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)
Hale didn’t have to think on it.
“She’d never forgive me.”
It was then, it happened.
His father reached out, hesitated, and Hale held his breath. It felt like Corey’s hand was suspended in mid-air for years before he finally rested the side of it on Hale’s shoulder and curled his fingers around Hale’s neck.
That felt better than…than…anything.
“I don’t know how,” Corey whispered, “there wasn’t much good for us to give, but what there was, you got it.”
To hide he was going to cry like a wuss, he looked to the sea.
His father took his hand from Hale, and he missed it immediately, like it was everything he had, given and taken away in seconds.
“Promise me, you’ll find a Genny?” Corey asked.
“Yeah, Dad.”
“Good.” His father moved and Hale looked to him to see him lifting his glass Hale’s way. “You want a whisky?”
Hale’s heart skipped a beat.
Men drank whisky. Not boys.
“For real?” he asked.
“It might help you sleep,” Corey murmured.
He tried not to sound as excited as he was when he said, “Yeah.”
His dad quirked a smile at him, left him on the balcony and went in to pour Hale his own glass.
He felt important. He felt great. And he didn’t care that when Corey gave him the glass, there was barely more than a couple of sips in it. He also didn’t care that when he took his first sip, he nearly gagged, it tasted so gross.
He stood, holding his glass between his hands, just like his dad, his forearms on the railing, just like his dad’s were, sipping whisky and watching the sea, like two men with a lot on their minds winding down so they could sleep.
It was one of the best moments of his life.
And it always would be.
CHAPTER 10
LIPSTICK
Hale
Now…
“Don’t be nervous.”
Ned’s words caught Hale’s attention and he turned from looking out the window of the limousine that was taking them to the event, to his side, where Blake was sitting, looking stunning, and scared as shit.
“Darling, you can’t hibernate for the rest of your life,” Ned Sharp, Blake’s father, who was sitting across from them, went on. “You need to re-enter society, re-enter life.”
“The last time I was a thing, it was me going viral acting like an imbecile standing at an altar wearing a wedding gown,” Blake said to her dad.
“You weren’t acting like an imbecile,” Ned retorted sternly. “You were acting like a strong, determined woman who wasn’t going to let an ass of a man jack her around.”
“People all over the globe made fun of that for months, Dad. They still do,” Blake noted.
“Who cares?” Ned asked. “You don’t know these people.”
“Says the man who isn’t the star of a million different memes,” she mumbled.
Hale entered the conversation. “You’re too close to it. Those memes don’t make you look bad.” He smiled at her. “You’re a feminist icon.”
“Who got duped by my fiancé, who had sex with one of my friends days before our wedding and by the way, he’d already had sex with most of my friends, videotaping it and putting it on a website, for God’s sakes.”
“And how does that reflect on you?” Ned inquired.
Blake bugged her eyes out at him.
Hale took her hand and she turned again to him. “You look stunning. Head up, shoulders straight, because you’re not the butt of a joke, honey. You’re an inspiration for every woman who had her trust broken, showing them the way to take back their power.”
“Dramatically,” Ned put in. “And I’ll add, very expensively.”
That made Blake crack a smile and Hale chuckle, because, as she’d mentioned, Blake had dumped her fiancé at the church on her wedding day, and because she had, Ned still had to pay for the whole thing. And considering Blake was Blake, that didn’t come cheap.
Hale hadn’t known her then, though he’d seen the video (yeah, it was that famous). He’d met her since through mutual acquaintances, and they’d become friends.
They had because she’d seemed lost and vulnerable, and since most of her friends had betrayed her, she needed some.
And he liked her. There was something cool about being a part of someone’s life as she realized she’d lost her way and was trying to find the way back. It was like watching a hibernating tree blosssom.
That said, what made it interesting was that Blake had thorns.
She was not his type, he was not hers, and that helped make their friendship work.
But that night, she was reappearing in a world she used to inhabit but had avoided for a very long time.
He got her nerves.
But once they were through the step and repeat, he hoped she’d settle into it, and it’d begin to feel like what it was. A welcome back to the life she should be living.
“You do look stunning, my dear,” Ned said.
Blake took in a big breath.