Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Coach,” he says and I nod at him.
“Unless I get fired tonight,” I sigh and he walks out of the house, and the sound of the front door slamming has me exhaling in relief.
I wait a full two minutes before I get up and walk to the front door, locking it and then looking outside. “He’s gone,” I call loud enough that she can hear me and come out of her hiding spot.
I walk over to the kitchen and open the top cabinet, grabbing the whiskey out of it and then pouring myself a glass. I take the shot as she walks into the kitchen, putting the glass down on the island and then extending my hands to the sides, hanging my head. “Well, that was something,” she says, walking over to me and standing beside me. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I admit. I look over at her and see her eyes are red. “But I’m going to be, I guess.” I raise a hand to cup her cheek. “How much of that did you hear?”
“I wasn’t locked in a soundproof room.” She tries to make me smile. “Pretty much all of it. I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I ask her, turning and leaning my hip into the counter.
“For my part in it,” she says, looking down, and I put my finger under her chin and lift it up so she’s looking at me.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Victoria?” I ask her, my heart hammering in my chest for a whole different reason.
“This is one of the reasons why you didn’t want to get involved, and I sort of pushed you.” She grabs the glass of whiskey that I poured for myself and swallows down a gulp and then hisses. “That’s disgusting,” she says, coughing. “Why would you drink that?” She walks over to get a glass and then fills it with water. She takes two full sips before she turns to me. “You said you had to focus on work and your head had to be in the game.”
“I did.” I nod, waiting for her to get whatever it is she needs to get off her chest.
“And instead of just stepping back and letting you do what you needed to do, I was full of my awesomeness and I forced you into this.”
“Your awesomeness?” I try not to make a joke, but the grin comes out.
“Well, I pushed you too far and you snapped,” she says softly, “and maybe you were right.” My eyebrows pinch together.
“Are you breaking up with me?” I say, trying to remain calm.
“No, I’m just giving you an out,” she offers.
“You’re giving me an out.” I fold my arms over my chest. “What if I don’t want an out, Victoria?” I turn it around and ask her the question. “What if you are the best fucking thing that has happened to me in the clusterfuck that has been the last couple of months?” She just stares at me. “What if you’re the one I’ve been waiting on my whole life, and you just walk out the door and I let you?” Her eyes go big. “What would that say about me?”
“That you’re stupid,” she retorts. “I was trying to help.”
“By breaking up with me?” I shake my head and reach for the glass. “Wow.”
“Don’t you fucking wow me, Zane Lincoln Gilmore,” she barks, and I try to hide the smirk with the glass in front of me. “I’m trying not to put more pressure on you.”
“Then stop trying to break up with me. You are always walking away from me.”
“I’m going to walk away from you in less than a second if you don’t quit it,” she snaps at me.
I grip her hips and put her on the counter, where she was before her brother came in. She opens her legs, letting me in, and I push her hair off her shoulder so I can have access to her neck. “You,” I say, kissing her neck gently and she moves her shoulder up and her body shivers under my kiss, “are the only light in all of this. There is so much shit going on in the rest of my life that you are my saving grace.” I push the other side of her hair behind her as I kiss the other side of her neck. “I’m sorry it’s not going to be all roses,” I tell her as she drapes her arms over my shoulders. “I wish it was. I wish I wasn’t butting heads with your brother. Wish my team was riding high the way they should be, and I really wish you weren’t here for that conversation.”
Her hands move from my shoulder to my chest. “He was out of line,” she states softly. “If he wanted to say what he did, he should not have come to your house to do it.”