Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
I’m practically jogging as I make my way down the hall and out the front door into the parking lot, that’s how anxious and excited I am. I can’t believe all this is happening. I don’t even know how I’m going to break it to my parents either. But I don’t even bother thinking about it. I just reach into my pocket, grab my phone, and scroll to my recent contacts list for whichever one of them appears first.
It happens to be my mom, so I go to press her name with my thumb, but just as I’m about to, that’s when I hear a voice from behind me.
“Hello, Lucy.”
I nearly jump out of my clothes from fright, yelp so loud I bet they hear me in California, and manage to drop my phone right out of my hands. Thankfully I’m standing by the shrubs, and it lands in the mulch instead of on the concrete, which would have meant yet another cracked screen to add to my collection.
I spin around and see Jason leaning against the wall of the hospital, looking like he just got done signing the papers to buy the place.
“Christ, you scared the shit out of me,” I say with a sigh. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I came to see you,” he replies, as though the answer couldn’t be more obvious.
“And you knew I’d be here?” I ask. “What, are you stalking me or something? Tracking my phone like some Bond villain?”
He laughs. He actually laughs and starts to saunter toward me. “Don’t be silly.” He shakes his head. “I spoke to your parents and they told me you were here.”
“Oh. Oh, okay, that actually makes sense...”
He’s right up on me now. Close enough that I can smell him. I try to ignore how handsome he is, but that’s impossible. He smirks and leans in like he’s going to kiss me. My whole body freezes despite the fact that I want to move out of the way and deny him.
But he just leans right past me and grabs my phone out of the mulch and hands it to me.
“I had to turn my phone off until this media circus cools down. I had so much to deal with at work, and when I finally was able to get home, you weren’t there, so I went to your parents’ house to find you.”
“You couldn’t have just called me from one of their phones?”
“And skip making a dramatic entrance?” He grins, chipping away at the barrier I’ve been building up inside of me since I saw his face on the news. “Come on, you know me better than that.”
“Do I?” I ask. “Do I really, Jason? Because from what I saw on TV today, you’ve got me questioning that quite a bit.”
“Oh, come on, Lucy–”
“No, don’t give me that, Jason,” I snap, aiming an angry finger at his face. “Dumping chemicals? Ignoring regulations–?”
“Would you keep your voice down?” Jason hisses, snatching me by the arm and pulling me around the corner of the building. “I’ve been ducking reporters all afternoon. I don’t need the press showing up here, all right?”
“My grandpa is dying, Jason!” I can feel the anger rising back up inside me, mixing with confusion and feelings of love and attraction, spinning together like a terrible tornado of pain. “What if it was your company that caused his cancer?”
“Lucy.”
“What if it was your illegal dumping that put him in the situation he’s in now?”
“Lucy.”
“What if there are more people like him that are suffering because of you–?”
“Lucy!” Jason raises his voice and squeezes my arm, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to get my attention. “Look, I’m sorry about your grandfather, okay? You know I am. Who do you think is paying for his new treatment and transfer to Hallowed Heart? But it wasn’t me who dumped those chemicals.”
I snort and yank my arm away from his grasp. “What do you mean it wasn’t you? I saw it on the news. Rooke Industries–”
“Yes, it was my company, but it wasn’t me.”
I pause as he stares at me, as if waiting for me to understand his meaning. “What are you saying? Like you didn’t go out there in the woods with the barrels of chemicals and personally dump them yourself? Well, no shit, Jason–”
“No, Lucy. What I’m saying is that I don’t oversee every single aspect of my company on a day-to-day basis. I make big decisions. Move the company in the directions I want it to go, and I hire people to manage things for me. That’s the way it’s done at every big company, trust me.”
“Trust you? How can I trust you after all this? You didn’t even tell me–”
“Lucy, I didn’t even know until now.” Jason leans in and quickly takes my hand in his. “I found out just before the news broke. The person responsible has been fired and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. On top of that, Rooke Industries is going to be funding a cleanup of the entire area and looking into anyone who could have had any health issues due to the poisoned water.”