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)
The words were warbled, as if she didn’t quite believe them herself.
I took the seat across from her. “Hey, look at me.”
“Is that how you see me?” she asked, jutting out her leg toward me. “I got the shoes, right?”
Anger pulsed through me. This wasn’t Eve. This wasn’t the strong woman I’d spent the last months with. This was the shell of a person Arnold Sinclair had left behind after he obliterated her life.
“You know what I see when I look at Arnold?” I asked, changing the subject from her spiral.
Her gaze finally slid to mine. “What?”
“My dad.”
“What do you mean?”
“Arnold Sinclair, having his cake and eating it, too, and then being pissed off when he gets his ass handed to him for it. I didn’t think I could hate my dad any more for what he had done to my family, but I never considered what exactly it must have been like for my mom.”
Eve shuddered. “Oh.”
“He treated you like you were precious, and then the second you had thoughts and opinions of your own, the second it affected his life, he thought he could treat you like scum. That you would just let him.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know. It was beautiful to watch. I wish my mom had half of your audacity.”
She ran a hand back through her long hair. “It’s hard to walk away. It was hard for me, and I didn’t expect to get married and have kids. Your mom was probably just doing the best that she could. She loved him. She loved her kids. Don’t blame her.”
“That’s just it. I blame him. I’ve always blamed him. None of this is her fault. None of this is your fault.”
Eve straightened. As if they clicked in her brain. She came to her feet and paced toward the pool and back. Her hands were clenched into fists and her back ramrod straight.
“Guys like him, they always come out on top. Why does the world benefit them?”
“The world was built for them. Unfortunately, it’s working as planned.”
She gnashed her teeth together. “I’m so tired of all this hypocritical bullshit. Women are constantly ridiculed for our bodies and sex lives and clothing. If we have sex, then we’re a slut, but if men have sex, then they’re kings. Women shouldn’t show too much skin or else we’re sluts. If we don’t show any skin, then we’re prudes. And no matter what, our actions are used against us to prove that we were just asking for it.
“We can’t go out alone. We can’t drink. We can’t party. We can’t just live our lives without it being used against us. Women have to work twice as hard for half the pay. We have children, run a household, work, and still measure up short. We can’t have hobbies or else we’re basic. We can’t like ‘male’ hobbies without an interrogation. Oh, I’m sorry, Chad, I don’t want to name the entire offensive line of the Dallas Cowboys. Can you name a single Taylor Swift song that isn’t played on the radio?”
She huffed angrily, dropping her hands to her sides. “I want to be free from all of this. I want to be able to go out for a nice evening with my boyfriend without having to endure toxic male behavior. Is that too much to ask?”
“No,” I said softly.
“No,” she agreed.
She turned back to me. The fire was back in her eyes. “He doesn’t get to ruin my evening.”
“It’s okay to be upset.”
“I’m upset that he upset me,” she said. “He doesn’t get to have that power over me. Not ever again. He’s the one who fucked up. Not me.”
“I meant what I said to him about making an enemy of the Wrights. So, hopefully, he’s suffering after tonight.”
“Guys like him never do.” She shook her head. “You know what? I don’t want the night to end like this. When we were in Midland, you didn’t let my dad ruin my day. I’m not letting Arnold ruin it either.”
There she was.
I smiled. “Do you want to go back inside?”
“No.”
“No?”
“I can’t go back into that room. Not yet. Not when I’m like this.”
“Okay. We can stay out here.”
She slid her body against mine. “I want you to fuck me in these heels.”
My body heated at those words. Oh, how I wanted to do that, but I didn’t want to disregard her feelings either. I couldn’t just throw her over my shoulder and forget everything else.
“Are you sure?”
“You have a hotel room,” she said, reaching into my pocket and producing the key. “Take me upstairs and make me forget.”
I snatched the key card out of her hand. “I have a better idea.”
Her eyes widened in confusion, but I took her hand and snuck out through the pool garden gate. The benefit of this hotel was that it was next door to Wright Construction. When we had visitors at headquarters, we put them up at the place so that they could walk right over. Like we were currently.