Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
He’s grinning, but what he’s saying is low-key creepy.
“You’re going to have to learn to compromise, but that’s life,” Jacobs says.
Except it hasn’t been my life. I’ve had my life exactly how I’ve wanted it for years now. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. And I don’t go anywhere I don’t want to go.
“You can’t just run off for a couple of months when you’ve got a wife,” Jacob says. “Or a kid. It doesn’t work that way.”
Kid? What’s he talking about kids for? I’ve known Vivian ten minutes. My brothers need to calm down.
“Don’t frighten him,” Nathan says. “Being in a couple. Being married. It’s good. Better than I could have ever expected. It’s the big stuff—I love her and want to spend my life with her. But it’s the small stuff too, like how she always makes me chicken soup when I have a cold and she’s the first person I want to go to with good news or bad. But…it’s a two-way street. She’s going to be developing all these feelings too. You need to get on the same page. Don’t mess her around if you’re not going to follow through.”
My leg is bouncing under the table. I can almost feel my amygdala firing in my brain and I’m pretty sure I’m going to throw up. I’m not quite sure why they’re getting to me. I can usually shrug off their jibes and the banter.
Maybe it’s the thought of settling down.
Maybe it’s the thought of hurting Vivian.
They all need to stop.
Vivian and I aren’t serious. We’re not going to be serious.
She knows that. I know that. Right?
I need to leave before I say something I regret.
I drain the rest of my pint and set it down on the table. “I’m out of here.”
I don’t want to talk to them anymore.
Come to think of it, I’m not sure what I want at all. My first instinct is to run to Vivian. But why? We’re not a couple. Yes, we got physical. Yes, I like her. But it’s not what my brothers think. We’re not about to get married.
I need some space.
From everyone.
TWENTY-NINE
Beau
I stumble out of the pub, desperate to get some air, clawing at my collar because I can’t breathe properly.
“Beau,” a familiar female voice says. “It is you!”
I look up just as Coral slings her arms around me. Of all the people to show up… What’s she doing here? I step back, still desperate for some space. “Hi?” I say tentatively.
She’s staring at me with a wide grin, like I’m all her dreams come true. “I can’t believe I ran into you. I’ve been in London three days.”
“Right.” I’m a little shell-shocked and still figuring out what’s happening.
“It’s fate,” she says, putting her hand on my arm. “You want to come in for a drink? I’m meeting a friend, but I’d love you to stay. We can go back to yours after, if you like?”
I shake my head, wondering if she missed the part where I asked her to move in with me, she laughed, and then I was medevacked off a mountain. She never even checked in with me to see if I survived the fall, let alone suffered an injury. “I’m just leaving,” I say.
She doesn’t acknowledge my suggestion and instead holds up her hands, palms facing away. I’m not quite sure how to read the gesture. Is she…playing peekaboo with me? “I’m not engaged anymore!” she says, grinning, and lowers her hands. “I don’t know what I was thinking really. People like us—we’re not mean to be in relationships.”
Anxiety booms in my chest. What is she talking about? People like who?
“I thought I would try it. He was rich as all holy hell. And good-looking. It’s just not the way I’m wired.” She smiles at me. “I know you’re exactly the same way. I guess that’s why it kinda shocked me when you said that thing in France. We’re both cut from the same cloth.”
“In France…where I fell off a mountain.”
A look of shock passes over her face. “Oh god, yes, I forgot. You okay?”
Coral and I never did much talking, but I never realized how bloody unlikeable she was.
“I hope you didn’t injure that dick of yours. That thing does good work. Speaking of, let me take your number. I have a new phone and lost all my contacts.”
My stomach churns. Coral hasn’t even paused to hear if I’m okay or not. Was she always like this?
She pulls out her phone and pauses, waiting for me to recite my number.
“How did you and your fiancé break up?” I ask. Had he seen through her?
She winces. “I stayed out late one night.” She shrugs, and I take it as an admission that she’d been unfaithful. “I thought he was away for the night. It’s for the best. Yes, I’ve hurt him now, but we’d only been together six months. Can you imagine if we were six years down the line or we’d had kids or—” She shakes her head. “Better to rip the plaster off now. He’s hurting today, but I’ve spared him long-term pain. That’s the way I see it.”