looks like it hurts her face. She’s pinned in by Drew on one side and her mother on the other.
Now I’m really wishing we’d worked out a sign ahead of time that she could flash me if she needed to cut and run at any point. I don’t care what any of these fancy farts think of me. I’d be happy to hustle her out of here and back to the Mercedez. The chauffeur wasn’t that buff, so I know I could take him to get the keys, and we could be on our way in no time.
But she just stands there like a plastic doll while a receiving line works its way past them, each person stopping to give their well wishes and have a chat. From where I’m standing by the wall, I can hear the friendly tones in Kira’s voice. She’s doing her best to make each person who stops by feel welcomed and warm, giving them special attention. Especially the older folks. It’s also clear who Drew’s parents are because she especially gushes over them.
Finally, almost forty-five minutes later, dinner is announced.
Her mother tries to move Kira along with that iron hand she’s had at her back the entire night, but Kira stops and turns around, eyes obviously searching. I step forward into her line of sight.
Her exhausted, panicky look relaxes when she sees me.
I’m right here, I want to say. But there’s no chance before her mother and Drew whisk her off. She only has time for one more desperate look over her shoulder before they’ve got her around the corner.
Goddammit, I hate this shit.
I haul ass, not wanting to lose sight of her for a second.
FIFTEEN
KIRA
I don’t know why I’m so panicky tonight. I’ve performed at these sorts of events my entire life.
Maybe it’s because of the stalker, but the second I lose sight of Isaak, my breathing gets short.
“You’re alright,” Drew whispers in my ear, clasping my hand.
I nod repeatedly and clutch his arm tighter. He’s seen my panic attacks. He knows what to do.
“Get my mother away from me,” I hiss into his ear. Her hand on my back has made me want to crawl out of my skin the entire time we stood in that receiving line. It was like she was reclaiming me as her property and proving that I had no say after I stood up to her and told her not to touch me in the dressing room earlier.
The place on my back where she’s still touching me is making me feel like that spot is sizzling and numb at the same time. I need away from her. Fucking away.
“It’s not for much longer,” Drew says, voice soothing. “She’s your mother. Just calm down. Come on, we’ll sit down and have a nice dinner.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. I love Drew, but I hate it when he gets like this. Compliant. He knows his parents are here and won’t make a scene. God forbid we make a scene.
I know I’m being unfair. He’s under his dad’s thumb as much as I am my mother’s. Worse, really, because he works in his dad’s Senate office. Drew’s always had it so much worse than me.
So I swallow and nod tightly. I don’t want to make tonight any harder for him than it already is. No doubt his dad is watching his every move, too.
Finally, we get to our seats, and I can finally pull away from my mother’s touch. But our little name cards on the table have me sitting next to her, and I just can’t.