Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“Zane, this room is for you.” She gestured to a door off the living area.
“Thank fuck,” Zane muttered. He gave me a one-armed hug. “Love you. Promise I’ll be more careful, ’kay? Thanks for coming to get me.”
I was still angry, still worried, but what could I do? I blew out a breath and nodded as Zane shuffled away.
Landry watched him go, shaking his head, a little smile on his lips. “Somebody needs to bring the rock star some oatmeal and chocolate milk,” he said softly.
I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling my anger rise now that it had a convenient target. “At least Zane knows he has responsibilities—” I broke off when I noticed Noelle watching us avidly and gestured to another room off the living area. “Is this room for Landry?”
Noelle blinked rapidly. “Well, I…” She noted the expression on my face and swallowed hard. “I suppose so.”
“Great.” I pushed Landry in that direction. “We’ll be back.”
“Bash, Bash,” Landry fake-chided. “Pushing me into bed? Won’t your boyfriend get the wrong impression?” He snickered under his breath at his own joke as he wandered off in that direction.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I snapped after him. “Asshole.” But before I followed, I glanced back at Rowe, who hadn’t moved from the entryway. “Rowe, I have to…” I gestured helplessly toward Landry.
“No, no. I completely understand. Go. Do what you have to do.” Rowe’s big brown eyes were wide. He looked tired and a little lost, and I wanted to hug him. I wanted to kick Landry out and take Rowe to bed for a week. I wanted…
Christ. I had no fucking idea what I wanted anymore.
“Will you be okay on your own?” I asked him with a pointed look at Noelle, who still watched us like the concept of privacy was more complex than brain surgery. I didn’t plan to leave him for long, but I didn’t trust her not to try to torture him for information during that time, either.
Rowe did that little thing where he straightened his posture, extracting every quarter-inch from his small frame, and shook the curls out of his face. “Of course I will. Don’t worry about me, Bash.”
Despite my anger at Landry, Rowe made me smile. I took a step toward the bedroom—
“Bash?” Rowe called.
“Yeah?” I stopped and turned my head.
“N-nothing, just…” He shrugged a little and shot me a bright, sunshine smile. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” I was definitely going to need it.
By the time I got into the room, Landry had already undressed into a hotel bathrobe and slippers and was reclined against the headboard of the king-sized bed, fiddling with his phone. He glanced up when I came in.
“Look, whatever you want me to say here, Bash, can we pretend I’ve said it? Mea culpa, mea culpa. Landry’s fucked up again.”
“Landry,” I said between clenched teeth.
He sighed and made a production of turning off the phone and setting it on his lap. “Fine, then. Scold me if it’ll make you feel better. I warn you, you’re not as pretty as Kenji, so I probably won’t tolerate it for long.”
I shook my head. “What the hell is wrong with you? This…” I gestured up and down his frame. “This whole spoiled-dilettante thing? Dragging Zane along with you? That’s not you, Landry. That is not the man I knew back in the day, who was on fire to make a name for himself, to change his situation, to help people. That guy didn’t dream about going around breaking hearts and causing scandals, including being banned from a major commercial airline—”
“That incident was blown wildly out of proportion, and you know it,” Landry scoffed. “Besides, you’re not one to talk. The Sebastian Dayne who founded Sterling Chase with us was a leader. A guy who wanted us to be in control of every corner of our business, right down to where we kept the pencil sharpener. That guy wouldn’t fuck off on a safari and let other people run his company. People change. Not always for the better. Are we done now?”
I set my front teeth together and exhaled through my nose. “No. I had reasons for the things I’ve done, Landry. I didn’t want to be the public face of Sterling Chase anymore. I didn’t want to be the one people were always fucking asking for things. And I realized recently that maybe… maybe I’ve backed off a little too far. Maybe it’s time for me to change things up and take a more active role in things again—”
“Big Daddy admits he made a tiny error?” Landry rolled his eyes. “Alert the media.”
“But that is not the same thing as what you’re doing,” I insisted. “I’m not hurting anyone, for one thing.”
“Except yourself.” Landry yawned. “And possibly the Sterling Chase impersonator out in the living area you so loudly proclaimed was not your boyfriend, after leading him on a merry chase all weekend, sleeping all night with him—according to Kenji’s texts, dragging him to Philly with you in the dead of night and holding his hand while he stared at you with big puppy eyes like he thought you were personally responsible for the sunrise. Gotta say, for all my faults, I’ve never treated anyone I slept with quite that shittily, so well done, you, for setting that bar so low.”