Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 115534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
I intentionally left Billy’s name out of that. He’s a stupid asshole, but he’s also my brother. And he’s helped me out with this crisis like a brother would. I’ll save his ass by not bringing his name into this.
“The same thing happened to Ash,” she says quickly. “And nothing of this magnitude happened. It blew over quickly. Then the same thing happened with Raya, and again, it blew over quickly. How was I supposed to know things would spiral out of control like this? It was just supposed to be a snarky article in the gossip section. It wasn’t supposed to be front page news or go viral on the web, Wren.”
Time to get her to spill everything.
“Tell me what all you told the reporter. Then tell me what my lying bastard of a cousin said.”
“This is your fault,” she says instead.
Apparently this won’t be as easy as I thought.
“It’s my fault you flew into a jealous rage and ruined my daughter’s life based on your selfish actions?”
She has the gall to look hurt.
“All you had to do was choose me. I never would have felt threatened if you’d fought for me. I never wanted to get divorced. I just wanted you to worry about losing me when I threatened it. You acted like it was a present I gave you and you ran to your lawyer to get the papers drawn up.”
I swallow down everything I’d love to say, and repeat, “Tell me what you said so I can try to save my daughter.”
I leave Allie’s name out, hoping it won’t provoke Erica. She breathes out hard, and then she starts speaking, this time laying it out in detail in front of the camera. Allie’s number flashes on my phone, but I swipe ignore. Erica sees it, and she smiles up at me like she’s grateful.
Sometimes looks can be deceiving. She can think she’s won some battle, but I can’t wait to tell her the truth.
***
ALLIE
“I need to get out, maybe go for a drive,” I say aloud as I stand and grab my keys.
Tria stands, her eyes darting outside. She stopped by an hour after Bella left. Bella called her to come babysit me like I’m in danger here. As if Tria can be a big muscle of help. She’s my size. And Bella might can pack a punch, but she’s no bigger. I don’t need them to babysit me.
“I’ll come with you.”
“You don’t have to,” I tell her as I head toward the door.
“I want to. They transferred Pete this morning, and I have a really bad feeling. I don’t know why, but I swear I’m getting that creepy feeling I used to get when he was loose. I just need to clear my head, and a drive sounds good. We’ll take my car.”
I nod, since she knows more about Sterling Shore than me, and her windows have a really dark tint, whereas mine don’t.
I follow her outside, and I relax in the passenger seat.
“Want to drive past the beach?” she asks.
“I want to drive beside the beach. Is there a road that just goes on for miles beside it without having to deal with traffic?”
She smiles as she nods, and she cranks the car. As she pulls out and drives through town, she turns on the music.
“Are you hungry? We can pick something up to eat while we tune out the rest of the world.”
“My stomach is not entertaining the thoughts of food right now. I’m a little stressed and I tend to not be able to eat when I’m stressed.”
“Care if I grab something?” she asks.
I shrug, and she drives on. But then I see Wren’s car parked in front of a restaurant as we’re passing. My heart speeds up because I know it’s his charcoal gray Audi. It’s his favorite. But what has my heart breaking is the BMW next to it.
“Pull over,” I say, and Tria does immediately, turning into the restaurant.
“Is that… You have to be kidding me,” she says, apparently seeing what I see.
She parks on the other side of Erica’s BMW, and we both look through the solid glass front of the almost empty restaurant. It’s not hard to spot them. Even though his back is turned, I know it’s him. I’ve memorized every feature on him from head to toe.
Erica is talking, he’s listening intently, and her hand is on the table as she leans forward. Then I see him lean forward, saying something to her that he apparently doesn’t want anyone else to hear. I can barely catch a glimpse of his profile from this angle.
“It can’t be what you’re thinking, Allie. I know my cousin. He hates Erica. Especially right now. Kode said Rye actually asked for his help because Wren went on a rampage. And Kode and Rye aren’t friends. At all. By the time he got there, Tag had kicked Rye out so that he could try to calm Wren down. He told Rye and Kode that Wren was better after you called. So this can’t be what it looks like.”