Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
“So they would accept the money. I promised I would take care of you, and I am in a position to do so.”
“You don’t get it, Nate. They should never have taken the money in the first place.”
“Carly, you might be pregnant, and I don’t want you to leave like this.”
“I can’t do this right now, Nate. I don’t want to. You’ve just … you’ve … please let me go.”
He didn’t want to let her go, but he knew now he needed to give her time. Carly moved around him and he closed his eyes. It hurt him to allow her to leave.
Seconds passed, maybe even minutes, but he didn’t allow himself to look behind him. He couldn’t, and instead he walked back to the house where Sarah stood, gripping her hands, twisting them together.
“I am so sorry, that is not what I expected—”
“What did you expect?” he asked, yelling at her.
“I thought she might … run toward you, and you know, confess her undying love for you.”
Nate shook his head. “Are you fucking stupid?” he asked.
Sarah flinched and he didn’t care if he hurt her.
“Why don’t you get out of your selfish fucking self for a change, and think about how she might be feeling? I’ve been ruining her dates since she was eighteen years old. That’s a long time. I have manipulated everyone around her, and Carly is sensitive. She is not seeing romance, she is seeing people being bought and forced to spend time with her.” He shook his head. “You have made this worse.”
“I … you know I love Carly and none of us need to be paid money to be with her.”
“Yeah?” he asked. “Tell that to Carly, who was messed up in the head and locked away in a cage, and told time and time again she wasn’t good enough.” Nate shook his head. “Get the fuck off my property before I forget I actually like you.”
With that, he slammed the door.
****
Sarah looked at Dalton, Reese, and Mitch. All three of them knew what had happened. They sat at Mitch’s place, as Sarah hadn’t been able to go back to her old home. She locked her fingers together and waited. There was nothing any of them could say that she hadn’t already said to herself.
She was never going to forget the pain in Carly’s eyes. She couldn’t believe what she had done. Sarah had thought this plan through and hadn’t seen this reaction coming.
Everyone was silent.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Dalton asked.
She expected him to understand, seeing as he was the childish one of the group, and yet he was the one to glare at her. She tried not to flinch away from the look he was giving her. Out of everyone, she thought he might get it.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Dalton shook his head.
“Sorry,” Mitch said.
“I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“And where on planet earth is telling someone that kind of truth the right thing? Would you like it?” Reese asked.
Sarah didn’t want to cry. “I thought it was romantic. Think about it, look at the lengths Nate has gone to.”
“Yeah, and look at Carly. She is sensitive to this kind of thing,” Reese said. “We all know that.”
Reese got to his feet and began to pace. She hated when he paced, as that told her she had angered him.
“Carly’s not answering any of our calls,” Mitch said.
“Can I stay here tonight?” Sarah asked.
She looked at Mitch, and he looked like he was going to tell her to go somewhere else, which would just be a nightmare. Tears filled her eyes, because this was turning out worse with every second that passed.
“Yeah, you can stay here, but you don’t make any more plans. You don’t do anything that could fuck this up. Nate has already called me and told me Carly might be pregnant.”
Dalton sighed and Reese shook his head. They were hating her. Not that she could blame them. She had only wanted to bring Nate and Carly together, and all she had done was pull them far apart.
Chapter Ten
Carly sat on the edge of her bed. Her bedroom door was open, and she stared out at the main apartment.
This place had seemed too good to be true. A steal of a rental price, the condition, the fact it was in a safe part of town. She felt like she hit the jackpot, which she had. Tears filled her eyes. Lies. All of it.
Her friends had been in on it as well. They had all known the truth, and while she’d been excited about this place, they had known it was all because of Nate.
She swiped at the tears, not wanting them to fall.
Dropping her hand into her lap, she tried to take a deep breath, and not to think about the pain. Her friends had to be paid to spend time with her. Sarah had to be paid to live with her. Mitch was paid to walk her home. Dalton and Reese were paid to come and talk to her at the bar.