Total pages in book: 15
Estimated words: 13908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 70(@200wpm)___ 56(@250wpm)___ 46(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 13908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 70(@200wpm)___ 56(@250wpm)___ 46(@300wpm)
He continues to brush my hair. I don’t need him to say it back, so why is it killing me that he’s not?
Chapter Five
Tyson
I’ve only dragged the brush through half of the strand of hair, but I stopped only because I’ve longed to hear those three little words from her since the fucking second I met her.
“I love you too, Stacee.” She lets out a breath that sounds like a sigh of relief, and I smile, tossing her brush on the nightstand.
“You do?” she asks, sounding unsure.
“Yes.”
“Are we crazy?”
“Probably, but who cares,” I reply. I’ve thought it enough times that I actually believe it now.
She twists her body so that she can reach my lips.
“I love you,” she says again, kissing me again. The kiss turns passionate, and my hands reach for any bit of her soft skin.
“I’ll never get tired of hearing that. I love you too.”
“Me either.”
“What time is it?” she asks. I look at my watch. “Like six am Greenwich Mean Time. I’d say we still have ten hours left of flight time.
“I missed my nightly call with my sisters. For the first time ever. I think they’ll understand when I tell them why.” She hums happily, and I can’t believe my good luck that she’s all mine.
“I’m sure they will.” She moves to lie beside me by climbing over me. I can’t stop touching her.
“You know, for a couple of virgins, that was pretty fucking good,” she says, reaching down to the bottom of the bed and pulling the covers up over us. I slide down to lay flat. “I can’t believe we joined the Mile High Club our first time.” Her giggle is adorable, and I can’t help laughing as well.
“Go big or go home, right?”
“Right.”
She yawns and moves closer to me, placing her head on my chest. Reaching over, I use the nightstand remote to turn the bedroom's lights off, leaving just a soft light on over by the chair in the corner.
“Sleep, baby girl,” I murmur, kissing her forehead.
“Night,” she whispers.
I drift off to sleep as well. Full of contentedness and happiness. Several times throughout the night, we’d wake up and make love. Sometimes slow and gentle, other times a frenzied fuck, but always together. She’d grab my hand and lace her fingers through mine after each time. She didn’t let me go all night. It was almost as if she was afraid this was all a dream.
I know because I felt the same way.
The Next Day
Sydney
Gropelman Studios
Back Lot
“You fucked her,” Marsha says matter-of-factly after Stacee went off to her trailer to find her assistant.
“Jesus Christ, Marsha. Shut the hell up.”
“You did. Don’t deny it,” she says, poking me in the side.
I don’t say anything about Stacee because I’m not a fucking dick; instead, I needle her.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with Tyler?”
“Tyler? Why in the world would you think anything is going on with Tyler?” she asks, already turning pink.
“You can’t be serious, Marsha. I’ve known you since you were eighteen. You’re what, thirty-three now?”
“I’m thirty-two, I was seventeen when we met.”
“And you’re telling me that you don’t look longingly at my brother every single time you’re in the same room with him?”
“Shut up. It’s not the same thing. He doesn’t see me like that, no matter what I think.”
“Marsha, just tell him how you feel. He’ll respond, one way or another and you can move forward. This isn’t healthy.”
“If I do that, it’ll be over. I know it. We won’t be able to be friends. He’s my best friend, Tyson. I can’t. I’ll stop teasing you, just please don’t tell him.”
“Don’t tell him what?” I ask, feigning ignorance.
“That I’m in love with him.” She breathes out, and it’s almost like she’s been holding that breath inside of her lungs for fifteen years. “I’ve never told anyone that before.”
“Feel better?” I ask, already knowing that she doesn’t.
“No,” she says, shaking her head. I watch a tear fall from her eye before she turns and walks away. My brother is a fucking idiot. Too bad I can’t tell him. I wouldn’t do that to Marsha. She’s been a good friend forever.
“Tyson!” I hear my name shouted, and before I can even turn around, a blur of curly hair and thick coke bottle glasses barrels around me and pulls me into a hug.
“Stella! How are you?” Stella Arnett is my go-to director. She’s twenty-five and is already the greatest director of our generation. Every award she’s ever been nominated for, she’s won. I haven’t seen her in about six months, but it’s like no time has passed.
“Where’s your brother?” she asks, and my mind freaks out for a minute. “He said he’d be here.”
“Tyler?”
“God, no. Not that sullen asshole. .”
“?”
“Yeah. He wanted to meet for drinks later tonight.”
“In Sydney?” I ask, confused. The last I saw him, he was with my mom.