Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 38335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 153(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 153(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Traitors, they are all traitors.
Except for Penny, but she makes no move to save me, so she is also going on my shit list.
“You don’t mind, do you, Mike?” Ellie presses, her voice dripping with honeyed sweetness.
He casts a glance around the table, picking up on the underlying tension, but thankfully chooses not to draw attention to it. “No. I don’t mind.”
Shit!
“Great, thanks.” Ellie beams, grateful for this turn of events.
Feeling like I have no other choice, I grab my jacket and rise from my chair.
Ellie stands at the same time, pulling me into a hug. “Please don’t hate me,” she whispers. “I suspect you’re about to get that apology you deserve. If not, let me know and I will kick his ass.”
Smiling, I return her hug, finding it hard to stay mad at her.
After the embrace, I turn to Mike but avoid his gaze. “I need to pay my tab before leaving.”
“It’s already been taken care of,” he informs me. “The entire table has.”
“Well, that was nice of you, Mike,” Harlow praises, making things even more awkward. “Wasn’t that nice of him, Hollis?”
My eyes narrow on her. She is definitely going at the top of the shit list.
Mike grunts, finally calling them out. “You girls are about as subtle as a fucking train wreck, you know that?”
The three of them laugh, having no shame in it.
“And feel free to thank Linc too,” he adds, directing a smirk at Harlow. “He helped cover it and I’m sure he would appreciate a hug from you.”
Annoyance tightens Harlow’s expression, smothering any remaining smugness.
Amused, I flash my new friends a parting smile and a finger wave before heading out the door. However, my victory is short-lived when I find myself alone with the bane of my existence: Officer Grump.
Mike
It turns out I’m the only one who didn’t know Ellie was bringing a new friend tonight. I had been rocked to my fucking core when she walked in with the one woman who has invaded my every thought since yesterday morning.
It’s not often I get to meet up with my friends like this, but since Poppy is gone for the night and I’m not on call, I decided to go for a drink to catch up. I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to talk to Ellie about Poppy coming to hang out with her at the flower shop after school, but then she walked in with Hollis and flipped the entire fucking script. That’s when a new plan was formed, one I had already been considering since last night.
I made the decision while playing pool and felt confident in it. However, now that I have her in my truck, her beauty invading every inch of my space, I’m starting to rethink that decision.
“Don’t you need my address?” Hollis asks, breaking the awkward silence as I turn off Main Street.
“No. I know where you’re staying.”
A bitter sound escapes her. “Of course you do,” she mutters. “I’m sure you ran a full background check on me yesterday.”
You bet your sweet ass I did. Though, not for the reasons she thinks. I found out all sorts of details about the Californian beauty.
I learned that she’s an only child and has lived in California all her life. That her parents are financial moguls who owned several shopping centers in the Beverly Hills area before selling them off for their retirement. I also know she graduated from Stanford University with a major in Political Science and worked for a prestigious ad exec company up until a few weeks ago.
Yeah, I know a lot. More than I should, and yet, I find myself desperate for more. I want to know it all. That’s the problem.
Instead of admitting that to her, I shift the conversation, making an assumption of my own. “And I’m going to assume, you told my friends about your little fender bender yesterday morning.” By the way they were acting, I imagine she told them a hell of a lot more than that.
She shrugs, her gaze remaining out the window. “It’s not like I had much of a choice since you made it more than obvious that we knew each other.”
My brow cocks at the statement. “I made it obvious?”
“Yep,” she retorts, snapping the word.
“How so?”
She rotates in her seat, directing all that sass my way. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you walked away during our introduction instead of faking a ‘hi, nice to meet you, Hollis,’” she mocks. “Or maybe it’s from all those little glares you love to send my way. Which Harlow thought was us eye fucking each other, by the way.”
My blood ignites to hear foul language escape such innocent lips.
“Don’t worry though,” she adds, holding up a hand. “I set her straight and explained that those were in fact death stares because her friend has his panties in a twist over a little incident that occurred yesterday morning and he has decided to hate me for it for the rest of his life.”