Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 146107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 731(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 487(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 731(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 487(@300wpm)
“Right when your security comes on duty.” Snidely, Desmond debated wasting the next hour beating Rhone to within an inch of his life or getting his things packed so he could be waiting at the airport when his plane touched down. Getting to Haley was more imperative.
“Meet me downstairs. I’m going to get my suitcase. You can drive me to the airport.”
Managing to stand without hunching over, Rhone gave him a cocky salute. “I’ll have one of my st—”
Desmond punched him again.
“When I get downstairs, you better be waiting.”
Exiting Rhone’s room before he wasted more time, he went to his room and shoved the clothes he had worn the day before and dropped it into the suitcase he had thrown on the bed. Before zipping it closed, he went to the other room to make sure Haley hadn’t left anything.
How had she managed to sneak out without his knowledge? Fucking hell, why had she taken off like that? Was she regretting sleeping with him last night?
Unable to answer for her, he went down to the first floor to find himself irritated that Rhone wasn’t there already, waiting for him.
A honk from outside had him glancing over to see Rhone sitting behind the steering wheel of his truck. Not mollified in the least, he went outside to get in the vehicle.
“Did Haley say why she wanted to leave?” he asked once they were on the way to the airport.
“No, she came knocking on my door at three a.m. I was being a gentleman by not asking. I tried to get her to stay, but she asked me, as a friend, to help her leave. She’s a friend; there was no way I couldn’t help her.”
Desmond bit back what he wanted to say, turning his head to study Rhone. “Last night, Haley unlocked a memory I had completely forgotten about. When Nadia and Dante held their engagement party, you were there.”
“Yeah, so? I’ve become friends with both of them.”
“During the party, Nadia asked me to dance with Haley. Then I remembered something else after Haley brought it up. When I went to ask her to dance, I couldn’t find her, and I asked you if had seen her. You told me she had left. Then another flashback happened. I saw you dancing with a woman wearing a dark blue dress most of the night. It was Haley.”
“I thought it was funny you didn’t recognize her when she was right there.” Rhone shrugged.
“I don’t find it funny.”
“It’s not funny now, but it was then.” Rhone shrugged again, stopping the truck next to the metal building at the airstrip.
“I’ve never been a person to buy bullshit. Why didn’t you want me to dance with her?”
“Haley looked hot as fuck that night. You’ve been manipulating her since she went to work for you. I wasn’t about to let you get any more of your tentacles into her than you already had. When you asked me to become friends with Haley and pick up the slack they needed in funding for Moonbeam, that was just your bullshit, too,” he snorted out. “You reimbursed me for every donation I made out of your own pocket. And don’t fucking tell me it was because you preferred to remain anonymous. You love having your picture in the papers for good causes. When they ran out of money, I asked why Nadia didn’t ask you. She said it was the condition you made when you gave them the mall. Once you do something, you never go back on your word; that’s how you managed to get all those fuckwads in AWR to hand over Sherguevil to you. Except, you wanted to help Haley more, didn’t you? You just couldn’t bring yourself to make an exception for her.
“You really want to know why I wouldn’t let you dance with her and helped her leave last night? She deserved to know the real you before she found herself in love with you. She isn’t like those brainless money-hungry arm candies you usually fuck then dump to the wayside.”
Desmond stared dismally out the windshield, unable to defend himself.
“Haley was standing behind you last night when we were talking. She heard everything.”
He jerked his eyes back to Rhone. “She heard it all?”
“Every word,” he confirmed.
“You let me talk—”
The revelation blew his fucking mind. She had slept with him afterward.
“She didn’t let on, not once, that she had.”
“To tell you the truth, I expected her to come knocking on my door before three.”
“Ready to pick up the pieces, I bet,” Desmond snarled.
“I would have if I needed to. The thing about Haley I’ve discovered is that where Moonbeam, Nadia, or anyone she loves is concerned, Haley will go to the end of the earth for them, while she wouldn’t ask for a simple glass of water if she were on fire for herself.”