Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Looking up, I reach for them and take the card attached. Turning it over, I see no writing, only the letter ‘A.’
Is he playing games with me now?
“Are you seeing someone? Please tell me you aren’t?”
Oh, that’s right, her brother.
“Yes,” I lie. The last thing I need right now is a blind date I didn’t agree on.
“Oh, dang. Really?”
“Really.” I smile. I hate that I’m lying to her, but I do it anyway.
“Okay, well bring him Friday, I would love to meet him.” Marissa places the flowers down on the desk. “I mean, he sure as shit does have great taste in flowers… and women.” She winks before walking out.
Hell no. That will never happen. I don’t know a single person who starts with the letter ‘A’ apart from Atlas, and the last thing I want to do is accept gifts from that man.
Picking the flowers up, I place them in the trash can and get back to work.
Fuck you, Atlas!
And fuck your damn flowers.
A bunch of flowers is delivered every day until Friday, and each time I throw them in the trash. Friday’s flowers I will take to Marissa for her birthday, as she will get way more joy out of them than the trash will.
Getting dressed that night to have some drinks, the Gucci dress sits in my cupboard taunting me. I should burn it. But why would I do that to such a wonderful piece of material? It’s made of silk from Italy. That dress is a masterpiece, and burning it may hurt my soul.
Calling a cab, I go straight to the bar where Marissa is celebrating. When I walk in, I see her table near the bar decorated with pink balloons. She’s wearing a bright pink dress, and she looks beautiful. All the girls from work are here, and there are also a few faces I don’t know.
“Thea, this is Sebastian, my brother.”
He stands to greet me. Sebastian’s tall, maybe taller than Atlas’s six-two.
Fuck! Why on earth did I just compare them?
Atlas is the devil reincarnated.
Sebastian’s hair is the same color as Marissa’s chocolate brown and their smiles almost match.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” he says with a smile. He reaches out and grips onto my hand. The music isn’t too loud here at the back, but the dance floor at the front is almost filled at ten at night.
“All good, I hope?”
Sebastian nods slowly, letting go of my hand. He is damn good looking. Even my type, if I had a type. When he smiles, I know he means it—it’s not fake nor forced. And better yet, he smiles at me.
“You two could have had such pretty babies,” Marissa says, leaning her head on mine as I look up at Sebastian with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.
“She talks about you a lot,” he says, then smirks. “Don’t worry, soon her boyfriend will be here, and she can talk babies with him.” Sebastian winks at me, easing my nerves while I take a seat next to Marissa.
“Dean doesn’t want to talk babies,” Marissa says, taking a large sip from her straw. “We are too young,” she continues with an eye roll.
“You are. Just have fun,” Sebastian says.
Marissa has just turned twenty-one, and she said her brother is five years older than her, so he’s my age.
“I’m maternal, what can I say?” Marissa throws up a hand, holding her drink in the other but almost spilling it while she does. “It’s nice of you to come. Did you invite your boyfriend? I would looovvveee….” she slurs, leaning into me, “… to meet him.”
“No.” Because I don’t have one, but she doesn’t need to know that.
“Whyyy?”
The waiter brings another round of drinks, and I take one. I don’t plan to stay long. My mind is preoccupied and worried about my sister. Is Lucy all right? If I take Atlas’s word for it, she is, but I won’t rest easy until I can see her with my own two eyes. And right now, I don’t really know if she’s okay or not.
“Let’s leave your boss alone and grill her another time. Why don’t you go and dance?” Sebastian says, nodding to Marissa’s other friends out on the dance floor already. She listens, standing and walking off to the dance floor.
“She’s been trying to set us up for quite some time now,” Sebastian tells me, which pulls me from my raging thoughts.
I smile up at him. “I’ve only just heard about it.”
“I figured as much. She likes to do that. Surprise people with things she likes to control,” he says.
I look past him to the dance floor and watch Marissa dancing for a short time, then say, “I should go. I have a busy weekend planned, and she is well on her way to having a great evening anyway. Will you tell her goodnight for me?” I ask while standing and placing my drink down.