Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
“It wasn’t what I was thinking when I said that, but I suppose you could be.” Lane laughs.
I’ve told her some of what went down, but I kept out the extra-dirty stuff. Although that didn’t stop Lane from blushing more than Julius.
"How was your walk home with Sawyer the other night?"
"I have work to do." Lane spins around to head to the back. “I’ve got to get my audition piece done.”
"Hey!" I call after her. "Fine, I'll let it go for now." She's lucky I have work I need to catch up on today too. Lane held the place down for a few days, but she struggles with technology.
I click on an email addressed to me asking about one of my pieces I posted. This day keeps getting better and better. I clean up our inbox and organize a few things before I make a TikTok to post. Thankfully, the day passes quickly, and I even sell the piece I received an email about. It’s local, so I’m going to drop it off real quick.
I let my sister know before I double-check the address because it's one that’s not familiar to me. I get in the truck and plug it into my phone before I head in that direction. It’s right outside of town.
When I pull down the drive, I see an old farmhouse that doesn’t look occupied. There are a couple of windows missing, the stairs up the porch are busted, and the place could use a power wash and fresh paint.
I pause, about to drive off, when I see Troy step out from inside. I put my truck into park and hop out. “Did you buy this place?”
Maybe he’s planning on fixing it up. I still owe Troy an ass-chewing, but I need to keep in mind he’s related to my Julius and will soon be my in-law.
"No, I didn't buy this dump." He talks some shit for someone who still lives at home with his mom. Troy jumps off the porch to avoid the broken stairs, and as he moves closer, I see he’s pissed off. It makes me wonder why he didn’t say it was him in the email.
"If you wanted to talk about your lies, you could have said that. You didn't have to trick me into meeting you." I glance around. We’re surrounded by trees but not far from the road. "This is creepy. You could have come to my store if you wanted to talk in private. I won’t tell everyone that you're a giant liar face."
I could have called him a giant lying fuckface, but I'm keeping it sweet. I might have to share holidays with him.
"It's you that's going to want the privacy." Troy smirks, holding up his phone. He swipes, letting me see picture after picture of me. There are a couple from my makeout session with Julius in the truck. One from the night at Dixon’s when I went home with him and the other from this morning outside my store. There are more of me half-dressed sitting on Julius's porch having coffee with him.
"Why are you showing me these?" It's super creepy, which matches the vibe of this place.
"Oh, there is more."
He hits play on a video, and again I’m on the porch, but this time I’m in Julius’s lap, and the only thing I have on is one of his shirts. You can see his hands moving between us before he picks me up and carries me inside. You get to see a lot of leg, but the shirt covers my ass.
“Okay, so you’re a creepy stalker?”
“I’m not the stalker! Julius is. He’s a fucking psycho that watches you all the time. He doesn’t belong here. Julius thinks he is so damn perfect.” Troy flails his arms around as he rants. I think he might be talking about himself.
As long as Julius is only stalking me, which I'm sure he is, I'm okay with it. Honestly, I’d be disappointed if he didn’t stalk me.
“What are we doing here, Troy?” I really want to get to the point.
“He gets everything, but not this time.” He points his phone at me. “You’ll break up with Julius, or I’ll post this. Everyone online will know what an easy whore you are.”
I stare at him. “You got something else on that phone?” I ask. I’ll need way more than that because I have no shame in anything I’ve done.
“What do you mean?” He jerks the phone back, holding it to his chest.
“It’s only that—” I stop speaking when I hear a vehicle speeding down the driveway, flinging gravel in its wake. I turn to see Julius’s truck heading right toward us.
“Oh shit.” All the blood drains from Troy’s face.
“You motherfucker.” Julius's voice booms so loudly a flock of birds takes off from the nearby trees.