Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
I thought about the news stories lately. “He’s not wrong,” I said. “But surely his reputation would protect you.”
Halley answered, but I wasn’t listening. I was thinking about what Con said before. About how he was just like them. Was he talking about the Weinsteins of the industry? Did he think he was like them because he had slept with me? He couldn’t though—it was absurd. He hadn’t lured me into a hotel room under the guise of a business meeting. I’d practically broken into his apartment and waylaid him. If anyone was Weinstein, it was me.
“Anyway,” Halley continued, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything. I mean, I know he suspects because he insisted I graduate college before I make any life decisions, and normally like, what you major in is a life decision, right? So he knows. He just doesn’t want to. And that’s fine. He can live in ignorance, and I—”
She was off again, in typical Halley fashion. Her steady, comforting monologues had been my bedtime stories when we shared a room in the sorority house. Halley had a knack for knowing when to talk and when to listen, and now, somehow, she knew I didn’t want to talk. Probably because she was my best friend.
When we got off the phone, I made a half-hearted resolution to myself. I would never let her find out about her father and me. I’d take that secret to the grave. I pictured a long line of years in front of us, the three of us and this secret. I saw myself running into him at her wedding. Nodding along when she mentioned him, pretending like my interest was only polite and not avid. I even let my brain venture into the painful territory of hearing that he had finally met someone Halley didn’t hate. That they were engaged.
My heart cracked at the idea, and I pulled back from it sharply.
No, there was no reason to borrow trouble like this. All I had to do was keep my promise to myself that Halley would never find out about us. Anything that came after—well, I’d take it as it came.
19
CON
I made the decision as soon as Lily left. I had to get her out of my life before this happened again. I should have never let things go so far between us. And I never would have if I’d known it was her first time. At least, that was what I told myself. I couldn’t explain why I’d done it a second time, and then a third, other than to say that she went to my head. I didn’t think straight around her, and now I really fucking needed to untangle this mess. I’d never been with a virgin–Kim had been my first though I hadn’t been hers–but I was pretty sure it meant something when one chose you. Meant something more than I was prepared to give.
The first step to getting Lily out of my life was to get her out of my office. I made a call to the top celebrity divorce lawyer in town to see if I could arrange an internship for Lily in her office. She’d represented several of my clients, and we’d been friends for years. We’d crossed the line between friends and lovers a few times, but neither of us had ever been interested in more.
“Well, if it isn’t Con Walker,” she said when she answered the phone. “Who is it this time?” There was relish in her voice. Laura loved a good divorce. The nastier the better.
“It’s not about a divorce,” I said.
“Oh?” her voice downshifted into a purr. “If this isn’t about business, is it about pleasure?”
“Not exactly.” I gave Laura the situation straight. I’d considered playing it as just trying to call in a favor for my daughter, then rejected the deception for two reasons. One, it wasn’t necessary. Laura and I had shared a few nights. Nothing to get possessive over. Two, Laura was a seasoned professional at detecting bullshit. Nothing would piss her off more than to discern that I was lying to protect her feelings when she didn’t have any worth protecting. At least not where I was concerned.
“Oh Con,” she laughed, and the sound was rich and throaty. “Oh, you’ve really done it now. I thought you were smarter than that.”
“I thought so too,” I said grimly. “We were both wrong.”
“She’s going to law school?”
“Yeah, she got in this year. She deferred for financial reasons. That’s why Halley asked me to give her a job and a place to stay.” I drummed my fingers on my desk, my gaze returning to the front door. Where the hell was Lily? And why was I so anxious to see her when the whole point of this phone call was to never see her again?