Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
I got up and walked to the door, not bothering to check to see who it was due to the added security with the extra lock outside.
Who else could it be?
That was a huge fuck up on my part, answering the door.
There I went assuming that I knew who it was, and instead of coming face to face with my best friend, I came face to face with the reason I’d been crying for the last hour.
I blinked at Jeremiah’s scowl.
“What do you want?” I asked quietly, unable to scrounge up any anger toward the man.
Disappointment? Sure.
Anger? No.
We hadn’t made any promises.
And honestly, he was my boss. It wasn’t like we should be doing what we’d done anyway.
Yet… it still hurt.
A lot.
My belly clenched when he started to unzip his leather jacket, and I wondered if he thought he was going to get in here today.
Newsflash. He wasn’t.
I wanted nothing more to do with him.
A few days ago, he was taking my virginity. Today, he was sleeping with another person.
God, did it hurt.
I’d thought he was different.
I’d thought we… No, I couldn’t think about that anymore.
I had to focus on me.
On guarding my heart, and rebuilding the walls that he’d started to tear down in the few short days that I’d known him.
“I brought you this.”
He held out a hissing Peter Pan that he’d removed from his jacket and said, “I swear to God. I wasn’t—” He didn’t finish.
I cleared my throat loudly, cutting him off.
I looked at the cat. “I’m not sure what, exactly, you want me to do with him,” I pointed out. “I don’t have a cat box. I don’t have a rabies shot on hand to give myself now that you have him all riled up and ready to kill. And I certainly don’t want anything else to do with you outside of a professional level.”
He stared at me in surprise, as if he’d thought his peace offering would be enough.
Newsflash. It wasn’t.
“I—” he started, but I interrupted him by saying, “I’ll see you at work maybe.”
Then I closed the door on him, and the cutest cat in the world.
And didn’t feel an ounce of regret.
Also, I was a major liar.
I watched him through the peephole as he dropped his head to stare at his boots.
The cat hung limply from his big hand, and I had the urge to open the door and pull the cat to safety.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I watched as he tucked the cat back into his jacket and walked away.
CHAPTER 15
Vagitarian.
-coffee cup
GRACELYNN
I spent the next five days actively avoiding him like he’d avoided me.
I got there early and did all the baking before he could arrive. I got there late and did whatever else needed done after he’d left.
And when we did run into each other, I ignored him as if he wasn’t there in the first place.
It was a perfect recipe in hell.
Needless to say, by the time that I arrived home on the fifth day, I was exhausted.
Except the couch that was calling my name was pulled even farther away from me when I arrived home to find Anisa standing there waiting for me.
The day after tomorrow, she would be married.
The day after tomorrow, I would lose her.
The day after tomorrow, I’d cry my eyes out.
Today, she was waiting for me with excitement on her face.
And I would give my good friend my all.
Though I wasn’t a part of her wedding—again, a tradition that I was okay not being a part of as long as I got to see her marry Taj—I was privy to every single aspect of what was happening.
Which was why I’d worked tirelessly the last few days on my own time to make her wedding cake.
It was massive.
As in, feeding two hundred people massive.
And I was so proud of it I could burst.
I’d wanted to show it to Jeremiah a hundred different times today.
Yet… I didn’t.
“Would you do me a huge, massive, gigantic favor, friend?” Anisa pleaded, breaking into my thoughts.
I looked at her, feeling a hole in my chest start to open up even more when I looked at her wedding dress draped over her arm.
“What?” I asked.
“Help me by going by the power company and paying my bill?” she pleaded. “I need to get dressed for tonight’s shenanigans, but I forgot to pay the hotel’s light bill since I was all flummoxed with wedding crap. I’m so sorry. Please, please, please?”
I rubbed at my eyes with the backs of my hands before sighing.
“Sure,” I said. “But, just sayin’, it’s time to go digital.”
She snorted. “As if my father would allow that to happen.”
That was the fact of life for a lot of the older generation. They refused to do anything that had their information floating around online.
“Give me the stuff,” I urged.
She slapped it into my hand as if it was a bad smell she was trying to get rid of, then waved excitedly. “You’re the best.”