Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Sorry,” I lied. “I don’t keep alcohol in my apartment. You’ll have to go visit someone else if you want to get drunk.”
“Sanctimonious much?” Santori took the water and set it down on the coffee table without opening it. “I’d think with as many drugs as you’ve pumped into your system—”
“And how many I’ve had pumped into me by your doctors?”
“Semantics.” He waved a hand in the air. “But back to the unfirable intern. I thought you and I had an understanding where he was concerned. After you returned from New York, we agreed that you would start seeing Vanessa Hale. Then when the time came for him to go back to school, you would cut all ties.”
“Why are you so concerned about him right now? I was just telling you how he helped with the weight cutting, that’s all. He was still here when he did that.”
“You’ve been talking to him again, that’s why.”
I swallowed hard. “What makes you think that?”
“Don’t try to play me,” he said. “Are you actually going to tell me that you haven’t spoken to him?”
“Okay, I’ve spoken to him. So what? Have you been monitoring my calls?”
Santori gritted his teeth, causing the muscle in his jaw to jump. “We had an understanding.”
“He hasn’t been answering my texts and calls. Have you done something?” Realization was dawning. Had Jamie also been trying to contact me? I’d assumed he’d just been upset, and that he’d probably gotten wind of the double life I’d been leading for the media. But I’d asked him to trust me, and he’d said he would. I’d been planning on flying down after the fight and smoothing everything over with him, laying it all on the line once and for all. Everything had hinged on keeping my uncle placated long enough to work out my own plan and execute it. Now it appeared he was one step ahead of me as always.
“No, you had an understanding,” I told him carefully. “You just dictated what you wanted to happen, and I didn’t say anything. I did the public dates like you wanted, I led the media to believe that Vanessa and I were seeing each other, I threw up a smokescreen to hide who I really am, since who I am is so detestable. But I never agreed to stop seeing Jamie. I would never do that.”
“We have to make sacrifices in pursuing our goals, Michael. Or are you not still committed to the goal we’ve had since you were a little boy? It looks to me like you’re right on the verge of achieving it, yet doing your best to piss it all away.”
“Why? Because I finally care about someone? Is that not allowed in the Peter Santori master plan?”
He smacked his lips and sprawled out in the chair like a bored teenager, a posture so unlike him it gave me pause. When I realized he was mirroring me, I sank even further down into the seat cushion to see if he would follow. He didn’t take the bait.
“Michael, let’s back up a bit and look at this thing with a logical eye. You must realize the intern isn’t friend material. Not for a Santori.”
“I’m not a Santori.”
“He’s not worthy of you. I don’t understand what you could possibly find interesting about him. Unless, of course, the only draw is that he gets under my skin.”
“This isn’t about you. I couldn’t care less what you think of him.”
Santori sniffed. “He’s common. If you were going to risk everything we’ve worked for, couldn’t you at least have done it over someone who’s worthy of your affection?”
I avoided looking at him and instead scrolled through my phone, just because I knew he hated it. He considered it a personal affront when anyone fiddled with a cell phone in his presence, which is why I made a point to do it regularly.
“There’s an innocence about him,” I said finally, wondering why I was being truthful. “That’s one of the things I like. He’s a good person.”
He chuckled. “You’re mistaking immaturity for innocence. They are not the same thing.”
“He’s authentic, which is more than I can say for most people around here.”
“He’s rude.”
“Not rude. Ballsy.”
“He’s disloyal,” he said, over-enunciating the words for emphasis.
I looked up from my phone and deliberately met his eyes. “He’s a good fuck.”
Santori’s slow blink was the only sign that I’d struck a nerve. “What about Vanessa? Is she a good fuck?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
He shook his head, a lifetime of disgust for me coming through that one simple gesture. “Well, I’m glad you’ve decided to date her publicly, anyway. If she can’t make a man of you, at least she can help make you a star. The two of you are already on your way to becoming media darlings, now that you finally have a publicist who knows what he’s doing.”