Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
I really didn’t need to.
My sister thought she was hilarious.
The only problem was, she was the only one that thought she was hilarious.
Sometimes, I wondered if she was born with a screw loose.
Though, I was mainly the target of her ‘affections.’
“Um, no,” I started to say, but before I could finish my ‘why,’ my phone rang.
I looked at it and saw Simi’s name on the screen.
Had it been anyone else, I might not have answered it.
But Simi was pregnant, and she’d just had a hell of a time of it.
I wouldn’t be ignoring her call.
Had I known how the call was going to go, I might’ve changed my mind, however.
I knew the days would come to an end, of course.
I mean, I only had a month. I knew that going in.
But it’d only been two weeks that I’d spent with Slone. Two freaking fantastic weeks.
But why did the thought of leaving Slone behind feel like a rock hanging like a noose around my heart?
“You know that I wouldn’t be calling and asking if it wasn’t important.” Simi sighed. “I know that you use this month to regroup and try to find the desire to come back…but I physically can’t get out of the bed.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’ll get on the first flight out.”
“Thank you,” she sighed. “And I swear to God, I’ll make this up to you.”
Doubtful.
Eventually, she’d have the baby. And that would give her another six weeks off.
I know that, if push came to shove, she’d do the same for me if the need arose. But that didn’t change the fact that I was ending my vacation early and leaving Slone in California where the weather was perfect, we were having daily sex—okay, maybe daily was understating it—and I had no worries or problems in life beyond what I was going to have to eat for that day.
“I took the liberty of finding you a flight,” she said when I didn’t answer.
Of course, she did.
I looked through the glass at Slone who was busy making some sort of smoothie for his post-workout and felt my stomach drop.
So this was it.
“Okay, send me the flight info, and I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“You’re leaving,” he said, eyes intense as he watched me.
“Yes,” I said.
“When?” he asked, sounding upset.
My watch buzzed and glanced down at it to see my flight info.
“In an hour and a half,” I groaned.
“That’s just enough time to get to the airport and get checked in.” He looked horrified.
Not as horrified as I felt, though.
There was no time for a goodbye…
“Yeah.” I felt my eyes fill with tears.
“Fuck,” he said as he came to me and started to wipe the tears that’d slipped from my eyes. “It’s okay.”
I felt the tears fall faster. “I don’t want to go.”
He wrapped me up in a hug and held on until I had to force myself to let go.
And forty minutes later, after he dropped me off at the airport and walked me inside, I wondered why my chest hurt so bad.
It was only after I was sitting in my plane seat that I realized the truth.
I was in love with him.
And that chest ache business was actually heartache because I hadn’t wanted him to let me go.
CHAPTER 17
Little Miss is it Halloween yet.
-Text from Slone to Ari
SLONE
I tried calling her for the third time in an hour, and I didn’t have any hope that she’d pick up this time. But god, I just needed to hear her voice.
To my surprise, she actually picked up.
“Slone,” she breathed in answer.
“Hey,” I rumbled into the phone, finding my first smile since she left me two days ago.
Who knew that I’d come to depend on her presence?
I was such a sad sac.
“I don’t know why I came home,” she grumbled into the phone. “Hades has been on an absolute rampage since I got back, pissed as hell and taking everything that happens out on me. She’s also mad I didn’t keep her gifts, because, and I quote, ‘she paid good money for them.’ Simi has been throwing up so much that she had to go to the hospital. Coffey’s splitting time between the RV they bought and the food trailer. Val has decided that she’s no longer going to play nice with men who question her. We lost four children today. I’ve fallen asleep four times in the middle of my shows, and I miss you.”
I missed her, too. Which I told her in the next breath.
“I miss you, too, honey,” I replied.
Her words made my heart hurt even more.
Because literally before I’d talked to her, I’d talked to my mom, and she’d told me that her and my sister were going on vacation to the Bahamas, and though they wanted me to come, they hadn’t bothered to invite me because they knew that I couldn’t go.