Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
“Ahh.” Connor’s eyes track to Evilla. “That explains the friendship then. It was the one thing I couldn’t figure out. I get it now. Remnants from an old world.”
“Connor.” I scrub a hand over my face, wishing it could erase the embarrassment. “I wouldn’t have brought you if I knew you were going to be not-so-positive. This crab place is special. It’s not where we go to insult the way other people live their lives.” The instinct I have to beat him upside the head with a crab leg that hasn’t even arrived yet since that’s the main course is so strong that I’m barely able to repress it.
“Old world remnants isn’t an acceptable term for people?” Evilla is all her usual sass. I can’t believe she’s not mad since I’m more than offended on her behalf. I’ve never heard Connor say anything like that before. He doesn’t say things like that. I wish I could privately ask him what the hell is going on.
“We should just face it.” Connor isn’t at all deterred. “We’re only here right now, enjoying the fine crab accouterments of this place because the lady Genevieve’s parents and your parents, Mont, tried to match you both up in exactly the way I stated. They wanted you to have a lovely society marriage. They were ticking boxes, and it seemed like you’d both be a good fit. But then, panic ensued, and chaos happened, and you met Evilla through duplicitous means. It wasn’t real. You, Mont, were half darn well pissed and half intrigued, so you did the first rational thing you could think of doing. You tried to ruin her life. You wanted to make her pay. But you also couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing her again.
“This lovely flower, one that doesn’t grow in the gardens you’re accustomed to. It was like finding that flower in the wild, in a dream. You wanted so badly to pluck the flower and study it, to have it for yourself. The rebel in you said no to the society bullshit, and now you’re lost. You’re wandering around, completely out of touch. You’ve decided that nothing in your life will satisfy you other than becoming a man and manning up, manning down, and manning all over the world in a mad search to find your man self, all while what you really want is right here. You just can’t admit it because it’s not supposed to be real. You’re making a good game of it, but we all see right through you. You didn’t have the slightest interest in pudding. What you really wanted is that rare dream flower, but said flower couldn’t be bought. Not for all the money in the world. There.” Then, Connor sits back, looking rather pleased with himself. “I’ve saved you all a great deal of time and trouble. How hard was it to just put it out there? We were all thinking it.”
I can’t deal with this. I can’t look anywhere. I can feel the heat of three different sets of eyes on me, and I want to disappear into a mash of crab stews and legs, and oh my fucking god, this was the worst idea of any ideas I ever conceived. I mean the whole of it.
Having it all put out there like that, in the glaring light of day, makes me sound like a villain. And not the hot, shady kind everyone secretly or not-so-secretly pines for.
“Umm…” Genevieve is a rockstar. She hasn’t lost her composure in the least. “I say we eat more crab and talk less crabby nonsense, and then we should all go for a walk on the beach. Evilla and Mont can pair off because they obviously like each other, and you and I can have a long discussion about the finer points of subtlety, which can then branch off into a discussion of whose ass I have to kick because someone obviously hurt you, and that’s not okay. The start will be rocky, but we’ll figure out that we can be friends. You’ll find that I’m a great listener, I promise.”
“Alright, my adorable, brave snake charmer. I’ll take you up on that walk. But not the beach because it’s so unbelievably token and sappy. If you want to listen to my brand of poison, you’ll have to do it somewhere much more metropolitan.”
“Oh, good. I can hardly wait,” Genevieve responds.
“Why wait? We could go now. We wouldn’t even have to pretend to like crabs when, secretly, we detest them and all they stand for.”
Genevieve shoots Evilla a look that asks if she’ll be okay if she takes one for the team and leaves with my incredibly toxic friend right now just to spare everyone else another dumpster fire and a burning heap of humiliation. And then she gives Evilla a look within a look that seems to say she doesn’t feel like she’s taking one for the team at all. Does she secretly enjoy rude people?