Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 93699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“I don’t feel like talking to you.”
“Tough shit.” She moved past me.
“What in the…” She looked around my living room and shook her head. “You’ve never been the type to leave takeout boxes and mess everywhere. Who are you, really?”
Not in the mood for more of her judgment, I pulled a chair next to the window and took a seat.
Where the hell is my food?
“I still can’t believe you and Travis,” Penelope said, picking up a stack of empty takeout boxes. “The audacity, the gall, the nerve.”
I crossed my arms and considered telling her to leave, but she pulled a broom out of the closet and started cleaning.
“During this era that we’ve been friends, whenever I was consoling you about other guys, you were lusting after my brother, weren’t you?” She ranted. “But you know what? You did one hell of a job pretending like you didn’t know who he was all this time.”
“He’s the guy who “fucked you like no other” and served as your ‘performance muse’ when you were at your best, right?”
I knew better than to answer that.
“It doesn’t help that he’s in complete denial as well.” She fluffed pillows. “I mean, no wonder he looked so damn terrible at this morning’s press conference. He deserves a little misery, of course, but still…”
“A part of me is impressed you two kept things a secret for long, but another part of me is livid because he honestly thinks his ‘I didn’t want to hurt you’ excuse is believable.”
I didn’t want to hurt you either.
“Regardless of how I feel—” She paused. “I’m stuck with the both of you in my life. I just can’t believe…”
I held back a sigh and listened to her ramble through tears while she made my place immaculate. She paid for my food when it came and was nice enough to let me eat in silence.
When I devoured the last morsel, she tucked me under a blanket on the couch. Then she continued her rant while steaming my drapes.
“Can I say one last thing about this?” She stepped in front of me.
“I haven’t stopped you from talking since you got here, Penelope.”
“Good point.” She plopped beside me, brushing a few curls off my forehead. “You’ve been like a sister to me ever since we buried the hatchet. Would you agree?”
“I would.”
“And despite your backstabbing betrayal with Travis, which is practically on the level of murder—”
“It is nowhere near murder, Penelope.”
“Yeah, well, despite that, you both have plenty of time to apologize for your treacherous behavior in the past.”
I stared at her, waiting for her to tell me that she was joking, but she looked dead-ass serious. She looked like the young girl I loathed but secretly admired all those years ago.
“Now that I think about it,” she continued, “if I’m like a sister to you, that means Travis is like your older brother as well, and you two have technically committed incest.”
Silence.
“You’ve been wanting to hurl that insult my way since you found out about us, haven’t you?” I asked.
“I’ve sat on it for an entire week.” She smiled. “Was my delivery any good?”
“You should’ve drawn it out a little more.”
“Did it need one more sentence?”
“Two.”
“Noted.” She pulled me into her arms. “I think I’m done talking now.”
“I never thought me and Travis would end up together again, so that’s why I never told you about it,” I admitted. “I was in denial about how much he meant to me.”
“It’s honestly good that you kept it to yourself,” she said. “I would’ve hated you even more. I still hate you, by the way.”
“That feeling will always be mutual.” I smiled for the first time this week. “Can we please go back to being friends now? Your brother and I are pretty much done anyway.”
“Because of me?”
“No, it’s multiple things.” My voice cracked. “It’s always been multiple things…Mainly him thinking the world and everything in it revolves around him. He just can’t see past his own point of view.”
“He’s been like that since the day he was born.” She dabbed my eyes with her sleeves. “He can’t help it.”
“Our ‘marriage’ was bound to end at some point, and I needed to stop pretending like we had a true future, so I—” I choked back sobs, unable to finish my sentence.
“Would it make you feel better if I told you that he’s mad at me about how I’ve handled all this?” She rubbed my back. “That he doesn’t want to see me again until his fight?”
“No.” I swallowed. “Not at all.”
“Well, it’s true. He’s pretty pissed.”
“He’ll get over it.” I smiled. “I’d kill to have a big brother who cared about me in the way he cares about you, and he can’t hold a grudge that long.”
She looked into my eyes. “Do you plan to come to his fight?”