Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Fae paused, finger hovering long enough for her to snort. “Did we, though?”
Dallas bounced Luca up and down. “You asked me to help Briar. I’m helping Briar. If we relied on you, she won’t recover her memory for another decade.”
Now there’s an idea.
I tore a hand through my hair. “You shouldn’t have taken her off my property, let alone to another state. Do you understand how delicate she is? This is not a fucking game. What if she needed me?”
“It seems like she needed you a lot throughout her life, and you weren’t there.” Fae squinted at me, shoving her phone into her pocket. “Don’t pretend to suddenly care.”
She was right, of course. This was my eternal shame. But with her in Europe and a self-implemented ban from looking her up, I’d managed to push the guilt into my brain’s periphery. Now that she was in front of me – dazzling, and beautiful, and lovable to a fucking fault – it would take amnesia on my part to rip me away.
I wet my lips, sucking in a breath. “This is the last time you two take Briar anywhere without my permission. I had to unseat an entire fucking board meeting to be here.”
“What are you talking about?” Dallas snorted. “You’re like me. You’ve never even met a job, let alone held one.”
Shit.
The truth slipped out like a dick pic accidentally sent into a group chat within a bunch of attachments. (Lesson learned. Send one photo at a time.)
Dallas and Farrow stared at me, waiting for an explanation.
A muscle jumped in my jaw. “I don’t think you know me when it comes to this woman.”
“I don’t think we know you at all,” Farrow agreed. “I am starting to see that you have a job, you’re not that dumb, and you’re capable of feelings.”
This wasn’t the time to talk about me.
“Pull this crap with Briar one more time, and I will make everyone’s lives on Dark Prince Road a living hell. You do not cross me when it comes to this woman. You do not put her at risk. You do not make stupid, reckless decisions. She is my ward. My responsibility. Mine to protect.” I glanced between them. “Am I clear?”
Dallas and Farrow exchanged looks. They’d never seen me like this. I’d never seen me like this. I didn’t even know I had it in me to care so much.
But when I’d realized they’d taken her, all I could think about were the what ifs.
What if she feared flying? What if she felt alone? What if the plane crashed? What if someone said something to offend her? What if she didn’t remember and she left disappointed? What if she did remember everything, and I wasn’t there to hold her?
Finally, after a beat of silence, a sickly-sweet smile graced Dallas’ face. She beamed like she knew something I didn’t. “Crystal clear.”
“Sure.” Farrow returned her attention to her phone. “Keep lying to her. You’re the only one who believes you’re doing this for her own good. Soon enough, she’ll remember why you both lost touch.”
“So.” Dallas dusted her hands. “What now?”
“Now …” I’d already started storming down the hallway toward the common area, wherever the hell it was. “I’m going to retrieve my fiancée and get the fuck out of here.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Briar
Unknown Number: Fair warning: your boy spent a good thirty minutes storming up and down this place, turning things over as if he’d find you under Geezer’s dog bed.
Briar Auer: Seb?
Seb vB: The one and only.
Briar Auer: Don’t lose my number, because I can’t guarantee I won’t hurl myself out of the plane with your brother.
Seb vB: Feel free to aim for the Mississippi. I hear E. coli is nice and toxic this time of year.
Seb vB: You promised you’d visit me again.
Briar Auer: I did. I will.
Chapter Forty
Briar
“Is this truly necessary?”
I burst into the cockpit of Oliver’s private jet, waving a small vial with white powder inside. The rage over his stunt at Baylor already had my blood sizzling. I didn’t bother reigning in my temper.
Ten more minutes, and I would’ve had a breakthrough. I knew it.
So. Damn. Close.
Already, I remembered more than I’d hoped for before the trip.
My roommate. My boyfriend. My majors. Plural. Marketing management and philosophy. My drink of choice: almond milk cappuccino. Tequila on nights out. #TeamOasis, not Blur. Jennifer Aniston over Brangelina. I took my whiskey neat and spent weekends volunteering at shelters. I must’ve read Steve Job’s biography seventeen times before I’d lost it in the Brazos River.
Oliver took one glance at the baggie from the pilot’s seat, clicking one of the hundreds of buttons before him. “Yes, it truly is.”
I threw my hands up, careful not to release whatever Schedule I narcotic he’d shoved into this thing. “You’re not flying us back home coked up.”