Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Mom didn’t fight it. “Okay.”
My parents already did so much for me, paid for my education all the way through medical school, and I wouldn’t take another dollar from them. It didn’t matter if my dad was worth billions and that money was nothing to him. That wasn’t the point. I loved my parents because they were my parents—not because of their piggy bank. “I’m pretty exhausted after my day. Can we talk later?” I built the sandwich then carried it to the couch, still in my towel.
“Sure, baby. Just wanted to check in. Love you.”
I took a bite and chewed, and then spoke with my mouth full because I was starving. “Love you too, Mom.”
3
Sicily
When I arrived at the apartment with the moving truck, Dex’s possessions had been placed in boxes around the living space. I told him I would pack up everything for him, but he went ahead and did it himself. “I’m here.” I let myself inside. It was Saturday morning, a free day because we hadn’t started to schedule patients yet. Dex had had surgeries all day yesterday—and they went well.
Dex came out from the hallway, in the process of pulling his shirt over his head.
I caught a glimpse of the hardest, deepest abs I’d ever seen. He wasn’t bulky, but cut…ripped.
My eyes immediately widened as my heartbeat quickened, seeing that he looked as hard as he felt. I covered up the reaction before he noticed my stare and realized I had the hots for him—if he didn’t already know that.
“Morning.” He was in gray sweatpants that hung low on his hips and a t-shirt, as if he expected to move things when I’d hired someone to do it for him. “I was thinking we could donate all the furniture. The only things I’m bringing are my clothes and knickknacks.”
“That’s a great idea.” I had already anticipated that. After the moving guys dropped off his belongings, they would take the rest of the stuff to a donation center.
A couple guys came in and started with the couch, picking it up and carrying it outside. Other guys grabbed other pieces of furniture and started moving it.
Dex went to one of the boxes that was marked as clothes. “Let’s get started.”
“You don’t have to do anything, Dex. I thought you could enjoy your day off while I have these guys take care of it.”
He lifted the box, his forearms tight with corded veins, and he wore a nice smile. “That sounds nice, but I’m happy to help.” He carried it outside and disappeared.
I started to look through his apartment to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything important in a drawer somewhere. I walked into his bedroom, which had a couple boxes next to his furniture. I checked the drawers of his nightstand and found them empty. When I backed up, I accidentally bumped into two boxes stacked on each other, and they tipped over onto the floor, the sound of physical objects clanking. “Oh shit.” The lid had opened to the box on the top, and a couple things had slid onto the carpet. Picture frames, books, stuff like that. I kneeled and put the box back together, noticing a picture of Dex and his older brother Derek. They stood at a table in a bookstore, a stack of books behind them. Dex had his arm around Derek, and they both smiled as they held up their books. It looked like a book signing. His brother was an author, so maybe Dex had attended one of his signings. He looked a couple years younger, but just as handsome.
I smiled before I put it back.
Then I noticed the picture frame underneath.
It was a bride and groom, holding each other close on their wedding day. The bride was gorgeous, with long, curled hair and a smile that could make her a model, and she wore a beautiful gown with her veil hanging behind her.
The groom was Dex.
Their foreheads were pressed together as his large arms circled her waist.
I could tell how much he loved her just by looking at the picture.
I could tell she loved him too.
It wasn’t a posed photograph, but an organic one, taken on their wedding day when they didn’t notice because they were too absorbed in each other. It felt like I was prying into a moment of intimacy I shouldn’t see, so I put the picture frame back into the box, feeling a pain in my stomach that gnawed at me. I hated that woman without knowing her, despised her without knowing her side of the story, and I hated that Dex still had a picture of her when she didn’t deserve him, when she took all his money after he busted his ass to help people.
When I looked up, I noticed Dex standing there. He looked down at me, his eyes wide and furious.