Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 63716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
“I don’t know where to start.”
“The beginning always works.”
“Exposition or initiating event?”
I didn’t smile. “Wherever it began.”
Willow took a deep breath and began. She told me a little of what I already knew–she’d grown up in the shadow of Fletcher’s infidelity. The bastard of the bastard. She’d never quite fit in with his family, though his wife was always so kind, she added with a fervency I didn’t understand. Eventually she’d stopped trying, preferring to make her own way in Hollywood. It wasn’t easy. She was living on box macaroni and cheese when he called with an offer.
“The offer to fuck me over?” I asked.
Willow nodded. “Not in so many words, but yes.”
“And you said yes.”
“Yes, but I never planned to actually do it. I just wanted to get my foot in the door. Even before we–” she searched for a way to describe what we had been and came up short. “Even before, I never gave him good intel,” she finished, her eyes finding mine, imploring me to believe her.
Landon had said as much, but her confirmation made one of the knots in my stomach unwind. “What did you give him?”
Willow furrowed her brow, trying to remember. “Not much. He was always getting frustrated with me. I had him doing a PR campaign that was supposed to make O’Conner think he was a really good guy. Then I suggested he finance the anti-veganism documentary.”
The hard line of my mouth softened. So Landon had been right again. Willow hadn’t just fed Fletcher bullshit, she’d fed him poisonous bullshit. She really had been on my side. Another knot loosened. I reached across the table and took her hand.
Willow threaded her fingers through mine and squeezed, her eyes meeting mine directly. “I never would have hurt you,” she said, her voice nearly a whisper. “Not once I–” a hesitation “--knew you.”
“What happened next,” I said, not ready to go down that path yet. “I know it was something.”
Looking as though she’d rather forget about it altogether, Willow reluctantly told me the story of Fletcher telling her the mission was off. He’d lost, and oh by the way, I was engaged to Shelly Monroe.
“That motherfucker,” I muttered. “He knew she was engaged to Dana.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me your sister was engaged,” Willow said quietly. “I thought you wanted me to get to know your family.”
I heard the note of vulnerability in her voice. Fletcher had found one of her few insecurities and preyed on it masterfully. “I did. I do,” I reiterated in a stronger voice. “But this is the third time Dana and Shelly have been engaged. I was waiting to see if they’d actually go through with setting a wedding date.”
Willow searched my eyes and saw I was telling the truth. Her breath came out in a ragged exhale, and the last of the rigid tension drained from her body. “God, we’ve been so easy to manipulate, haven’t we?” she said in nearly a gasp.
“Too fucking easy,” I agreed, tightening my grip on her fingers. “It’s always easy when there are secrets.” I stood up and pulled her to her feet. “We’re not going to let that happen again, Willow. No more secrets.”
“No more secrets,” she agreed, but there were still a few inches of space between us. One last secret she had to tell me before we could close it. My chest tightened as the seconds dragged on. Surely, she was going to fucking tell me.
Wasn’t she?
33
WILLOW
There was a maelstrom of emotions swirling throughout my entire body. It whipped up my blood, making my heart beat too fast and created confetti-like chaos in my head. It was everything I wanted it to be. Julian listening to me, understanding, forgiving me. His hand in mine, his arms ready to wrap around me. But there was one more secret to tell, and now that the time was here to tell it, nerves were strangling me.
We’d never talked about kids. What if he didn’t want them? What if this undid everything? What if after everything we’d come through together, this is what broke us? I felt the loss as a physical thing in my body. The thorns jabbed into my heart, the sensitive hollow of my throat. Tears sprang to my eyes.
Julian’s expression had still been hard, even as he drew me toward him. Now it darkened. “What’s happening, Willow?” he asked. He didn’t know what was coming, but he was braced for another revelation. Every second I waited gave him a chance to imagine darker and darker possibilities.
But this was a good thing. Even if he didn’t want to be a father, nothing could dim what was coming. Not for me anyway. That realization took root in my center and grew, calming the storm inside. My heartbeat slowed. My thoughts settled. When I spoke, my voice was so calm and collected I almost didn’t recognize it.