Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 18480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)
“What?” Christy mutters.
“What?” I parrot.
“Ah, hold on.” She keeps clicking. When her eyes widen, my stomach drops. I know what the expression she’s wearing means, and it’s not good.
“What?” I raise my voice, becoming impatient.
“It’s just gossip. Nothing confirmed.” I jump up from my bed to go over to her. Christy presses her phone against her chest so I can’t see it.
“Show me!” I hissed. There is no going back now.
“There are a few pictures is all.”
“I thought you said there were only rumors.”
“Maybe you should call him. See what’s up. If anything new is going on.” She’s still holding out on showing me what she’s discovered. Which only means it’s a lot worse than I imagined.
“Christy!”
“The rumor is he is getting engaged to Tia.”
“No.” I shake my head. “No way.” Tia flirts with him and has a giant crush on him. I can’t blame her, but he never gives her attention. Not in front of me at least. “Show me the pictures.” Christy finally flips her phone over for me to see.
The first picture is them outside of a restaurant. Another shows them coming out of a coffee shop. The third isn’t them together but of Tia coming out of the Vanity building. It’s where Valen lives.
“I’m sorry,” Christy whispers.
“They’re not intimate in any of them.” Then again, I don’t see Valen doing PDA. But I also didn’t see him as the type to pull me into a room and have his way with me. “What makes you think they’re engaged?”
“Tiff is dating one of the Dassault brothers.” They’re known as the diamond boys because their family specializes in custom jewelry for high end clientele. “According to her, Vaughn requested bands and diamonds to be brought to his office last week. He’s designing a ring.” I swipe at the tears now rolling down my cheeks. The betrayal I feel is almost too much to bear. How could I be so naïve?
“Judith hasn’t said anything.” I suppose I haven’t talked to her much lately either. I have been avoiding all of the Valentinuses since the New Year’s party. My responses to her texts have been short. Judith called a few times, and I let them go to voicemail. I hated it, but I knew she’d talk about Valen.
“So weird.” Christy glares at her phone. “Maybe this is him pushing you away because he’s so in love with you and he thinks this is for the best!” She blurts out as if that solves the riddle. “Okay, that’s stupid. I hate men.”
“What am I going to do?” I rest my hand on my stomach. What if he’s been in love with her for awhile but hasn’t acted on it for fear of hurting me? It’s no secret I’m in love with Valen. I’ve never tried to hide it. Maybe he feels this weird sense of guilt like he has to take care of me since the accident. Have I been holding him back from living the life he truly wants to?
I guess it's Valen keeping all the secrets. Now I’ve got one of my own. And there is no way in hell I plan on telling him anytime soon.
4
Valen
I check the time after I clear out my Skype meeting. This day is dragging. All of them are. Work normally helps my days pass quicker. That hasn’t been the case lately. Every second of this new year drags on at a snail's pace. My only peace is when I can find sleep. In my dreams, I have my little pet, but when I wake it’s a nightmare. All of it being ripped away from me once again.
Touching her ruined me. It made me crave her even more. I thought it would sate something in me and allow me to hold out, but I’m finding it’s only made it harder. Oh, I was already ruined before, but my willpower was stronger.
I didn’t know what she tasted like, how she sounded when she came. The small puffs of breath that came from her when she drew close to coming. But now I know all of those details. Along with the way her tight little cunt squeezed the head of my cock. I’d gotten a glimpse of heaven, and now there is no turning back.
“Vaughn,” my mom calls as she pushes open the door to my office.
“What if I was in a meeting?”
“I don’t care.” I glance up at her. She’s pissed. As mad as my mother is, she still manages to look put together from head to toe.
“What’s going on?” My mother’s wrath isn’t often directed towards me. I try to keep it that way. Judith can be the sweetest mom you’ve ever met, but it is far from her weakness.
“Petal.”
“What about her?” I start to stand. It’s the one word that can bring every part of me to attention.