Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 58808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Chapter 22
Peek a boo
Grayson
Keeping tabs on Avani has always been easy. She thinks she’s good at hiding and running away, but I’ve always known what town she was in. The hard part was not going to her and taking her back.
But she ran for a reason.
And I have found out the reason.
When I pull up, Charlotte is waiting for me at the front of her house. She is a beautiful woman, there is absolutely no doubt about that, but she is also incredibly naive and not the brightest crayon in the pack. She’s a daddy’s girl, and I’m unsure if she’s ever really had to work for anything. Seducing her was easy. All I had to do was show her I had money and buy her pretty things. She’s grown on me though, and I don’t mind her as a person.
She pulls the car door open and climbs into the passenger side, then leans over and kisses me on my lips. My hand reaches out and grips her face as I kiss her back, but she doesn’t taste as good as the little devil I left behind in a parking lot.
Fuck, she doesn’t even look the same.
Charlotte’s skin is perfect, almost porcelain-like, with not a scar or blemish marring her. Avani, on the other hand, her skin tells stories of pain and where she came from. She sees them as something that hinders her. Little does she know that those scars give her so much more power than she realizes.
“I missed you,” she mutters against my lips as she pulls away. She’s wearing the dress that she picked out at the store today. It’s white.
Charlotte thinks I plan to propose to her tonight. I don’t.
“Where are we going?” Charlotte pulls back and does up her seat belt as I start the engine and drive off.
“To a restaurant,” I tell her with a sidelong glance.
I watch as her mouth forms a perfect smile, then her hand reaches over and clasps my thigh. She attempts some small talk, but her excitement shines through. I’m not sure where she got the idea I would propose tonight, but it’s far from the truth.
Eventually, we pull up to the restaurant, and I toss the valet the keys. Charlotte slides her hand straight into my elbow when I reach her side, then she leans into me slightly. She smells clean with a fruity scent. In contrast, Avani smells of delicious vanilla mixed with tones that you know will seduce the best of men.
“Oh my God, my father is here?” She looks at me excitedly, like she didn’t just see him this morning. As I said, she’s a daddy’s girl. Charlotte doesn’t remove her arm from me as we walk in together. When we reach her father, he offers me a smile and nod before he shakes my hand, and his daughter leans in to kiss his cheek.
I hate the man.
He has money.
He has power.
And he is also a disgusting fucking pig who needs a bullet put straight between his eyes.
I wonder how long she would cry if I killed him right now.
I wonder if she would leave me.
Somewhere, somehow, I doubt it very much.
“Grayson, are you looking after my daughter?” Music starts playing in the theme of “Happy Birthday.” First Charlotte looks to me and then to her father.
“Was this you, Papa?”
He looks away.
“Of course. It’s always for you, sweetheart.” She throws her arms around his neck and cuddles him.
When she pulls back, she looks at me. “You didn’t do this?”
“My job was to bring you here and help you pick a dress.” I smile at her, and I see it click. The disappointment that I am not, in fact, proposing to her this evening. She covers it quickly when her father says her name.
“He did good. You look like an angel. Now, come. Let’s eat,” her father says as he leads us past a few groups of people on the way to the back of the restaurant.
A set of doors opens to a small private area with all of Charlotte’s friends around the table. As soon as we are in the room, she walks off, out of hearing distance, leaving me standing next to her father.
“She’s disappointed,” he says, studying her.
“She is,” I agree.
“Why?” he asks, turning to me.
“She thought I was proposing tonight,” I inform him.
Her father raises a brow before he replies, “Do you plan to propose to her if that’s what she wants?”
Charlotte looks over her shoulder at us and smiles before turning back to her friends.
“How would that make you feel?” I ask him, and his jaw starts to grind.
“No one is good enough for her, but she has picked you. So I have to accept that fact.”
“She has picked me, hasn’t she?” I smile at him.
Charlotte saunters back over and snuggles into my side.