Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“She didn’t,” Ally said, obviously surprised.
“She did. She was marrying a friend of hers. He was rich and came from a powerful family. My brother decided she’d found a better bet, and he didn’t see her again for fifteen years.”
Ally shook her head. “What did the other guy do? Who did he threaten to get her to marry him? Why the hell didn’t Wade show up at the wedding and stop it?”
“Because he was young and had his pride hurt,” he admitted. “It’s so much worse. What Wade didn’t know was that Genny’s first husband had bought the mortgage to our ranch. I was a kid at the time, so I didn’t know this until long after Wade did. My mother and oldest brother showed up and begged Genny to save the ranch, and she loved my brother so much she put up with an abusive asshole for as long as she could. She also kept the secret of why she did it. My brother was awful to her. Hell, I was awful to her because I bought the lie that she dumped my brother for cash. Allyson, I will not leave you. I will not put pride or some fucking ranch in front of you. But, baby, you have to meet me halfway. You have your ranch. It’s your career. You’re willing to sacrifice everything for it. Does that include me?”
The tears were pouring down her cheeks now. “That’s not fair.”
“Not a lot about your life is fair. I’ll step back if you need me to, but I won’t stay away forever. You need me. You need me to balance out your life. You need me because I will put you first, because you will always be my priority. I love you, Allyson.”
She stood up and shook her head. “I don’t want to feel like this. I was untouchable before I fucking met you.”
“No, you weren’t,” he argued. “You just didn’t have anyone to share the burden with. You’re used to people using you, and you have to wonder if I’m going to do the same. I won’t, but you have to trust that I won’t, and that’s hard for you.”
“God, West, please fight with me.”
He moved in, brushing back her hair. “No. There’s no fight between us. It’s all inside you, and I’ll be here to help you, but you have to make the choice. Something that asshole said to you made you think you have to choose between me and your career. That’s bullshit, but it’s something you have to deal with. Do you want me to get a whiteboard out? I’m pretty sure Rand has one around here. We could make a pros and cons list.”
Her jaw had actually dropped. “What is wrong with you?”
And then she smiled and shook her head and dropped back down to the couch, her head in her hands.
“The only thing that’s wrong with me is my girlfriend is hurting and I feel helpless.”
“I told you you’re just a walking vibrator to me and you say you love me. Who does that?” she asked.
“A man who loves you, Ally. What would you say if I told you I want to be an actor and I’ve been using you all along to get access to your contacts?”
She looked up, and even with watery eyes she could roll them. “I would say that’s ridiculous.”
The tension in the room seemed to ratchet down, and he knew he’d navigated his way through the worst of the storm. “You are doing a fabulous job, and I think that Jay is a massive ass who thought he would have more control over you. You are not missing focus.”
She sniffled and then reached for his hand. “He doesn’t like how I’m handling this one scene. He says I’m not intense enough, but I don’t want the audience to think Delia is some raving madwoman.”
He sat down beside her, and she immediately crawled onto his lap, arms winding around him. “So you have a difference of opinion, and he tried to manipulate you into thinking it’s not about your instincts as an actress. It’s about your boyfriend.”
She gasped. “He negged me.”
“Baby, I don’t know what that means.” One day he would catch up on trendy lingo.
“It’s like when a guy gives a girl a compliment but it’s really cutting her down so he has more power in the relationship,” she explained. “Like you would be so pretty if you lost a little weight.”
“Someone said that to you?”
“Hello, have you met the press? But yes, some guys swear by it. I do not date those guys. I apparently only date ones who magically know how to deal with me. West, I was going to cut you out of my life. You were right. The whole way over, I was thinking about the fact that you would get sick of dealing with my damage someday, and at least if I took that pain now, I would still have a career.”