Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
It’s like the universe handed me this amazing gift on a silver platter. They gave me this brand-new sparkly gift. But then at the same time they went ahead and snatched it right back saying, “Joke’s on you, you can’t really fucking have it.”
Even though I try not to let it get to me, I have to admit that everything these days fucking sucks. Which fucking kills me because my work was my life. It was the most fucking fulfilling thing I’ve ever done. I loved going to work. Now it’s just fucking blah. I want to say it’s because I fucked up and my ass is now on the line, but it’s more than that.
The next day, I show up at the office bright and early and fake a smile to everyone before sitting at my desk. I’m literally going through the motions each day, and I catch myself during the day staring either at the computer screen or out the window. I keep looking for the answers. I keep wondering if this is worth it. I keep trying to tell myself that it will be all right.
For three straight days, his tone has been off. For three straight days, I pretend it’s not there. For three straight days, I fall asleep with tears in my eyes while I look at the picture of both of us taken a couple of months ago, yet it feels like it’s in another lifetime.
On the fourth day, I don’t know why, but I fucking snap. “What’s wrong?” I huff. “You’ve been weird the last couple of days.” Or for the last three weeks.
“Have I?” I don’t know if he’s asking me or testing me.
“You have.” I try not to flip out. “What’s wrong?”
“Well,” he starts, and I’m not sure I want to do this. Maybe we should just do what we’ve been doing, ignoring the big elephant in the room. “I asked to be traded.” I gasp in shock. “To Chicago.”
I close my eyes. “What? When?” I sit up straighter in bed, my heart hammering in my chest.
“About a month ago.” His voice that was weird for the past couple of days now sounds broken. “I had my agent try to perform a miracle, but it didn’t work out.” My eyes close as I listen to his words as they sink in.
“Stone.” I just say his name, only because a lump has now formed in my throat. This man, who I’ve let see the side of me not one other person has ever seen. The man who sat with me in his arms as I sobbed after losing the court case. The man who I thought was going to go away after we were together that first time.
“Yeah, I know.” He sighs. “I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try something.” Again, I stay silent. “Ryleigh, would you be willing to move to me?”
The question shocks me. “Um…” I hesitate. “It’s not that easy.”
“I know it’s not that easy. Nothing these past couple of months has been easy.”
“I can’t move to you.” I close my eyes while I say the words. “I’ve worked my ass off to be where I am and to start all over…” Tears roll down my cheeks. “I just can’t.”
“I figured that too.” His voice is broken, just as I am. “Worth a shot to ask, though.” He laughs bitterly. “Forget I asked.”
“Stone,” I whisper.
“I’m going to go and get on the bike,” he informs me. I look at the time, seeing it’s after nine o’clock. He never works out this late.
“Okay,” I mumble, “I’m going to head to bed.”
“Sleep tight, gorgeous,” he says right before he hangs up, and the phone slips from my hands onto my bed.
“He wants me to move to him,” I repeat the words. “I can’t move to him. How would that make me look?” I swallow down the lump in my throat while my stomach pushes it right back up. “Moving for a man? What if I move and then I hate my job? Or what if I move and then we break up? Or what if I have to rely on him? This is not the woman I am. So what if my job sucks lately. It’s just a bump in the road.” I lie back down on my pillow, looking over at his teddy bear.
“He was going to move to you.” The words come out of my mouth, and it feels like someone has kicked me in the stomach as the air escapes my whole body. “He literally was going to leave his home for you and move to a city he’s visited once or twice.” I put my hand in the middle of my chest, trying to calm my racing heart and rub away the pain forming. “That’s insane.”