Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“Oh sweetie,” Lily frowned, moving to squeeze my hand.
“We all like to tell ourselves stories about how life’s gonna turn out,” Laura Maye said, sipping her own cocktail. She’d long shut down the bar and kicked out the rest of the patrons in honor of girl’s night. And also to “reduce the risk of kidnappings.”
“But the thing is, we’re not the ones writing our stories, not really,” she continued. “Yeah, Ranger’s story is over. He got his end, however premature it was. But your story is far from finished. You, my dear, are not someone to be broken and battered down by even the most horrible of things.” Her eyes moved around the table, at the women who had been through hell yet managed to carry own. Still managing to create beautiful lives.
“You, my dears, are far more complex than a simple love story, as amazing as those stories may be. Yes, without that great love, your story feels a lot darker, sometimes even hopeless, but that’s not all you have. Not all you are. You have your children. You have your kickass girlfriends. Most of all, you have yourself. You still have endless things to discover about who you are. About what you’re capable of.” Her eyes were soft as they pinned me, even with all her harsh—but totally epic—makeup around them. “And, my darling, you might not be ready to hear this right now, but you may have another love in your story. One that you deserve. One that will be nothing like what you’ve had, one that won’t erase anything you’ve felt before. You’re still young. Look at that face. You look like that... without Botox!”
I chuckled under the weight of her words, especially the love comment. It sat like a stone in the bottom of my stomach. It was tempting to dismiss such a notion verbally, but I stayed quiet. I couldn’t ever love another man. Not now, not ever.
“Wait!” Gwen exclaimed. “You’ve never had Botox?” She squinted at my forehead with a practiced gaze, here own not moving with the gesture. “How is that even possible?”
I shrugged, happy for one of my friends to break the moment, stopping me from having to respond to what Laura Maye said. My eyes touched on Laura Maye, hopefully communicating all of my feelings about everything she’d said. She smiled at me, like the sage in pleather she was.
After that, the discussion melted away from my trauma, thankfully moving on to wrinkle lines.
Which was totally fucking fine with me.
“What is he doing here?” I snapped, my eyes zeroing in on the cluster of men entering the bar.
One man stood out from that cluster. The one who had mowed my lawn and given me kindness that I hadn’t exactly returned.
Bex’s eyes followed mine, much sharper than the rest of the women since she was sober. Despite her past issues with drugs, she enjoyed many cocktail nights with us, though, she was a lot more conservative with the amount she consumed. I figured losing control might bring her too close to demons of the past that were only sleeping, never dead.
Plus, she was still breastfeeding. Ember was just over six months old, as cute as a button, and the light of Lucky’s life. Though a lot of people might not expect it—on face value, at least—Bex was a wonderful mother, surprising herself most of all, I thought.
Babies weren’t cures for problems, but they surely made the prospect of tomorrow a lot more hopeful.
“Well, considering the sheer number of women well over the legal limit, you included, I’m guessing he’s here to help with the sober driving effort. There was probably some kind of pool tonight, and he drew the short straw.” Her eyes darted between the both of us. Or at least I thought they did. I had not been conservative in my cocktail consumption tonight, so I wasn’t positive.
“Or maybe he pulled the long straw,” she continued, her eyes narrowing and some kind of knowing in her voice.
I frowned up at her, planning on asking her what the heck she meant by that, but it was too late. The men in leather had approached our table.
“I’m delighted to see there hasn’t been a single kidnapping, bar fight or drive by shooting.” Brock announced, winking at his wife.
“Speak for yourself,” Amy replied.
He grinned at her, yanking her forward for a kiss.
Asher moved to Lily, her arms wrapping around him easily while he murmured something in her ear.
My stomach clenched at my utter aloneness. All of these women had men to pick them up or men waiting at home. Someone to fall asleep with tonight, someone who would bring them Advil and coffee in the morning.
Against my control, my eyes flickered to Kace. His were already settled on me, as if he’d been staring at me the entire time. Which, of course, was insane. Why would he want to stare at me?