Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 129323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 647(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 647(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
I blink several times, allowing what he’s just said to sink in.
“She was around twelve when I last saw her. How could I have known?”
He shrugs. “You need to talk to her. She’s back in your life, and for the first time since I’ve known you, you’ve looked happy when she’s around. Are you really willing to throw that away?”
“Fuck. I don’t know.”
He waves down the bartender and asks for the bill. I try to put my card down, but he brushes me off. “I’ll take care of this. You need to go talk to her.”
I swallow down a lump. “Yeah, I do.”
But first, I need to see how this happened. How did this slip past everyone?
I stand to leave, and Dane nods at me, not saying anything. What else is there to say? We both know where I’m going.
First, I need to make a call. There’s only one person who could have known or should’ve known.
I’m out the door, heading home, but find myself heading in a different direction first. As I walk, I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial his number.
Mike will have the answers I need.
“What’s up? Everything okay?” His voice sounds edgy, like he’s anticipating something. “Your mom off your back?”
“This isn’t about her. It’s about Cass.”
He sighs. “She finally came clean?”
“So you knew?” I snap.
There’s no hiding the anger in my voice.
“Calm down, man, I only just realized. I gave her an ultimatum.”
This just pisses me off more. How long has he known? What ultimatum?
“Explain.”
“I found out right before the gala.” He breathes heavily down the line, and for a moment, I think he isn’t going to elaborate. “I spoke to my contact. The one who knows the girl we’d set up to meet with you. He mentioned how he saw his favorite girl and that she had apologized for bailing on me.”
“She never showed,” I say, mostly to myself.
That had been a question circulating for me. Had Cassidy somehow arranged the switch? Did she know when she got there that she was to have sex with me?
“She asked him not to use it against her in the future,” Mike continues. “He relayed the message. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together that Cassidy wasn’t the girl I sent to you.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me immediately? You’re my agent, Mike.”
“Listen, Aiden…you were doing so good. I just wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.” He grunts. “I wasn’t about to take the chance of telling you in the middle of a room full of people to have you freak out and cause a damn scene.”
I blow out a harsh breath, understanding that decision.
“I approached her on the dance floor. Told her she could tell you, or I would. She had twenty-four hours, but as you know, shit hit the fan, and I was a bit preoccupied.”
“What if her motives had been like my mother’s?”
And there it is.
The truth behind my anger.
What if she didn’t come for me, but for my money?
“She’s not your mother, Aiden. You know better than that. The woman has done nothing but try to help you.”
I swallow down the lump that keeps lodging in my throat.
He sighs. “I’m just glad she came clean. I was not looking forward to that convo.”
“Hardly,” I snap, thinking back on how it all went down.
Pinky promise on your puck…
She could’ve pinky promised on anything else, and I likely would still be with her, none the wiser. But that phrase is all Pippa. The words she said before I left.
“What do you mean, she didn’t tell you?”
“She didn’t tell me. What else is there to say?”
“But you know. So—”
“I figured it out all by myself. There were signs I should’ve seen weeks ago.”
“How? What are you talking about?”
“She’s Pippa, Mike.” I make a strangled noise. “She’s Pippa.”
“Fuck,” he bites out. “I don’t even know what to say.”
Me either.
“I thought she would tell you that she wasn’t the girl we thought she was, but I never realized she knew you. Weird. Come to think about it, she seemed almost relieved when I demanded it.”
“I think she tried. A few times. I wouldn’t let her,” I admit.
After the gala, she told me she wasn’t who I thought she was. I told her I didn’t care. That I knew who she was.
Maybe I did.
Maybe a part of me knew all along.
I saw her, but I wasn’t ready to admit it. All the little things she said over time pile on top of me.
It’s only business.
A warm cup of milk.
The conversation about my Jeep.
The whole time, she was trying to tell me, and I was too blind to see.
Or maybe I didn’t want Cassidy to be Pip. Didn’t want her to be the girl I left behind. My best friend. The girl who I looked at like a sister.