Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
West and I both put our hands up in surrender. We could bicker as good as any siblings, but somehow, our little sister was the mediator.
“Did everyone in Seattle make fun of you for using y’all?” I asked.
Harley grinned. “More or less. But I like it.”
Our food came, and we all reached for chopsticks at the center of the table.
Harley rolled hers together before digging in. “Tell me what I missed while I was gone. How was the promotion party?”
West smirked up at me before dropping his gaze to his food when I glared back.
“What?” she asked. “What happened? Did you humiliate yourself in front of everyone?”
“Of course not,” I said with a shake of my head. “It was fine. I just don’t love the attention.”
“For someone so driven, you should really get over that. If you’re going to rise to be CEO or whatever, you’re going to need to get used to giving speeches and the spotlight and shit.”
“Eloquent, Harley.”
West snorted. “He did fine. It was the disappearance afterward that he’s not talking about.”
“I didn’t disappear.”
Even though I had. My mind returned to that darkened cellar. The feel of Eve’s mouth around my cock. Her dazed look as I had come into her mouth. The wet drip of her pussy as I had driven into her. I cleared my throat and returned to my pad thai.
“Oh my God, is there a girl?” Harley asked, excitement in every syllable. “Are you dating someone?”
“Eve Houston,” West supplied.
“Thanks for that,” I grumbled.
“Oh, Eve is way out of your league.” Harley laughed. “How’d you land someone like that?”
“One, I take offense to that. And two, we’re not dating.”
West snorted. “You disappeared with the girl at the promotion party for, like, forty-five minutes. You couldn’t stop staring at her at that mayoral announcement thing. Not to mention, you showed up late to the soccer celebration at the pizza place.”
“Late?” Harley choked out. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.” West shot her a look. “And they’re working together.”
Harley glanced at me with wide eyes. “Care to explain yourself, dear brother?”
“Nothing to explain,” I grunted.
“Bullshit,” West said.
Harley sat back and held her chopsticks out. “You don’t get like this unless there’s a girl.”
“I’m not like anything. We’re not dating.”
“So, just fucking?”
It was my turn to nearly choke. “You’re too young for that word.”
Harley rolled her eyes. “I’m almost twenty. I’ve had sex. Jesus.”
“Don’t need to know that,” West said, firmly in agreement with me.
“I know you’re your own woman and all that,” I told her, “but if I ever met the guy, I’d definitely beat the shit out of him.”
“Seconded,” West said.
“Y’all are gross. Your misogyny is showing,” she said, brushing at my suit coat. “Now, rein in the patriarchy for one goddamn minute and tell me how this happened with Eve.”
I let my chopsticks clatter. “I already said, we’re not dating.”
“Right, but we’ve established that neither of us believes you.”
West nodded. “Basically. Look, we know that you subscribe to the hot-and-crazy model of a perfect girlfriend. Eve acts like she fits that mold, but she actually seems really down-to-earth and chill.”
“Wait,” Harley said, holding her hand up. “Why exactly does she seem that way?”
“Yeah, West, why does she seem that way?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“I…I,” he stammered, as if realizing he’d put his foot in it. “Look, she has a rep, all right?”
“Explain,” Harley insisted.
“She was seeing Santi from the band for a little while,” West said with a sigh. “He mentioned she’d dated a dude that could have been her dad. You remember Chase Sinclair?”
Harley swallowed hard. “Uh-huh. We met at the wedding.”
I arched an eyebrow at her, and she purposely didn’t look at me. What exactly had happened that night?
“She dated his dad, and then rebounded with Santi. He just…said she was wild.” West cleared his throat and looked down. “In bed.”
“Wow,” Harley said. “Men are disgusting. He had no right telling you that. And then you bring it up in conversation when Whitt is interested in this girl.”
West held his hands up. “Hold the feminism. I’m just repeating what was said.”
“News flash: she’s allowed to sleep with whoever she wants,” Harley argued vehemently, as if it was a personal offense. “Just because she hooked up with these men doesn’t mean anything. God, when did y’all start slut-shaming?”
“I didn’t say anything,” I reminded her.
“Right!” Harley said, pointing at West. “You need to get your act together. LA is ruining you.”
West stammered out an apology, but I couldn’t stop smiling. Leave it to my sister to defend Eve to her last breath.
I’d heard the same rumors that West had stated. Eve had bad reputation written on her forehead. Maneater. Homewrecker. Starfucker. All that bullshit that centered around a woman for seeing multiple men. If I’d done the same, no one would have even blinked. Hell, I’d guess rockstars slept with more people than that in a weekend. I knew about her reputation and didn’t give a fuck. She was just Eve with me.