Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 69371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Chapter 29
Clarabella
I walk up the steps to the office and pull open the door, the cold air hitting me right away. I get two steps into the door before I hear mumbling in the kitchen. “Morning!” I yell down the hallway toward the kitchen as I make my way to my office.
“Well, well, well.” Shelby sticks her head out of her office, looking at me walking out now. “If it isn’t the talk of the town.” I turn and roll my eyes at her, waiting for the dread to come in, and I’m shocked when I feel nothing, nothing at all.
“How bad is it?” I look at her and see Presley come out of the kitchen with a coffee cup in her hand. She looks at me and smirks.
“On a scale of one to ten?” Presley says, taking a sip of her drink. “I’m going with a million.”
I open my mouth while Shelby hits Presley. “She’s only saying it’s one million because you didn’t call and tell us. And she’s bitter that she found out through me and thought I was lying.”
I look over at Presley, who just nods her head at me and points. “That is correct,” Presley confirms to me. “Imagine if you might.” She glares at me. “Getting a phone call informing me of this whole scene that went down.”
“I didn’t really have time to call you.” I shake my head, thinking about the showdown that happened in my kitchen not long after the showdown that happened on the street that then proceeded to a whole other showdown in the bedroom.
“It’s been what, ten hours since it happened?” Shelby glares at me. “Ten hours.” She holds up both hands, wiggling her fingers. “And you couldn’t pick up a phone and be like ‘hey, I'm alive and I'm okay.’"
"Why would I be dead?" I fold my arms over my chest and chuckle.
"Well, you are dead to me,” Presley declares, doing a fist in front of her with her thumb sticking out and running it against her neck. “So I don't even care what happened."
"Seriously, ten hours. Ten." Shelby gasps. “What the hell were you doing?"
"It's not what she was doing," Presley says. “But who she was doing it with."
"Can we focus on what's being said, please?" I hold up my hands, trying to make them change the subject.
"The word on the street is that Luke looked like he was going to body-slam Edward into the ground like the Hulk," Presley informs me, and I just close my eyes.
"It wasn't that bad," I tell them and turn to walk into my office with the two of them following me. They sit down, and I tell them my side of the story, and when I look up, they both have their mouths open.
"Wait," Presley says, holding up her hand at me. “What did he call you?"
"His woman." I hold up my hands, thankful I'm not the only one who is wowed by that declaration.
"What does that even mean?" Shelby asks, amazed. She’s looking at Presley to see if maybe she has the answer, and I can tell she does not.
"Like, do you get a crown?" Presley sits back in the chair and puts her hand in front of her mouth. "Like, is that an elevated position? Do you skip dating and be like boom, his woman?"
"I have no idea." I look over at Shelby to see if maybe she has the answer, and she just looks at me with her eyes big.
"Does he walk in front of you and beat his chest?" Presley rolls her lips. “With a bat over his shoulder wearing a loincloth and grunting?"
I can't help the laughter that comes out of me. “That's what I thought would happen."
"Bet you he gave you his bat all right." Presley winks at me. “You know, since you're his woman and everything."
"Can we focus on what is going on and not about what happened after?" I look at both of them. “How bad is this gossip?"
"Is it gossip, though?" Presley asks me. “I mean, it's not like what he said was a lie."
"I know that, but…" I look up at the ceiling, trying to steady the way my heart is going nuts. “It's like before I was the runaway bride, and that just started dying down. Now I'll be the poor girl whose fiancé had a kid with someone else."
"Fuck what anyone thinks." Presley is the first one to say something. "Like, for real, think about it. No one cares. By tomorrow, it'll be old news." I just stare at her. "Okay, by like next week for sure."
"What does this mean now?" Shelby asks me, and I just look at her, not sure what she's asking me. "Are you with Luke or not?"
"Well, considering that I'm his woman." I try to make a joke but then look at them. “Yes."