Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“How am I supposed to give you shit about mentioning my hair when you follow up with that?” I walk in through the door that CJ holds open into a foyer that puts my house to shame.
A gorgeous golden retriever nudges me for pets. I slide my hand over his silky head. “What’s your name?”
“That’s Francis,” CJ says.
“You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” I look around. “My God… This place is a freaking mansion.”
She cocks her head. “You’re one to talk. You live in a mansion.”
“I live in a sprawling ranch house. It’s not the same thing.”
CJ closes the door and leans in. “So who is he?”
My chest warms. “Who’s who?”
“The guy you had sex with. It’s written all over your face.”
This is really bizarre. CJ and I haven’t seen each other in how many years? And she thinks she knows that I had sex?
The fact that she’s right…
I swallow. “I didn’t have sex, CJ.”
CJ furrows her brow. “I can always tell. It’s my superpower.”
“Then your superpower is off today.”
“Okay… If you say so, Ray.” CJ purses her lips. “Maybe your new hairstyle threw me. What moved you to chop it all off?”
I run my hands over my scalp. Guess there’s no more avoiding the subject. I forgot how blunt CJ can be.
“Actually, it wasn’t my choice,” I say. “I’m recovering from cancer.”
CJ slaps her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God, Ray, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head. “Please don’t make a big deal out of it. I would have told you over the phone, but I…”
She nods slowly. “I told you that my dad had just died from cancer and you didn’t want to double bum me out.”
“That, and it just seemed like something I should tell you in person. Sorry if I gave you a shock.”
She cracks an uneasy smile. “And I’m sorry for being a dumbass. Assuming you shaved your gorgeous head of hair for the aesthetic.”
“Are you suggesting I can’t pull it off?” I ask. “I could always start a death metal band, purchase an all-leather wardrobe, really embrace the whole thing.”
That gets a laugh out of her. “Glad to see the chemo didn’t take out your sense of humor.” She leans in, her eyes narrowing. “I’m still convinced you had sex.”
Damn, she’s good.
“Who would want to have sex with me in this condition?”
“Cancer patients can have sex.”
I can’t help bursting into laughter at that one. She’s the same old Ceej. Instead of asking me about my cancer, she’s more concerned with my sex life.
And honestly, I’m happy to not dwell on the last few years of misery.
“What’s so funny?” she asks.
“Cancer patients are doing what they can to stay alive. They’re usually so ill from treatment that sex is the last thing on their mind.”
She wiggles her eyebrows. “Well, it’s obviously on your mind, because you had sex, Raven. Don’t try to tell me you didn’t.”
I roll my eyes. “This isn’t high school anymore, Ceej. That doesn’t work.”
She purses her lips. “Your cheeks are flushed, you have a permanent smile on your face, and you just look… I don’t know… Satisfied.”
I force myself to frown. “I am satisfied. I spent the last couple years fighting for my life, and I’m in remission now. My brother’s bone marrow worked. I’m going to be okay. I’m going to live a long life. I’m absolutely thrilled about that. I think you might just be mistaking the fact that I’m ecstatic to be alive for something else.”
She tilts her head, regards me, studies me.
Silence reigns for a few moments, and just when I’m sure she’s not going to say another thing—
“Maybe…” She crosses her arms and smirks. “I still think you had sex though.”
“Do you honestly think a guy would have me without a head of hair?”
“Raven, you’ve always been gorgeous. Having no hair doesn’t change that. So you lost a few pounds too. So what? I don’t look like you on my best day.”
That’s a crock, and CJ knows it. She’s a beautiful woman, with reddish-brown hair and amazing hazel eyes. She’s not as tall as I am, and slightly curvier, but I have basically no curves right now because of all the weight I’ve lost. They’ll return, but I’ve never been hugely curvy. I’m long and lean with a flat belly and good-sized breasts. “You’re just as gorgeous as I am, we both know it. So show me around this mansion of yours.”
“God, I wish it were mine.” She looks around the foyer. “It belongs to this richer-than-God family. The dad is some high-powered lawyer, and he’s hardly ever home. He travels a lot. The mom doesn’t work, but she’s always got something going all day. Whether it’s a meeting of the Junior League, the school board, some kind of charity event… She’s never home. The kids are in private school, and I take them in the morning and pick them up and then make sure they get a snack.”