Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“Ohmigod, I’m so glad I have Javi,” Harlow breathed.
“And I’m glad I have Cap,” Raye said.
“Ditto, Eric,” Jess put in. “We haven’t been together that long, but he’s so awesome, I completely blanked out what a wasteland the dating world is.”
Luna, Shanti, Joey, Gemma and I were morosely silent, because we were neck deep in it.
Or the others were.
Not me.
No way.
No how.
Never again.
“I think Gabe’s a good one,” Harlow said hesitantly.
“He might be,” I replied. “But you know what? Kevin was too, in the beginning. He had a steady job. It was upwardly mobile. And he bought me flowers just because. He would whistle appreciatively when I made an extra effort, telling me he noticed. We talked future. We talked kids. We were in line with everything we wanted. Then he got his hooks in me, ‘lost’ his job, and it went downhill from there. I was so sure the man I first knew was the man he was, that man being the man I loved, I kept telling myself he’d find his way back. Not-so-spoiler alert, he didn’t. Sayonara four years of my life I’ll never get back.”
“That ass really did put you through the wringer,” Luna validated.
“He’s changed you.” Harlow was still going carefully. “You used to be a lot like me. And now you’re…” she trailed off.
“Cynical? Bitter? Twisted? Distrustful?” I paused and finished, “Protective and smart?”
Harlow jumped on, “Protective.” She reached out and squeezed my wrist. “I just hate the idea of you giving up.”
I had been like her. Sunny. Positive. Cheerful. A bounce in my step all day every day.
Life was good. I loved baking and decorating. What I did for a living was considered a treat by the people who bought it. I had a great friend posse. My mom finally found a man who was worth her time, and we’d made a pretty rad family.
And sure, Kev was a relationship I wished I hadn’t had, not to mention, wished I hadn’t let last so long. But I was far from the first girl who let some man hoodwink me.
Then I saw all those women Trevor had blackmailed, and I knew either Kevin was in on that, or he wanted to take it over after his best friend died, and that man had been inside me. Looking in my eyes, telling me he loved me, while he was fucking me every way he could.
And I let him.
Sooooooo…
Nope.
Not me.
Never again.
Not ever again.
But Harlow looked so crestfallen, I lied, “It’s fresh. Maybe I’ll get over it.”
Not gonna happen.
Indeed, Logic affirmed.
You two suck, Dreamer groused.
But Harlow smiled.
And that was all I had in me.
Raye must have sensed it, because she said, “Right, we all have our assignments and we all have bills to pay, so let’s break.”
We huddled and put our hands in the center, said, “One, two, three, Angels Unite.”
Then, since it was our only choice, forever and always, we got on with it.
FIVE
THE MOTHERLODE
I was in my kitchen, finishing with fastening my ribbon around the sheet cake box, when I heard two sharp raps on the door.
I was about to go and see who it was when I heard Gabe call, “It’s me.”
Since I’d had a day, I’d given up on finding the energy to pull together the words to let him down easy this time, and instead, I was about to yell at him to buzz off.
But I heard the locks open, and there he was in all his glory, striding in like he paid rent.
I screwed my eyes up at him. “I thought I told you we weren’t doing this.”
“Nothin’ wrong with my hearing,” he replied, coming to a stop across from me and looking down at the cornucopia of goodness laid out on my kitchen bar.
Yet again, I was about to say or do something, but Gabe speaking stopped me.
“Tell me you got extras of those,” and then he pointed at the Boston cream cupcakes.
I stared at his face, and I did it suddenly not feeling ornery, but rather besotted and bewitched.
I’d noticed that Gabriel Stark didn’t give much away.
He wasn’t closed off, per se, he just wasn’t a talker. He kept his cards close to his chest. He was watchful, observant, and present, but he wasn’t a sharer or outgoing.
Though, he was there when he was needed.
Always.
Like, he helped move me in, and Luna, Jess, Shanti, Gemma and Joey. He helped Javi build the closet Harlow designed for Shirleen and Moses when she organized them. He helped clear the dead stuff out of the yard of Tex and his wife Nancy’s new house so they could save some money when it was re-landscaped.
But now he was staring at those cupcakes—my cupcakes—like he wanted to dive face first into them.
And he wasn’t hiding it.
Something around my heart started squeezing and I found myself utterly dejected when I had to say, “No.”