Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
But we had an agreement, and I’m supposed to be free to live my life as I see fit until the end of this year.
And unfortunately for all of us, I had the shit luck of meeting Brynn Blakely on the last day of October.
Sloane clears her throat, then she says, “I’ve second guessed if it was even a good idea to begin with, honestly. My logic was sound; I’ve watched infidelity rip apart marriage after marriage in my circle and all I wanted was to not have to go through that. There’s no divorce in a marriage like ours, so I wanted a husband I would be able to trust and count on, and it’s supposed to be you. I picked you. And I want it to be you,” she says softly, with vulnerability I can tell makes her uncomfortable. “I still want it to be you. But maybe we should have ended this period of being unattached earlier. I’ve watched other girls with their boyfriends making memories in college, and I can’t help thinking maybe that should have been us. I know we’ll have spring semester, and we’ll technically be engaged, but we’ll only really be starting our relationship then. Maybe waiting was a mistake. Maybe we should have started nurturing our own bond last year, that way by now we would be established and enjoying each other…” She trails off, shaking her head. “I guess it doesn’t matter now,” she says. “What’s done is done, and all we can do is move forward. But one thing we absolutely should not be doing is nurturing attachments to other people. And one thing I am absolutely sure of is that you have to end things with Brynn now, before you get in any deeper.”
The problem is, the one thing I am absolutely sure of is that there’s no fucking way I’m going to do that, and I don’t know how to say it.
Not because I’m worried about her feelings. I’ve made it pretty fucking clear I’m not, and that’s why she’s standing in my kitchen, but this isn’t about some sorority girl’s feelings.
And Sloane Whitley is not just some sorority girl.
She’s the daughter of Roger Whitley, a prominent Blue Blood I made a deal with to marry his daughter and inherit his fucking kingdom since he no longer had a son to carry on his legacy.
Breaking it off with Sloane isn’t just fucking over a girl who has already started planning our wedding and probably drafting trendy but classic names for our future children.
It’s breaking my word to another Blue Blood.
It’s a fireable offense, and there’s only one way to get fired from this gig.
There’s no walking away from a blood oath, and when I made this one, I thought I was getting an incredible deal.
And the truth is, I was.
But I’d rather have Brynn than marry Sloane Whitley, even with all the benefits that come with her.
It’s hard to imagine Sloane still wanting to marry me once I tell her that, but the truth is, she may not have a choice at this point. She may have picked me out of the available Blue Bloods, but once the deal was struck, it was a done deal for both of us. Even if she wanted out of it now, I doubt her father would allow it.
He’s made too much of an investment in me at this point, and his daughter’s enduring happiness is pretty far down his priority list.
We’re both stuck in this deal, whether I decide to make us miserable about it or not.
I know that, logically, but I still find myself wanting to further fuck myself by telling Sloane just how little interest I have in being with her.
But before I can utter a single syllable, I notice her gaze drift to my bedroom door.
And my heart sinks as I turn because I already know what I’m going to see.
I feel a surge of pointless hope that she’ll have just woken up. She’ll be sleepy and confused, but she won’t have heard a word we just said.
But then I see her face.
And I can practically hear her heart breaking.
And I know… she fucking heard everything.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Brynn
I can’t breathe again.
I’m so tired of not being able to breathe.
But it’s different this time. Worse. I’m frozen. I can’t even swallow. It’s like when I got kidnapped and they jabbed me with that needle that made my body stop functioning, but this time the jab was… verbal. Unimaginable.
It can’t be real.
Maybe this is a nightmare.
I’m still asleep, and Killian is in bed next to me. I’ll wake up, and he’ll be there, and this…
Maybe none of this is real.
It feels real, though.
I make a slight wheezing noise as I draw in and release a few shaky breaths.
“Brynn,” he says softly, and my composure breaks like a fractured dam, emotion welling up and spilling over, tearing apart the obstruction that once stood in the way.