Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
As though realizing the same thing, Destiny broke away. Her hands went from my waist to my chest, but she wasn’t gripping me anymore. They were defensively palm out, like she was pushing me away even though she wasn’t applying the least bit of pressure. I was sure she could feel my heart, pounding in my chest, beneath her splayed fingers.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she said accusingly. Her lipstick was still somehow perfect, but her eyes were dazed again. There was a glittering, otherworldly quality to her beauty now, like she’d just come out of another world. A place with real magic. It made me want to push her back against the wall and take us both back there, damned who saw.
But I’d never once touched an unwilling woman, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. Irritation squirted into all four chambers of my pounding heart, spread through my bloodstream. It took the edge off the urge long enough for me to grit out, “I didn’t do it by myself, Destiny.”
“You started it!”
I couldn’t deny that, and it would have been petty to point out that just a few moments ago, she was pressing herself against me and making noises that I knew were a preview to what she’d do if I got her in bed. I took a step back instead and scrubbed both hands through my hair, holding the sides of my head between them for a moment. Mentally, I gave myself whatever the opposite of a pep talk was.
What the fuck are you doing, Garrett?
You’re supposed to be helping her.
You’ve known her since she was a kid.
What the hell would Noemi say?
But none of it made a dent. None of it mattered. I still wanted her.
Destiny had taken a step back herself. She smoothed out her dress and ran her hands over her hair, smoothing it. All the while she took deep, steadying breaths. When she saw me watching her, she lifted her chin warily. It pissed me off. I might have started it, but she’d been an active and willing participant.
“You don’t have to worry about it happening again,” I said, the words coming out like a threat instead of a reassurance. “It was a mistake. Obviously.”
Destiny’s eyes snapped, and some of the color drained from her cheeks. “You bet it was.”
The lights flickered again. Last call. We had to get to our seats, and quickly.
“Go find Andrew.” Again, the tone was all wrong. I sounded like a jealous lover, even to my own ears, instead of a crisis manager giving professional advice. And it was professional advice.
Destiny nodded, her face tight. “That’s where I’m going.”
After another moment of staring at me, as if waiting to see what would happen next, she took a deep breath and stepped out into the light.
“But Destiny–”
The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.
She paused, not quite looking back. She didn’t want anyone in the room to see Destiny Pollock stepping out of the shadows and then looking back into them, as if she didn’t want to leave them.
“Don’t kiss him like that.”
Her eyes cut to mine. Defiance rose in them, then collapsed. She nodded once, acknowledging what had happened between us, and then she was gone.
I stayed in the shadows. I heard the sound of the heavy doors being shut between the lobby and the theater. Then heavy, welcome silence. Julian would be pissed but unsurprised that I wasn’t in there. I’d half considered staying, if only to see Noemi’s performance, but now I couldn’t. Not after kissing Destiny. If I saw Andrew Quinn so much as hold her hand, I was likely to punch him in his stupidly handsome face.
12
DESTINY
Big things happened over the next week.
The first thing was that Geoffrey Dorsch was officially charged with sex trafficking minors, and not a single mainstream article linked to me. I was sure because I read them all. That was a relief, but the other thing that happened was news.
I got a small part in a big movie. It wasn’t a career maker, but it was a good sign. My character was nuanced, complex. She didn’t take her clothes off or make snide remarks. I’d auditioned for it twice and would have done so a third time if they’d asked. When they called, I was prepared to drive out right then. Instead, they offered it to me.
After I hung up, I called my mom first and told her she didn’t have to move back home.
“Where are you, anyway?” I asked, walking around my small apartment, energized by the realization that I could keep it. I hadn’t let myself think about how close I was to having to sell or sublet and move into the house in the hills with Rowena. “I haven’t seen you in like a week.”