Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Considering I’d been with him the past few weeks, I figured if there was an announcement to be made, I’d have known what it was about.
“We got the Renovere account.”
“What?” I was stunned. We hadn’t heard from Morgan after the party, so I’d assumed she had moved on to someone else.
“Oh…my…God,” Dax said, his jaw dropping, since he knew just as well as Elliott and I did that this was massive.
“Damn right,” Elliott said as he raised his beer in the air. “And apparently, Renovere is launching a line in Japan and Korea.”
“You’re going to North Korea?” Serena asked. “How exotic!”
Elliott’s brows pulled together. “What? No, not that Korea,” he said, as though that should be obvious. “South Korea.”
“Wait,” Dax said. “What does that mean for you guys?”
“Right now, nothing, really,” Elliott replied. “But in another six months, I’ll have to spend some serious time abroad, and fortunately, Carter can manage everything in Los Angeles in the meantime.”
Elliott seemed to be the only person at the table oblivious to what that meant for Sawyer and me as Dax, Jace, and Serena avoided looking at us. Elliott seemed to catch on once again, though a little too late, adding, “Obviously, Carter, you can come back here occasionally to meet with Dax. It’ll be like that for some time. But you know how it is. Could be a few months…or a year. We have to play it by ear.”
“Yes, right,” I said, my body about as tense as could be. This wasn’t how I’d planned on spending my first dinner with Sawyer. Not at all.
“That’s great.” I could tell Sawyer was forcing the words past his lips. “Congratulations, you guys. I think this deserves a toast.”
He raised his glass, and we all celebrated another victory for the company.
Only it felt like another loss for Sawyer and me.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Sawyer
Jesus, this is weird. I’m definitely too old to be journaling. I don’t know what made me pick this old thing up and read through it… Actually, I do. It’s so crazy to look at the man I was when I was with Julian and compare him to who I am now.
~ Sawyer’s Journal, present.
I wasn’t going to lie, I was a mix of emotions. I was so happy for Carter. There were no words for how happy I was for him, but I did wonder what it would mean for us. Then I would feel bad about thinking that way because this should be about him. About his career and his future and not his boyfriend who was being a big baby.
Things were a bit solemn between us for the couple of days he was here. We seemed to be caught between this need to have each other and touch each other and talk to each other, and the heaviness that cloaked us.
If there was one thing I could say about Carter and me, it was that we’d both been realistic about our relationship. We didn’t keep our heads in the sand, and we both knew we would have to make some decisions very soon.
“I’ll miss you,” I said as we were saying goodbye before he jetted off to New York.
“I’ll miss you too.”
I pushed the hair off his forehead and kissed it. “Are you excited? This is…this is all really amazing. All your hard work has paid off.” I didn’t know what it was, but something didn’t feel right. When Carter talked about his new promotion, I didn’t feel electricity sparking off him. By now, I felt I knew Carter, and he glowed at the simplest things. He was so passionate. It didn’t take much to make him happy, and that was one of my favorite things about him. I thought about how I felt when Fearless became a reality, and he didn’t have the same energy about this.
This growing fear was spreading through my chest, taking me over, that it was because of me. That he couldn’t let himself be happy about his promotion because he was worried about how I would deal or what it meant for us. Holding Carter back was the last thing I ever wanted to do.
“Of course I’m excited,” he said with a little too much of a smile, one that told me it wasn’t real, and again that worry built inside me. Was he too nervous to show his happiness because he worried about what it meant for me?
“You know all I want is for you to be happy, right? That’s the most important thing.”
“I know. I feel the same way about you. How could I not be happy? I have an amazing job and a sexy-as-fuck boyfriend who’s a beast in bed.”
That made me smile, so sue me. I loved hearing how much I did it for him.
I love you, I wanted to tell him, but I couldn’t. How could I say that when I knew where we were likely headed? When I knew how much he was struggling between his career and being with me?