Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 124005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Once we’re done with the shoot, Sam insists on getting pictures with Roman.
I bend and kiss Wills’s temple. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah. Good. Having all my people here is nice. And my brothers showing up was a great surprise, even if Sam always steals the show.” She’s smiling.
“I forgot he played football.”
“Mostly he tried to knock people out.” Her nails dig into my arm. “Oh shit. They came.”
“Who came?”
“Who do you think?”
I scan the crowd and find Sean and Brooklyn on the edge of the party, looking a lot like they don’t fit.
As if the girls can sense the arrival of Wills’s nemesis, they appear, Shilps leading the pack. “Is everything okay?”
“She’s here,” Wills says.
Shilpa’s lip curls in what almost seems like a snarl. She rolls her shoulders back. “The fucking nerve.”
Hammer grabs Shilpa’s arm. “They’re coming this way.”
“We got you, girl,” Rix says.
I love these women.
Brooklyn looks like she’s about to shit her pants as she grips Sean’s hand and crosses over to us. “Hi-eee.” She waves a maniacal hand in the air.
“It’s so nice you could make it,” Wills says through a tight smile.
I skim the back of her hand, then cross my arms and step forward, leveling Brooklyn and Sean with a glare. “No.”
Brooklyn’s eyes dart around and Sean looks confused. “No, what?”
“You don’t get to be here. You don’t get to talk to Wills. You don’t get to celebrate with us. Not after all the shit you’ve pulled. All the shit you continue to pull. You are not welcome,” I snap.
Brooklyn scoffs as her face turns red. “I didn’t even want to come anyway.” She grabs Sean’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Sean puffs his chest out. “These are all our friends, too.”
“Not today, they aren’t. Today is about Wills, and our family and our friends. And that does not include you.”
“Everything okay over here?” Sam’s eyes narrow. “B and S. Well isn’t this one hell of an unpleasant surprise. Who invited you?”
“They were just leaving,” I tell Sam.
“Let me walk you two out.” Sam slings one massive arm over their shoulders and steers them back the way they came.
Shilpa turns to me. “I really wanted to tell her off, but that was wonderful.”
The Babe Brigade bursts into applause. Wills grabs the front of my shirt and pulls my mouth to hers. “I’m going to do filthy things to you later for being such a good boy...friend.”
“I’m so excited for that.”
Shilpa pries us apart. “Your parents are watching. Keep it PG for now.”
“Fair. Thank you.” Wills steps back and smooths her hands over her hips. “That was so gratifying.”
“Let’s celebrate with something fun to drink.” Shilpa winks at me, and she and the girls head to the makeshift bar.
Knocking Brooklyn and Sean down a peg is one of my top-ten favorite things ever. As is seeing Wills surrounded by our friends and family, laughing and smiling and being her authentic, amazing self. She needed to be reminded that she’s loved, that she has true, genuine friends who will always stand up for her. That we love her exactly as she is.
An hour later, she sidles up next to me. She drapes one of my arms over her shoulder, snaking hers around my waist and tucking her thumb into my belt loop. “Thank you for making this happen today.”
I kiss her temple. “I’m glad it makes you happy.”
“It does.” She sighs. “It’s just sad that it’s not really real.”
“Things are only as real or fake as you allow them to be.” I tuck a finger under her chin and tilt her head up. My chest aches with the knowledge that I want this, all of this, and she’s still just playing a part. “All these people here love you. We all adore you. Exactly as you are.” I hold her gaze. “Everything about this is real for me. But it’s okay if it takes time for you get where I am.”
She squeezes me in a side hug and turns to survey the crowd. I take a deep breath as my biggest fear looms in my subconscious. What if she never catches up? What if she never wants this, me, the way I want her?
CHAPTER 33
HEMI
“We have a slight problem.” Hammer appears in my office and nervously fingers the banana-print scrunchie around her wrist.
Shilpa sets down her coffee. “Slight?”
“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate this slight problem?” I ask. This morning has been a giant clusterfuck. I should not have slept over at Dallas’s last night. But he was so damn persuasive.
It didn’t help that I spent the two-and-a-half-hour drive home telling him in excruciating detail all the dirty things I planned to do to him when I got him alone. I was just as amped as he was when he invited me in so I could make good on all my threats. I can function on too-little sleep for one night, but a whole weekend is another story. And my entire body freaking aches. Dallas is exceptionally skilled between the sheets, and his stamina is unparalleled. I could really use a soak in the hot tub to ease my aching thighs and a five-hour nap.