Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 134531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
“He didn’t fail,” I argued.
Her hand squeezed mine. “I know, sweetie. You know that. All of us womenfolk know that. But we could hire someone to write it in the sky or tattoo it on our foreheads, and it still wouldn’t sink in for him,” she shrugged. “He will carry it with him. But it will get better. Trust me.”
And despite all of my traumas and fears, I did trust her.
A gentle tap on the window made me jump.
Freya was standing there, the bottle of champagne in her hand the source of the tapping.
“We can’t wait in here all day!” she called through the window.
“Time for your surprise!” Macy exclaimed, jumping out of the car.
I followed suit, albeit a little slower than her.
Caroline was standing next to Freya, a large bouquet of flowers in her arms. She was in jeans that fit her like a second skin, a simple white tee and bright red lipstick. Freya was wearing a tiny skirt, knee-high boots and a long sleeved, cropped tank. Her blonde hair was piled on top of her head.
“Well, what do you think?” Macy asked, linking her arm with mine.
“What do I think about what?” I questioned slowly.
“Your new house,” Macy replied as if it were obvious.
I stopped in my tracks.
“Excuse m-me?” I stammered.
“Hansen and I invested in this place a little bit ago,” she waved a hand around. “Short term rental type thing. It’s been great, but I’ve been searching for an excuse to stop dealing with picky tenants who do weird shit. Don’t worry, we’ve had it deep cleaned. Twice.”
“And saged,” Freya chimed in.
Macy nodded. “And saged. We were just about to put it up for rent, then…”
“My husband beat me half to death?” I offered.
Macy winced ever so slightly. “Yeah, that. Well, we actually had been considering this before that happened. Just in the interim, while Swiss found the perfect house.”
I stared at her, my body freezing. “What did you just say?”
“Shit, that was meant to be a surprise, and not mine,” Macy clasped a hand to her mouth.
“Macy, what are you talking about?” I asked, more urgently this time.
She sighed, looking to Freya and Caroline for help, both who held up their hands and did a good job of checking out the garden.
“Swiss had been looking to buy a house. For the two of you. But he’s really fucking picky, and I kept trying to tell him he couldn’t intimidate people into selling their home. Obviously, he disagreed,” she rolled her eyes. “It was a thing.”
My heartbeat was so loud, I wondered if I’d heard her correctly. “He was buying us a house?”
Macy nodded slowly. “If we want to get technical, he was trying to coerce a really nice couple into selling their home, but same difference.”
I opened my mouth then quickly shut it again.
There was nothing to say to such a thing.
Swiss was planning on buying us a house.
“Should I open this?” Freya raised the bottle of champagne in the air.
“Yes,” Macy and Caroline said at the same time.
I had not regained the ability to speak.
That was when the rumble of motorcycles drowned out even the rapid beating of my heart.
All four of us looked in the direction of the highway, which was taken up by a… gaggle? Of Harley’s.
My stomach swirled, looking for a familiar figure and a familiar bike. When they got closer, it became clear that Swiss was not with them.
I tried to hide my disappointment, tears prickling the backs of my eyes. I didn’t do well at that if Caroline reaching for my hand was anything to go by.
She held it until the men parked and dismounted their bikes.
Hansen had coffee and croissants. I had no idea how they traveled on the bike. But they did.
Hades and Jagger were with him, obviously knowing their women were there because these men had some kind of badass, alpha male, sixth sense. Or they tracked their wives phones, which considering everything they’d been through, made sense.
I silently urged myself to ignore the disappointment and sadness I felt at Swiss’s absence.
This moment felt pivotal, big, important. And he surely knew about it because Swiss made it his business to know everything about me.
Yet he still wasn’t here.
“What do you think?” Hansen nodded to the house while handing me a coffee.
“I don’t know what to say,” I replied honestly.
“Well, we need to show her the inside,” Hansen said to Macy.
“I’m aware, honey,” she replied, taking a sip of her coffee. “I was waiting for caffeine.”
On wooden legs, I followed our little group into the small but adorable house.
The pathway to the house was bordered by lavender that brushed the natural stones we were walking on. Two rockers sat on the porch with hanging baskets of flowers along the overhang. The garden sprawled to the left of the house with greenery, large trees and a porch swing nestled underneath them.