Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
“Yes,” Lee interjects, his voice tight. “Let’s discuss that, shall we? How is it that Jackie knew all about this torrid love affair while the rest of us were kept in the dark?”
Jack ignores him, glaring at me. “You still think Nate is a good guy? After all this?”
“All what? Yvonne showed up pissed because she found out I see Nate sometimes,” I retort. “How is that Nate’s fault? He broke up with her before he and I so much as kissed.”
“How can you be so naive? You just saw her. Does that look like a woman who was let down gently? Nate doesn’t care about anyone. Certainly not you.”
I don’t know if Jack’s specifically trying to hurt me with that remark, but it stings just the same.
“But you do?” I shoot back. “You care about me so much you never once asked me to stop seeing him. Right, Jack?”
Lee suddenly gasps.
No. Oh God, no. Not again.
“Hang on,” Lee orders, glancing between the two of us. “Are you two…”
Jamie crosses his arms. “That’s what it sounds like.”
For fuck’s sake.
“We had one rule!” Lee shouts. “To avoid exactly this kind of ugly shit.”
“Would you fuck off with your rules?” Jack snaps.
Lee spins on me. “You betrayed me.”
My jaw drops. “What?”
“We’re supposed to tell each other everything, and you’ve been sneaking around with not one but two blokes? Unacceptable!”
The doorbell rings again.
“For fuck’s sake!” Lee screeches. “Can these people not let us finish one bloody house meeting!”
Unlike him, I’m overcome with relief at the interruption. That is, as long as it’s not Yvonne coming back for a second go at me.
This time, I answer it myself, desperate to place some physical distance between myself and my angry roommates. When I open the door, I’m startled to find Sophie Brown on the front stoop.
“Sophie, hey— ”
“Abbey, thank God.” To my shock, she grabs both my hands and searches my face urgently. “Are you all right? Please tell me he didn’t harm you.”
It takes me a second to realize she means Ben.
“What? No. He didn’t.” I squeeze her trembling hands. “I promise.”
“Truly?”
“Truly. The worst he did was snort a ton of cocaine and mock me for not wanting to get trashed with his friends.”
Relief and disgust war in Sophie’s eyes. “You’ve no idea how relieved I am.”
“How did you know what happened?”
“Ben rang this morning.” She looks annoyed. “He has the dreadful habit of doing that. Behaving in the most atrocious manner and then ringing me afterward to warn me of the potential repercussions.”
I gesture for her to enter. “Why don’t you come in? It’s freezing out there.”
“Oh. Yes. All right then.”
She steps into the front hall, where she removes her long fitted winter coat. Beneath it, she looks chic in black slacks and a red sweater.
“I need to leave for class soon, but I’ve got about an hour. Would you like a cup of tea?” I offer as I hang up her coat.
“Yes, thank you.”
I deposit Sophie in the living room and duck into the kitchen to prepare her tea and pour myself another cup of coffee.
Jamie has gone upstairs, but Lee and Jack are still there, so I give them a contrite look and lower my voice. “Can we please just table everything for now? I don’t want any drama in front of Sophie.”
Jack nods tightly. Lee glowers at me before heading for the stairs. I know they’re not happy with me right now, but it’s not like I planned to get trapped in Ben’s flat and then have my romantic life explode like a grenade in all our faces.
I return with Sophie’s tea on a little ceramic tray because I know how picky Brits can be about preparing it themselves. Thanking me, she pours some milk into the steaming cup and adds one teaspoon of sugar.
She uses the small spoon to stir her tea. “I tendered my resignation before I came here.”
I stare at her in surprise. “You did? Why?”
“Because I can’t do it anymore,” she says simply. “Work for that vile man.”
My eyebrows shoot up. Whoa. I got the sense she didn’t like him, but it’s obvious her feelings for Ben go beyond disgust. It sounds like she truly despises him.
“I never wanted this job,” Sophie confesses. She sips her tea, hands shaking slightly. “My father worked for the duke—Ben’s father, Andrew—for thirty years.”
“He did?”
She nods. “My grandfather had connections with the Tulleys and was able to secure a job with them for my father. Dad started as a driver, but Andrew quickly took a liking to him. My dad is—was—a boisterous, outgoing man. Everyone was drawn to him. Nowadays, he’s not as vibrant.” Sadness flickers in her eyes. “He and Andrew grew close, friends even, and eventually Dad became his private secretary. Seemed only natural that when Benjamin required his own assistant, my father recommended me for the position. I was twenty-two when I began working for the Tulleys.”