Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry your dad hit you, but you know he didn’t mean it. He loves you. He’s just hurting because of your mom.”
“I don’t want to talk, Harley.”
“Okay. We can just sit here and look at the sky.”
“I’d like that,” he replied, leaning into her embrace.
“Trust me, I’m as shocked as you are,” Skyler announced, making me jump and bump my head on the window sill.
“Ow!” I grabbed my head, turning around to face her.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Good thing I already have some ice.” I shut the window to give them and us some privacy. “Do you have a sixth sense or something?”
She lightly chuckled, “Hardly. Noah had planned a surprise anniversary party for me, and Jackson wasn’t feeling well, so he took an Uber home early.”
“With Harley? Did she? Was she—”
“No. Aiden called me about an hour ago. Harley overheard me telling Noah we needed to go, then all hell broke loose, and he hit Jackson. She came with us.”
“I’m so sorry you had to leave your party.”
“It’s alright, Aiden is family. Noah’s with him now.”
“Where are they?”
“In the garage.”
I nodded. “I should go.”
“Are you coming back?”
“I don’t… I mean… I don’t know.”
“Please come back. We all need you.”
“Journey called me Ma, Skyler.”
She sighed, taken back. “Oh man. Is that what set Aiden off?”
“Did you know he was coming home?”
She shook her head. “No. Not at all. Noah said he was thinking about stopping in at the party, knowing how much it would mean to us. Had I known he was coming home, I would have told you, Camila. What happened? How did this all start?”
Ashamed, I admitted, “He caught me watching their wedding video.”
Her eyes widened.
“Yeah. But I didn’t mean to. It was in the Beauty and the Beast case, and once I realized what it actually was… I couldn’t stop myself from watching it. I knew it was wrong, I still know it was wrong.”
“Everyone makes mistakes. I’m sure Aiden feels like shit for going off on you.”
“I think it’s best I leave.”
“Okay, let me drive you home at least, alright?”
“You don’t have to do that. I can catch the bus.”
“Camila, it’s past eleven. It’s too danger—”
I blurted out without thinking, “You should see where I live if you think the bus is too dangerous.”
“What?” She frowned.
“I’m probably going to stop in at my friend Danté’s club. I feel like I need a really tall drink,” I laughed, trying to play it off and change the subject.
“I’ll go with you. I can watch you drink.” She grabbed her swollen belly. “And be your designated driver.”
“Then you’d have to drive back, and I wouldn’t feel right about that. Someone needs to be here for Journey.”
She frowned again, knowing I was right. “How far do you live—” She stopped herself. “What’s the name of your friend’s club? So at least if something happens to you, I know what to tell the search party. I’m not Liam Neeson, I won’t find you,” she laughed, wanting to lighten up the heavy mood.
“You’re just as bad as my mom.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
“The name of the club is Havana.”
After we reached the front door, she added, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“I don’t have a phone. It’s broken.”
“How did you break your phone?”
I shrugged, not wanting to tell her Aiden broke it.
“How about you take the SUV?”
“Skyler, I’m not taking their car.”
“But what if I never see you again? Seriously, I have a really bad feeling. Just take the car.”
“I’ll call you when I get back to my apartment from the landline, okay?”
She reluctantly nodded, wrote her number down on a piece of paper, and handed it to me.
I smiled. “Thank you for everything.”
“Why do I feel like you’re saying goodbye?”
I simply hugged her and left.
Feeling like I was…
Saying goodbye.
Chapter 3
<>Camila<>
Music bumping.
Lights flashing.
Illuminating the room filled to the brim with people.
I walked into Danté’s club just after one o’clock in the morning needing to escape, to forget, to get away from it all. My mind couldn’t process what had just happened, how my world was turned upside down in a matter of a few hours. It was a tsunami of emotions, of questions with not enough answers.
Of where we went from here…
I never expected what had occurred tonight. From watching their wedding video, to meeting Dr. Pierce, to the epic explosion that followed. Especially Jackson walking in on us fighting and going to bat for me as if we’d been best friends this whole time, and not archenemies. I didn’t know what to think, what to feel, what to expect from this point forward.
My thoughts were spinning, and all I wanted was to turn them off as I tore through the crowd of people looking for Danté. Knowing he would provide exactly that.
I knocked on his office door before opening it. “Danté!”
“Oh, hey, Camila,” the general manager Felix announced, catching me off guard. He took one look at me and added, “You alright?”