Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
But mainly it’s screaming for Reuben.
He’ll never be able to see me again. No fucking way.
They’ll never let him. They’ll cast me out of the city, and out of his life, and away from anything that could ever risk their identity.
“Calm down, Tiff,” Josh says as he and Ella join me, but I can’t. I don’t want to move or think or feel. All I can do is try to breathe.
“Maybe I can do something to help?” Ella says. “Drop a message to Orla, or…”
Her voice trails off. She knows as well as I do it’s pointless.
“Keep out of it,” I tell her. “It’ll only cause shit for you, too.”
That’s the last thing I want – to drag them into this muddy cesspit with me.
I hate myself.
I hate every stupid fucking bone in my body for ever daring to believe.
“You’re staying here tonight,” Josh says and hauls me to my feet. “We’ll take care of you, Tiff. We’ll go to your place and pack a case and set you up in the guest room.”
Ella nods. “Yeah, stay here. With us.”
She hasn’t got the same amount of alarm in her eyes as Josh has. His stare is more piercing, because he knows just how fucked up I got over Kian and losing the baby. He knew what was going through my mind to ease the pain. How close I was to breaking for good and ending it all.
I want to say I wish I’d never walked into the grotto, but I’d be lying. Just as I’d be lying if I said I wished that I’d never met Kian. Because even through the pain, they gave me so much life.
Everything else I’ve done since has been superficial. Fun, but meaningless. Happy, but empty.
“Come on,” Josh says. “Let’s go.”
I’m slinging my bag over my shoulder when my phone sounds out with a message.
My heart thumps, because it must be from Orla, making things official… with instructions on how I have to get away.
“I can’t face it,” I say and offer him my phone. “Can you look, please? I’m too scared.”
I suck in a breath as I prepare for the worst, because I might not be staying at Josh’s tonight after all. I might be staying far, far away.
“Sure, I’ll look,” he says.
I brace myself. What the fuck are they going to do to me? What the hell is going to happen now?
Josh’s eyes are like saucers when he’s checked out the message.
“It’s not Orla,” Josh says, and gives me back the phone. “It’s Reuben.”
27
REUBEN
My heart lurches when I see Tiffany’s stunning red hair in the doorway of Belgravia’s West tower. Her bobble hat has gone, but she’s still in her elf outfit.
I stare out at her through the car window as I slump in my sad sack of a Santa costume, minus the cushions and fake beard. I feel exhausted, both physically and mentally, my emotional weight lying heavy in the pit of my stomach. It’s been a long afternoon with Bry and Castian. I never imagined such a serious showdown would take place in the mall grotto – but the curvy, happy elf bursting in on us sealed the deal. And sealed our fate along with it.
The reality smashed in as loudly as Tiffany’s snow globe when it hit the floor.
I’m about to get out of the car until I see the two other figures marching out of the tower after her, clearly in opposition. I recognise them both, Holly and Weston, or Ella and Josh. Two other entertainers on the Agency hardcore list, and Tiff’s best friends. I already know the charitable soul that is Ella, and Tiffany has told me plenty about the incredible Josh. And from the way Josh is pointing back at the tower as he argues with her raised hand, I’m almost certain she has told them plenty about me, too.
I take a breath and force myself to stay in my seat. Entering the forbidden realm of personal engagement with Agency staff is a crime I’ve committed once already. The last thing I want is to drag any other people down with Tiff and me.
They don’t deserve it. Neither did she.
“I’ll let you know when I’m D&S okay?” I hear her tell Josh as they get closer. “I know you love me, and want to protect me, and want to punch him in the face or whatever, and I’d do the same if I was you.”
“Then why the hell are you leaving?!” He shrugs, clearly exasperated as his girlfriend takes his arm, trying to calm him.
“Because YOU would do the same as ME if the roles were reversed. I wouldn’t be able to stop you from going, either.”
I stare at his expression, watching as her words sink in. She’s got him. She folds her arms and he shrugs again.