Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 112701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
It all happened so quickly, and the odds have been stacked against us.
I feel like we’ve gone from zero to a hundred in just a few weeks, but it doesn’t matter. I feel the same.
Say something.
I will my mouth to move—for any words to come out—but I’m too scared to speak. Too scared to learn that this is a dream. One I’ll come crashing out of, destined to hit rock bottom and die from a broken heart.
Just like Mom warned.
I want to take things slow. As wonderful as it is with him, we still have a lot of obstacles to maneuver. He’s my boss, and I’m very aware that being with him could impact my career. It could create problems for the whole of Cavendish.
Getting swept up in the moment would be so easy. So . . . foolish.
I don’t want to say anything and ruin the moment, so I say the first thing that comes to mind.
“Thank you.”
So many emotions cross over Charles’s face, finally hardening into stone. His eyes darken like they do when I know he’s angry.
He clearly hoped that I would say more, and at this moment, I wish I had.
“I think I’ll go change,” he says, his voice flat and emotionless.
Without another word, he leaves me sitting by the pool, the setting sun my only company.
40
Charles
Who the fuck says that?
Thank you.
Those words gnaw away at me, reminding me of another time right here in this very fucking place when I was crushed.
This house was my mother’s sanctuary. My father thought staying here would be beneficial to her while she was undergoing treatment at Sloan Kettering for her first bout of breast cancer. She couldn’t travel back and forth from the United Kingdom because she was too weak.
She loved the ocean, and my father thought the sea would help cure her.
He was desperate.
We all were.
We tried to make memories that would last a lifetime, knowing we didn’t have much time with her.
The last time I was here was right after she died. I told Tabitha I needed to get away.
I wanted to be somewhere I could feel close to my mum.
Tabitha and I were already engaged, and I’d been considering breaking it off. Right before my mum died, she begged me to find love. To be happy like she was with my father.
I’d promised, and I’d planned to truly give things a shot with Tabitha. We’d been happy enough. I enjoyed her company, and she enjoyed mine. Surely, we could fall in love if I allowed myself to be open to it.
And I was.
I needed her to pull me out of the darkness that descended when my mum died. My father was too far gone himself. Tabitha was my person, and I was going to lean on her strength to get through.
When we pulled up, a dozen cars were waiting in the driveway. Tabitha had organized a party, of all things. It wasn’t to keep my mind off everything. It was to entertain herself while I grieved alone in another wing of the house.
She’d left me to my own darkness while she partied with New York socialites, cementing her status in the States.
She didn’t give a shit about me.
She wanted everything I had. Most importantly, my last name.
Something she’d never have after that week.
It had taken every ounce of courage I had to open up and give my heart to Raven, and she’d stomped all over it.
Thank you.
Those words had my teeth grinding and my hands balling into fists.
Did she not feel the way I did? Could I really have been such a prat to believe she could care for me as much as I did her?
Well, I was going to bloody well force her to admit she felt the same. I’m done running from my feelings.
I stalk toward the front of the massive house, searching for Raven, when I hear her small voice.
She sounds sad. Broken.
“Asher, please answer.” Her voice shakes, and I remain hidden behind a wall, eavesdropping like a damn tosser.
“Please let me explain,” she continues, crying down the line, and my shoulders stiffen at the emotion in her voice. “I love you.”
I love you.
Words I wished to hear from her lips that went unsaid.
Thank you.
My jaw ticks, and I have to prevent myself from falling into a fit of rage.
She told that fucking arsehole she loves him, but she couldn’t even tell me she cared for me. Was I blind to believe she was different? Could she have pulled one over on me so thoroughly?
Rage consumes me, threatening to pull me into a darkness I haven’t experienced in a long time.
Because I haven’t given a fuck about anything since the last time I felt like this.
I allow the anger to flow through me for a few more seconds before I decide to confront Raven.