Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 39740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 199(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 199(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
I want to tell her so badly that she’s not even worthy to call my girl’s name or walk in her shadow, but I have to bite craters in my tongue to keep myself from giving my own shit away too soon.
And this is the woman my own parents want to saddle me with. At least now I know why they’re so lax when it comes to this stuff, and it’s not just that they’re awful parents; they’re just awful people, period.
My phone rang, and I was about to mute it until I saw that my baby was calling. That’s her name in my phone. And I’ve even grown so bold as to have one of our sunsets from the weekend’s trip as my screen saver.
Not that anyone can get into my phone, but you never know. Now that we were coming down to the nitty gritty, I found myself being extra cautious. “Hey, sweetheart, what’s up?”
“I think I may have made more work for you.”
“How so?” See, I was already smiling, and I didn’t even know what the little minx had done.
“Well, let’s just say I just left my Dad’s house. I went to show off my ring and maybe start another world war.”
“So that’s why Lacey called me screaming. Thanks a lot.”
“Not to worry, I have just the ring for her.”
“You do, huh!”
“Uh-huh, but she’s going to be the one to choose it, so say nothing. You two haven’t discussed rings yet, have you?”
“She brought it up, yes, but I told her I’d get to it this weekend after she looks for something she wants. You did tell me to do that, didn’t you?”
“I did, yes. I’m just making sure you followed instructions.”
“I wouldn’t dare not. You scare me when you get like this.”
“I bet not. Of the two of us, I think I’m the lesser evil.”
“We’ll see.”
We fooled around for five minutes before I had to get back to what I was doing. I was here well after closing because once I get started on something, I can’t let it go.
I knew she was going to cause trouble, but I didn’t know exactly what she was up to. She’s a lot more in your face than I am. I prefer doing things behind the scenes and watching the fallout. I get a lot more satisfaction that way than, say, hitting someone. That gratification only lasts but for so long.
But if I systematically break you down from every angle, that’s hard to come back from. Since we were already at the wedding planning stage, there was really no time to waste. A year might seem like a lot of time, but it’s not.
At least when Lacey mentioned planning the wedding in two years, and I told her I didn’t want to wait that long, she took that to mean that I was in a rush to marry her. Anything that helps with my agenda is welcome. It also helps that she’s so full of herself she can’t see the truth staring her in the face.
It's been more than five years since I’ve been alone in a room with her, that long since I’ve taken her out anywhere with just us. The few times I was strong-armed into doing something with her, I always turned it into a family affair in deference to Lily’s feelings, though she always claimed she understood that it was all part of the act.
I always do my utmost to treat her the way I’d want to be treated if the tables were turned, which isn’t always easy, but it is always the choice I make, damn the consequences. She hides it well but I know she’s scarred by what had been done to her.
I know, too, that she can’t help but be part of the competition her sister has going on with her. I can’t let her lose even a little bit of face, so when she goes rogue and does shit like this on her own, I have to back her play at all costs.
I knew when she showed off her ring that Lacey was going to be up my ass, but since I have no intentions of buying her shit, that was going to be a problem. Lily came up with the idea of telling her I wanted to get it made to her specifications, so I don’t know what’s supposed to happen now or where she planned to get this ring that she says she’s going to get Lacey, but I trust her.
She knows the plan from point A to point B, and we never go off script unless each one knows what’s going on. At least she knows most of it. Some things I have kept from her because I don’t want her to get any splashback if things go south.