Total pages in book: 200
Estimated words: 189898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 760(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 189898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 760(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
“I’m leaving.”
I frowned at his announcement as I sat up. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Bound.” He shook his head as he stared at the ground now. “I can’t do this shit anymore.”
“Let me guess,” I drawled through a smile that felt tight. Wasn’t a damn thing funny about what he had said. “You’ll run back into Emily’s frail-ass arms?”
“Fuck Emily, and fuck you too.” He looked at me now, his silver eyes aflame and full of accusation. “After what you did, I wouldn’t be surprised if her baby was yours,” Rich spat.
Don’t slap him, Lo.
“I would have never fucked that bitch with your dick. That kid isn’t mine, and I’m betting both of my nuts it’s not yours either.”
“Whatever.”
“You’re not leaving,” I told him immediately. I wasn’t going to beat around the bush or beg. The same threat I made Braxton applied to my best friends too. In fact…as Rich and I sat stewing in silence, I fished out my phone and pulled up Amazon. Damn, I wished I still smoked. After a few taps, I found the items I needed.
“You can’t make me stay,” Rich said in a low tone as I concentrated on my task.
Was sixty feet enough?
I ordered three of each before checking out, sending a quick text, and putting my phone away. “Don’t be so melodramatic.”
“You’d do the same, so don’t pretend you’d stay.”
“There are a few things I would have done differently, starting with Emily, but I won’t beat a dead horse because the shit is starting to stink. Braxton isn’t Emily, Rich. You and I both know that no time or distance will change how you feel about her. So she needs you to suffer and grovel for a while. Are you telling me she’s not worth it?”
“You weren’t there, Lo. She sounded so damn sure that I had no chance.”
I absently shrugged as I stared off. “Women.”
I could feel his stare after a while and finally met his incredulous gaze.
“Are you supposed to be helping?”
Peering over my shoulder when I saw movement, I felt myself relax. Fucking finally. “Nope,” I answered him even as I stared at Braxton’s sexy ass in that red dress. Suddenly “stunning” seemed like too cheap a word to describe my baby girl. “I’m supposed to be stalling.”
Rich frowned until he heard their footsteps and turned his head enough to see them. Forcing myself to look away from Braxton, I watched him rise to his feet slowly and turn, an involuntary movement he probably wasn’t even aware of. I couldn’t see Rich’s face underneath his dark hood, but his emotions belonged to me as much as they did to him. It was all I needed to know.
“You’re really going to make me chase you?” Braxton fussed as she approached.
Yeah, I’d snitched. Houston hung back to give them the space to work out their shit properly this time.
“How is that fair, Jericho? You lied to me.”
“I promise that’s not what I’m trying to do. I just wanted to make it right.”
“Then stay.”
I could tell he’d looked away when she followed his gaze. “I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t watch.”
“What can’t you watch, Jericho?”
“You, them, and not me too. They deserve to be happy. You deserve to be happy.”
“And you?” She’d been inching closer the entire time they spoke as if he were a skittish kitten. “What do you deserve? Do you even know?”
“No.”
“Don’t you want me anymore?” she asked, her voice shaking and making it clear that she was no longer sure. Houston, Rich, and I had nearly identical reactions at almost the same time.
I held back my groan as my eyes closed, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. I was pretty sure I’d murder Rich if he lied to her on some self-sacrificing bullshit. If there was an excuse to be selfish, it was now.
Choose wisely, motherfucker.
“Of course, I do.”
“Prove it.”
I was proud of the confidence restored in her tone. I didn’t want her crying anymore, not over him, not over Houston…not even over me.
“How?” Rich asked her eagerly.
“Stay.” He stepped closer to her, and she let him into her space. “I’m not going to make it easy for you,” she warned him when his hands gripped her ass, and he pulled her closer. “In fact, I’m going to make it as hard for you as I can.”
After pulling his hood back, I finally saw his smile. Seemed like it’d been a while. “You already did,” he swore to her.
He was definitely talking about this dick.
Rolling my eyes, I looked away as I slowly stretched and yawned. “Mission accomplished. Everyone’s in love. Can we go now?” I snapped as I stared at the wall.
The night was still young, but I’d never been this exhausted.
Now that we had Braxton back, I felt like I could sleep for days.
I must have drawn Braxton’s attention to the wall because she broke away from our drummer to stand before it. “What does it say?” she asked no one in particular.