Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 86068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
My father never moves from the window. “Yup.” He nods. “Definitely know him.”
“Matthew,” my mother chides, “can you please help?” He turns, coming toward us. “You go upstairs and entertain your guests.”
I laugh at her. “You’re my guest,” I remind her as I walk to the door and slide it open. I take a step outside and up the stairs, just in time to see Xavier’s boat pull out.
CHAPTER 10
XAVIER
I close the sliding door behind me. “What did I tell you about talking to strangers?” I ask Beatrice, who just looks at me. I look back out the big window, seeing the man on the dock again. “Is that who I think it is?” My head is spinning right now. When I opened the gate to walk in, I was hoping I wouldn’t see Vivienne. What I wasn’t expecting was to turn onto our dock row and see her there with a man. I slowed down my pace, and if it wasn’t for Beatrice, I might have turned around and hightailed it out of there.
I was hoping to just walk by and nod politely before walking on my boat. But what happened? “You betrayed me.” I look at Beatrice. “Not only did you talk to strangers, you went on her boat.” Beatrice looks at me. “Not cool.” She huffs and turns around, walking to her dog bowl, seeing it empty. She looks back at me. “That’s what you get for not listening to me,” I mutter, walking over to her dog bowl and picking up even the water bowl.
“I swear that is Matthew Grant. Even the guy who came outside after him looked so familiar,” I recount, as I turn the sink water to cold. “It has to be Cooper Grant,” I say to her. “He had a baseball cap on, so I couldn’t really see his face, but it had to be. Which would make sense since Matthew Grant was there.” She just sits there waiting for me to fill her bowl so she can eat and drink. “Matthew Grant.” I shake my head. “You know, he was GM for the other New York team.” Beatrice yawns as I tell my story. “He was huge.” I look down. “He is huge.”
I look up for a second, straight out the window in front of me to see a guy walking up to the top of the boat with a woman following him. She sits in the captain’s chair as the guy looks down at her, smiling before kissing her. Someone says something because the guy looks over at the stairs. “Wait a fucking second.” I squint to look at the guys. I gasp when I see the guy’s face. “That’s Brad Wilson,” I say. Then a guy comes up the steps saying something to him, and they both laugh. He’s followed by a girl who walks forward to the front of the boat. “Am I really spying on my neighbor?” I mumble and then see the guy from before coming up the steps, taking off his hat and I now know that it’s Cooper Grant. “Why the fuck does she have the fucking Dallas roster on her boat?”
I look over at Beatrice as my heart starts to beat a touch faster. “Okay, it’s time to ship out,” I announce. “You’ll eat in a bit.” Walking outside, I hope none of them look over at me. It is one thing for Matthew Grant not to really know who I was, but Wilson will know me for sure. We’ve gone toe-to-toe a couple of times. I walk to the back of the boat, undoing the electricity and water. I roll up both cords, walk into the cockpit, sliding open the back window so I can look out when I take off. I start the boat, turning before jumping back off and untying my lines. I rush back to the boat hoping that I don’t attract attention. I get into the captain’s seat and make sure everything is okay. I look at Beatrice. “Place,” I command her and she walks over to her bed and sits down. “Here we go.” I pull out of my slip before I start the thruster to turn. I look at the back seeing that all eyes are on me. It’s a good thing I’m inside and they can’t really see me. I make my way out of the marina, going slow until I reach the end and can open it up a bit. I sit down, looking straight out at the open water. Every single time is like the first time. Every single time the minute I look out into the horizon of nothing, I feel this calmness over me. “What do you think?” I look over at Beatrice, who sits looking out the back of the boat. “Want to anchor and spend the day on the water?”