Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
“But what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to work at Wright.”
Chase’s frown deepened. “You are?”
“I already worked it out with Morgan,” I told him, mentioning my cousin and the current CEO. “I asked her not to tell anyone else yet because I wasn’t ready. But I’m going to work in human resources and deal with the development of better inclusion programs. Hopefully, next fall, I’ll get a Masters at Tech to supplement my work here. Maybe get a PhD later if I want to make myself even more of an expert in the field so that I can facilitate change in more Fortune 500 companies.”
“And that’s what you want to do?” he confirmed. “Nothing to do with…me?”
“You’re a bonus,” I said with a laugh.
“Well, good. I’m happy for you. I’m glad you figured out what you wanted to do. I wasn’t looking forward to you leaving, but I would have been there for you.”
I nodded. “I know. I just have to…figure out how to tell everyone else now. They’re all so proud of me.”
“You lit up, talking about what you want to do. That’s all they should care about.” He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. “If you change your mind, law school is always available to you.”
“I don’t think I’ll change my mind, but this is it. This is what I’m planning.”
“You’re going to be magnificent.”
I snuggled in closer to him, a deep sense of relief falling on my shoulders. I’d been so worried about everything. Harvard. My dad. My future. And I decided to do exactly what Chase had told me. I took everything else out of the picture. And at the end of it, I hadn’t wanted Harvard.
I mean, I had. In the sense that I’d always thought I’d become a lawyer.
But it was the name that was the draw. The sense of accomplishment that I’d chased my whole life.
It wasn’t what I wanted. It’d have been three more years of difficult work that I wasn’t even sure I wanted. Someone else deserved that spot in the end. Not me.
I was so content that I nearly fell asleep in Chase’s arms when a knock came from the front door.
Chase yawned. “I thought Bailey wasn’t coming home.”
“I didn’t think she was. Maybe she had to get something and didn’t want to barge inside in case we were naked.”
He laughed. “That’s fair. I’ll come say hi.”
I grabbed my nearest black T-shirt nightgown and tossed it over my head as I called out, “I’m coming, Bails!”
Chase was behind me, searching for the remainder of his suit so that he might be decent for my roommate. “Jesus, where the fuck did my shirt go?”
I laughed when I saw he was shirtless but in slacks. “Could you get dressed already?”
“I’m trying, Jesus. What did you do with my clothes?”
“Tore them off your body,” I said with a smirk.
“Yeah, yeah.”
I turned to the door and peeked through the hole. “Oh my God!”
“What?” he asked, stilling at the utter terror in my voice.
“It’s my brothers.”
“What?”
“All four of them. Oh my God, hide!”
Another knock on the door.
“Harley! We know you’re in there!”
“Hide!” I insisted. “Go, go, go!”
Chase ground his teeth together and then nodded, hustling back into my bedroom. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my shaking hands. What in the fuck were they doing here?
Then, I opened the door.
26
Harley
“Heyyy,” I drawled. My eyes tracked between my four brothers. “What are y’all doing here?”
“You left the party,” Whitt accused.
“You thought we wouldn’t notice?” Jordan asked.
I swallowed hard. This wasn’t about Chase. They wouldn’t know about Chase. I could hide this for a little longer and tell them on my own terms. Not that it explained what they were doing here.
“Mom told me to leave.”
West pushed past me and into the house. “Well, I don’t know why she did that, but it doesn’t sound like her.”
The rest of my brothers followed into the small living space.
“Come on in,” I muttered under my breath as my four hulking brothers took up the entirety of my house.
My eyes skittered to my closed bedroom door and back. At least they wouldn’t have any reason to go in there. Chase was safe for now. Safe until we figured out what we were going to do.
“I don’t know why any of y’all are here. I just left my party. Who cares?” My voice was shaking. I didn’t even sound like myself.
They were going to know. They were going to know. Fuck.
My brothers looked between themselves and finally nodded at Jordan.
“Owen called,” he admitted.
Oh no.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Had he told them about Chase? Had they come here, knowing that we’d been together? Were they going to barge into the room to find him? I honestly wouldn’t put it past them. There was a reason that we’d been hiding all this time. I was over this chauvinistic bullshit, but my brothers were intimidating on a good day. All four of them together, towering over me with their disapproval, was a lot.