Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Marek nods at me, his eyes slightly glazed, but I can tell he’s pleased with this plan. “Yeah…okay. That’s sounds good. I’ll text you the flight details.”
“Perfect,” I say brightly, then lead him to the door. I can feel something heavy vibrating in the air around Reed as I pass him, but I don’t worry about it. I sense there’s something deep within Marek that needs to do something about this girl Gracen. I don’t know if it’s to stop a wedding or to let go and get closure, but I know he’s going to have to go there for that to happen. And he totally needs Reed to keep him out of trouble.
After I close the door behind Marek I turn to find Reed looking at me inscrutably. “Not sure whether to kiss you or spank you,” he finally says.
“Kiss,” I say demurely as I grab my purse off the foyer table. “But also feed me. Don’t we have dinner reservations to get to?”
“You know you just opened up an entire can of worms for that boy,” Reed says disapprovingly.
“Yup,” I acknowledge. “But he needs to do this. I’m confident about that.”
Reed gives a sigh that sounds like agreement and mutters, “Yeah…I know. Just don’t know why I have to be the one to baby-sit him.”
“Because you’re wonderful,” Josie says with playful bump of her shoulder to mine, and I guess that’s an acceptable reason.
Chapter 23
Reed
“Just wait a minute,” I say to Marek as he slams the rental car door shut. I’d hopped out of the passenger side as soon as he put the car in park.
He turns to face me over the roof of the car, the steeple of St. Luke’s Catholic Church rising high behind him. I take a deep breath and let it out, “Just…before you go in there, I got to know. Are you going to try to make something with her?”
I’m referencing Gracen, who right now is just moments away from getting married and without any idea that Marek is getting ready to cause havoc in her life. While I think Josie definitely had some merit last night in pushing Marek to come here to New York, I’m not looking forward to dealing with the fallout. I don’t think Marek is going to walk away from this in one piece, no matter what happens in there.
His eyebrows rise as if he’d never even considered my question. He shakes his head. “No, I’m not going to make something with her. I broke it off and left that far behind.”
“You just flew five hundred miles to stop a wedding. You did not leave it that far behind.”
Marek puts his forearms on the roof of the car. “Look…I left her behind and don’t regret it, but it doesn’t mean I don’t still care for her to some extent. I don’t want her to marry this asshole. Trust me, Reed, he is very bad news and she shouldn’t settle for that.”
“Not buying it,” I tell him as I also put my forearms on the roof. I lock my eyes with his. “You don’t stop a wedding like this unless there’s something more there. I just want you to be prepared for the fallout this is going to cause, and, dude, if you’re in denial about having something with her, you better reason that shit out in your head before you go in there.”
Marek stubbornly shakes his head again. “I don’t want a relationship. It’s too hard, particularly with our hectic schedule and being away from home so much. It’s too much pressure, and I don’t want it. I only want to focus on my career. Besides, you know we’re hardly the types of guys who are relationship material. Look how many divorces happen on our team, or cheating while on the road. Why even bother with that shit? My theory is you keep it casual because we have enough on our plate concentrating on our game, and fuck if I don’t want another Stanley Cup this year. I can’t be worrying about a woman and my game at the same time.”
On the surface of his statements, it would be easy to roll my eyes at him for being so shortsighted, but sadly, there’s something in what he just said that speaks to me. I’ve been thinking a lot these past two days about my talk with Aiden, and all the ways in which I’m failing Josie. I mean, how many other ways are there that I don’t even know about yet?
All of this presses down upon me. I can actually feel the weight of my worry, wondering if I’m going to do her right in the long run. Will this worry intensify or work itself out? Do I have what it takes to put my efforts into my career and into making something with Josie, for whom I care about very much?