Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
But the message was clear. The magazine was changing, and we were all on notice.
Still, it was at least something that he’d agreed to read my pitch. That was yesterday, and I was still trying to remember to play as nice as I possibly could so I didn’t piss him off before he got a chance.
Farhad swung by my desk as he was heading out for the evening. “Hey, we’re grabbing drinks at The Otter’s Rock. You coming?”
“Who’s going?” I asked.
“The usual suspects. But Grace can’t make it so I asked Pollie if she wanted to come.”
“Ugh, you did?”
“You can bring that date of yours. Did it work out?”
I gave him a sour face. “One drunken dating app decision. One,” I said, jabbing a finger at him. “Can we let it die in peace like it deserves?” The date had been completely forgettable. Not only was the guy creepy and overconfident, I’d been unable to stop thinking of Dominic the whole time. I told myself it was kind of like what happened when I watched scary movies and couldn’t stop freaking myself out. It was a bad obsession. That was Dominic. He was my recurring nightmare, even if he sometimes invaded my dreams and did horrible, dirty things to me.
“Sure, but, uh, I forgot my wallet.” Farhad pulled a face, clearly trying to impersonate my bad date. “Do you happen to–”
I slapped him on the chest, grinning. “Shut up.” I had given Farhad and Elizabeth a full run-down of the disaster of my date. Aside from not clicking with him, my date was also a borderline conman when it came to getting free meals. The conversation had been single syllables from his end and long rants about my career and father from mine. I left feeling emptied out and unheard. He left with a free steak dinner and a few beers. Then I’d made the mistake of telling my friends about it, and now they couldn’t stop giving me shit.
Ever since the hangover from hell followed me into a day of working for Dominic, I decided I was going to be a one drink girl for the foreseeable future. I ordered something fruity and girly with a little umbrella and sipped it at the bar while listening to Elizabeth rant about how some survival show she watched was pissing her off.
“Seriously, it’s obnoxious. Like she claims she has a sort of British accent because she ‘grew up’ in the UK. But she was born in the US and didn’t move to the UK until she was way older. Like twenty or something. You don’t just get an accent like that.”
“I’m pretty sure I heard it’s seven years old,” Pollie said. “Like if you live somewhere under the age of seven, you’re more likely to develop a permanent accent. But after seven it’s not really likely.”
“See?” Elizabeth said, jabbing a finger at Pollie. “Science has my back on this. The lady is full of shit. One second it’s bollocks this and rubbish and the next she sounds like she’s straight out of the midwest. I’m going to lose my mind if she’s not off the show soon.”
“You could try watching something with substance instead,” Farhad suggested.
“Ew,” Elizabeth curled her lip at him. “Like what, nature documentaries where monkeys hump each other?”
Farhad shook his head. “Believe it or not, there’s a pretty wide range of content out there between reality TV with accent confused women and monkey humping. Explore it sometime. You may find something you like.”
“Why do we bring him again?” Elizabeth asked me. “And that’s not a rhetorical question, Darcy. You’re being too quiet tonight. Please, make a case for Farhad’s continued existence in our friend group. If you fail, he’ll be immediately exiled.”
I rolled my eyes but pushed my drink back and took a breath, thinking hard. “Okay, well… Farhad doesn’t hit on any of us, but he’s great to have around when creeps try to flirt and we want them to get lost. So he’s basically a portable pretend boyfriend. He also–”
“Really?” he asked. “You’re going to lead with that as my best quality?”
“Hey, you have to know your audience when debating,” I said. “I’m just focusing on the things Elizabeth will appreciate most.”
He sighed. “Fair.”
“He’s also pretty good at telling us if our outfits suck or if they’re cute. Uhh,” I put my finger to my chin, pretending I couldn’t think of anything else. I winced and gave him an apologetic shrug.
Everyone laughed and Farhad shook his head at me, grinning.
“Exiled!” Elizabeth shouted loud enough for the whole bar to hear.
There was a lull in the conversation that turned into dead silence when we saw who was entering the bar. Mr. Lockwood, Marcus, and two beautiful women came in through the door.
“No fucking way,” Elizabeth whispered. “Shit! I didn’t even shave down there tonight. I was planning on getting wasted and busting out the toy collection with a good book instead of dealing with an actual man. Does anyone have a razor and some shaving cream? Hell, I’ll settle for a pair of tweezers.”