Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“Leo, I-I…”
“Who the hell are you?” Leo growled at Draco.
“You must be Leo.” Draco extended his hand and walked toward Leo. “I’m your new tenant.”
They shook hands, staring each other down.
“My apologies,” Draco said to Leo. “Piper appeared to be having a panic attack. I was attempting to help her.”
Leo focused on me. “You okay?”
I wasn’t sure. Draco said I’d had a panic attack, but I couldn’t remember anything.
“Yup. Better now,” I replied, not wanting to worry him. “Guess I couldn’t breathe for a second there.”
Leo’s suspicious gaze danced between me and a shirtless Draco. Finally, Leo jerked his head to one side. “Pipe, can we talk? In private?”
“Sure.” I slid past Draco, a hard chill sweeping over me as our shoulders brushed. I couldn’t begin to explain what was happening with this stranger, and frankly I didn’t want to know. I just wanted him out.
I left the kitchen, feeling Draco’s intense eyes on me.
Leo and I went to his office. He closed the door behind us and leaned his ass on his desk. From the look in his eyes, I immediately knew something bad was about to happen.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“If it’s about the money,” I said, “we’ll figure something out. You know we will.”
“You’re not listening, Piper. I don’t want this house. I don’t want to open a business in San Francisco. My truck gets broken into once a week, there’s shit on all the sidewalks, and protesters block the streets every day. I hate this fucking city.”
Wow. Okay. He’d complained about the city before, but hate? I mean, I knew there were problems, but just last week, he’d been going on and on about the food. He’d found a really great restaurant near his work for when he stayed late, which was often. This “hate” was coming out of left field, and so was throwing in the towel on our plans.
I whooshed out a breath, and then it dawned on me: maybe Leo was talking about the big picture, too. “You still want us, right?”
He ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair. “I started applying for positions last month.”
My heart sank to the floor. He what? “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I was going to tell you, but then I was fired and—”
“Tell me if you still want us, Leo,” I snapped.
“I’m moving to Boston.”
My entire body turned ice cold and numb as the foundation holding up my world began crumbling beneath my feet.
Leo continued, “I thought once I had a job, I’d give you the option to come with me, but I think it’s best we end things here. I talked to my brother, and he’s going to loan me the money to start my own architectural firm in Boston and…” Leo kept on talking, but I couldn’t hear a word. My heart was too busy cracking.
Why had he kept this from me?
Why hadn’t he said he was unhappy?
He wasn’t even giving me a chance to fix whatever was wrong.
I’d invested everything I had in this relationship, the house, and our future. I’d put his dreams and career first. I’d put us first. I thought he was my person.
Unexpectedly, my world was falling to pieces, and in its place fury rose.
I looked away, grinding my teeth. “Get out,” I said quietly. I wasn’t going to stand here listening to his BS anymore.
Leo froze, his brows furrowed with shock. “I was hoping we could do this amicably, Piper.”
“Amicably? Amicably?” I exploded. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? You went behind my back and started planning a new life instead of telling me you had doubts. What kind of asshole does that?”
“The kind who knows you.” He puffed out his chest and crossed his arms, like he’d won some big, fat victory with his inept reply. “If I’d told you I wanted to throw in the towel, you would’ve rallied the old Piper smile and piled on the optimism instead of listening to me. You would’ve pushed to keep going because you don’t know when to quit.”
So I was too positive? “And your solution was to say nothing and make me think we were still in love, still a team, and still getting married, while I sank every dime into this house and into your future business?” Fuck, fuck, fuck! Conni had hit the nail on the head when she accused me of only seeing the good in people. I never knew Leo was such a selfish coward. “Just…get out.”
“Piper.”
“Leave, Leo. I’ll text you when you can come pick up your shit.”
He stared at the floor for a moment. “We’ll have to sell the house. I need the cash for—”
“I don’t give a runny shit what you need right now. I live here. I own half. And I will decide what happens to this place.”
“But Piper—”
“Leave. Or so help me, Leo, I’ll make your life a living hell.” I wouldn’t, but he didn’t know that. Or maybe he did. I wasn’t the vindictive sort.