Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 156392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 782(@200wpm)___ 626(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 782(@200wpm)___ 626(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
“Stop being so sweet. I’m swooning, you guys.”
She grins and blushes, then attempts to fill her mouth with food.
Creigh raises a brow. “Get used to it.”
“So now you can speak?”
“Only when my Annika is involved.”
“Creigh,” she squeals, then quickly kisses his mouth.
Apparently, that’s not enough for him, because he traps her lower lip between his, and she barely manages to push him away.
“Get a room.” I pout. “Some of us live a life that’s as dry as the desert, you know.”
“With Eli around?” Anni asks after she swallows a bite of food.
“Especially with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named around.” I scowl at my rolls.
Anni laughs. “You’re back to calling him that? I thought you stopped after…”
She trails off and I think I see Creigh’s arm moving under the table.
“After what?” I ask.
She grins, but it’s a bit forced. “After you married him.”
“It’s worse now.” I stuff my mouth with my straw to stop from blurting out everything. Pretty sure no one knows about my arrangement with Eli, and I’m not ready to face their questions, as valid as they may be.
Also, something tells me there’s a big chunk missing from the story he fed me. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I take his word for anything. Though I haven’t given up on finding the truth, I know I have to do this carefully.
My husband is a scheming, manipulative sociopath. If he feels I’m snooping where I shouldn’t, he might shut down any available routes to find out the truth.
So I have to do this carefully.
“But aren’t you glad you can stalk—” Anni clears her throat. “I mean follow his movements in person instead of creating fake profiles and stuff?”
I nearly choke on my water. “Anni!”
“Creigh knows,” she says apologetically.
“Everyone knows,” he supplies.
“Including your brother?”
“Everyone,” he enunciates.
“That prick Landon is horrible at covering tracks. Two out of five, would not use again,” I mutter under my breath.
“You’re the one who sucks at concealing your plans, if we’re being honest,” Creigh says. “You’re rubbish at hiding your emotions around him.”
“He makes me angry.”
“Uh-huh.”
“He does, and you’re channeling his energy right now, which I don’t appreciate. Talk some sense into him, Anni.”
“He’s not wrong.”
“I can’t believe this.” I gasp. “Friendship is dead these days.”
“Don’t be like that.” Anni takes my hands in hers. “We’re just worried about you.”
Great.
Every single one of my friends thinks I’m a clusterfuck they probably wouldn’t trust to watch a goldfish.
“I’m fine.” I pat her hand and pull away. “Now, tell me stories about the time I forgot. Did I make his life hell more than he made mine?”
“By miles,” Creighton says, his voice uncharacteristically darkening.
Anni pinches his bicep. “He meant you got back at him.”
“Good. What type of things did I do?”
“You know. This and that.”
“Like?”
She spends longer than usual chewing on her sashimi and even takes one sip of her purple-colored mocktail, and then another.
“You’re familiar with your shenanigans,” Creigh says instead. “You don’t need us to remind you of them.”
“So I drove away all of his girlfriends and started a small fire in his designer shoe room?”
“Something like that,” Anni says. “Though you guys are exclusive, so there were no girlfriends. Only admirers.”
A warm, fuzzy feeling mixed with triumph shoots through me. “And I kicked them to the curb?”
She nods.
“I crashed his car the other day and spent a small fortune on strangers.”
This time she laughs. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
“It’s his favorite car, too. Once he gets it repaired, I’m contemplating scratching the hell out of it, and when the paint is done, I’ll chuck it over a cliff and film it in slow mo.”
“Badass.” She clinks her glass with mine.
“More like foolish,” Creigh supplies like the worst sidekick. “If you believe these childish attempts will sway Eli for the better, then you’ve learned nothing from the past.”
“Let her blow off some steam, Creigh.” She strokes his shoulder. “She doesn’t remember the last two years.”
“That doesn’t give you the green light to act like a spoiled brat, Ava.”
I swallow, his words hurting me more than they should.
“Creigh!” Anni scolds.
“You’re channeling too much of his energy today, Cray Cray. If I’d wanted to be chewed out, I would’ve stayed with him.”
“I’m just saying you’re lost and that's understandable.” His voice softens—as much softening as Creigh is capable of. “But you’re going about solving this situation the wrong way. Over the past few years, whenever you’ve caused trouble, he’s made it his mission to retaliate tenfold worse. Don’t you think it’s time to try a different tactic, especially since you tied the knot?”
I purse my lips before I say I don’t know any other way. It doesn’t help that the last few interactions have left me with a mountain of confusion and a morbid yearning.
For what, I don’t know.
“Knots can be untied,” I mutter instead.
Creigh watches me for a beat before he shakes his head. “I highly doubt that.”