Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“You are so fucking off, it’s unreal. But all you really need to know is this: if Sutton wants to take you back to court, I’m in her corner—and my money is hers.”
Jack took a step back. “What the fuck does that mean?” He snapped his eyes to me. “Are you marrying him?”
I swallowed hard but kept my mouth shut. If Jack thought I was going to marry Brody, he might finally leave me alone.
Jack’s face was white, and I could see the anger in his eyes. “You can’t marry him, Sutton. You and I are meant to be together!”
Brody pushed off the frame and took a step back into the house, reaching for the door and slamming it shut.
It only took two seconds for him to turn and catch me when my legs gave out.
“Hey, it’s okay. He’s gone,” he said.
I shook my head as tears started streaming down my face. “He’s never going to leave me alone. Never. I didn’t have my phone on me, or I would have called 9-1-1. They said they can’t do anything unless they catch him in the act of breaking the restraining order.”
Brody lifted me up into his arms before walking over to the sofa. He sat down, cradling me on his lap, and for the first time in years, I let myself fall apart.
In the arms of the man I was head over heels in love with.
Brody
I wanted to kill Jack Larson. And if Sutton wasn’t currently breaking down, I might have gone after his ass the moment I saw her first tear fall.
“Shhh, don’t let him get to you like this, Sutton.”
Her body trembled as she sobbed in my arms. “I…I…I hate him so much!”
I pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. I wasn’t sure what to say. I was the reason she was crying. Yes, Jack was the literal reason, but if I had been open about my feelings for Sutton in the first place, she never would have allowed Jack back into her life.
After a few minutes, she drew back, wiped her eyes, and looked at me. When her gaze fell to my lips, I nearly pulled her to me and kissed her. But that was the last thing she needed right now. I gently moved her off my lap and set her on the sofa. “Do you want something to drink?”
I couldn’t read her face as she shook her head. “I’m not really in the mood to hash out our past tonight, Brody. If you wouldn’t mind leaving…”
I let out a dry laugh. “I am not leaving, knowing that he’s showing up at your house now, Sutton. We don’t have to talk. But I’m not leaving.”
Her eyes widened. “You can’t stay here.”
“Why not?”
Sutton quickly stood. “I don’t really want people to think we’re…we’re…”
“Sleeping together?”
She shot me a dirty look. “I was going to say dating. No, I’ll be fine. I’m going to call my lawyer and let him know Jack showed up at my house. They’ll send the police over to his house to warn him to stay away from me.”
“And didn’t they do that the last time he showed up at the store? Sutton, the guy has some weird delusion that you two are going to get back together. He isn’t right in the head.”
She threw up her hands before letting them fall back to her side. “I don’t really know what to do about that, Brody! I keep telling him there’s no future for us.”
“Then take the option off the table.”
She opened her mouth to say something, then immediately shut it. “How do you suggest I do that? I can’t really have him killed. I do like my freedom and all.”
I felt the lump in my throat and pushed through it. It wasn’t the way I had dreamed of doing this, but I didn’t see another choice. “Marry me, and he’ll leave you alone.”
Sutton stared at me for what felt like an eternity…before she started to laugh. “Marry you? Are you high on something, Brody?”
I tried not to show how much her words hurt. “No, I’m not high, Sutton. I…I care about you, and I don’t like seeing him do this to you. If we got married, then he’d be forced to accept that the two of you aren’t getting back together. He’ll sell you his half of Coastal Chic, and then we…we can get divorced…I guess.”
“Oh, nice. So then I’d be twice divorced by the age of thirty. Lucky me.”
“An annulment, then.”
She stared at me with a surprised look on her face before she said quietly, “Because that makes it better.”
I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. “Sutton, I’m just…I don’t like seeing him hurt you—and before you remind me, yes, I know I hurt you as well. I was confused and scared, and we were so young back then.”