Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Add to that a side slit that came all the way up to my waistline and a saucy, slender silver chain belt that had loops cascading down one side.
My hair was back in a dimensional braid ending in a messy bun at my nape with wispy tendrils falling at the sides of my face.
My makeup was smokey AF with a bright red lip.
And the kicker were the red Loubi Vega crystal-embellished Louboutin sandals that cost nearly as much as the couch I hit go on that now sat in my reception area at the office.
“This is a revenge dress,” Carole stated, lounging on my bed next to the green sequined gown she wanted me to wear. “She dated him once. It says too much.”
“It says just enough, and that boils down to two words. Fuck. And you,” Fliss replied.
Needless to say, Fliss had not only been disappointed I didn’t get laid, she’d been disappointed that Hale proved himself the bad kind of player, not the other way around.
“It’s going to be this dress,” I decided, pulling the skirt back to expose my legs, and it did, every inch of them, and letting it fall back to its graceful folds.
“This gig is already competing with The Met Gala. Everyone who’s anyone on two coasts is going to be at that event tonight, and that dress also says Elsa Cohen has arrived,” Fliss declared.
She was right.
It said precisely that.
And those words were true.
And tonight, I was going to fucking own them.
CHAPTER 9
MEN DRANK WHISKY
Hale
Then…
“This is total bullshit, Corey, and you know it.”
“I didn’t make any promises. In fact, if you weren’t blinded by what you thought you could wring out of me, you’d remember I expressly told you I’m not in a place to get serious.”
“Sorry, I must have missed that, since your face was buried in my pussy so often, you didn’t have much time to speak.”
“It rarely comes as free and easy as yours, Tania. I was enjoying the experience. I see now it might have been easy, but it wasn’t free.”
“Oh my God! I can’t believe you’d say something that fucked up!”
“I’ve always been honest with you. That wasn’t fucked up. It was honesty.”
“Fuck you, Corey Szabo!”
“I think we’re done with that, no? That’s the reason for your tantrum? Or is it really all down to that tennis bracelet you hinted you wanted, and now that I see I have to pay for the use of your cunt, I’m not interested?”
“Go to hell!”
Hale was out on the balcony.
It was a stormy night. He could hear the waves crashing on the shore at the base of the cliff where his father’s house sat. He could also hear every word said between his father and his latest girlfriend in the living room.
It reminded him of what he overheard Marilyn say to his dad when she came out to visit that summer.
“You can’t run through women like water, buddy boy. Remember, every woman is a different version of a cat. Some are affectionate. Some are aloof. Some are wild. Some are divas. Some are combinations of those. But all of us have claws.”
Marilyn was Genny’s mom and the only real grandma Hale had ever had. He’d never met his dad’s parents (and his dad never talked about them, so Hale was super young when he quit asking). And his mom’s parents didn’t come visit very often (then again, his mom didn’t make it very fun when they did so he wasn’t surprised they stayed away).
But Marilyn was Marilyn, funny and crazy and loving and smart, so much of all of that, he didn’t need another grandma. Every time he was around Marilyn, she made him feel like he had the best grandma in the world. Better, kinda, was how much she was so open about how much she loved Hale’s dad. Hale didn’t think Corey had anybody who loved him that much and was so obvious about it.
Not even Hale.
He wasn’t supposed to be awake. It was a school night. He was supposed to be in bed hours ago.
But tomorrow, he had to go back to his mom’s. He never slept great the night before he had to go back to his mom. And he never slept great at his mom’s.
He heard the front door slam, and hiding, tucked around the corner, peeking inside the house, he watched his father go to the drinks cabinet and pour himself a whisky.
This meant that scene was worse than Hale thought, considering his dad didn’t normally drink.
Then again, that scene was really bad.
It also made Hale’s situation worse, since there was no way he could get in and get back to his bedroom without being seen with his dad hanging in the living room. And who knew how long it would take to drink a glass of whisky.