Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“The new friends I’m going to get?” I whispered, unable to raise my voice further, because that hurt most of all.
“The boys at NI&S do well. But Mace and Stella don’t have that huge fuckin’ compound in Paradise Valley because Mace is worth a couple hundred million dollars. It’s because Stella is. You’re gonna aim for the top, and bein’ you, you’re gonna get it.”
I again asked a question I didn’t want the answer to. “Being me?”
He moved away enough to take in my tulip lamp, my glass mushroom, the baby-pink, shell-shaped toss pillow on my seafoam-green couch, then back to me.
And then he dealt his death blow.
“Everything about you is designed to land a man who’ll take care of you the way you expect him to.”
I vaguely noticed the flicker of remorse that flashed in his eyes when there was no way to hide my reaction.
That reaction being, I flinched like his words were a physical blow and I instantly stepped away from him like he was a threat.
“Harlow—” he started, the tone of his deep, gruff voice no longer irritable and matter-of fact, the mask he’d kept on his handsome face dropping, but I refused to read what it said.
I backed away to my bean bag, not taking my eyes from his as I bent to the side and nabbed my clutch.
“Babe,” he murmured, not moving but tracking my movements closely, that look on his face demanding to be let into my brain as I battened the hatches to keep it out.
I continued to keep my eyes on him as I backed down my hall to my bedroom, just as Javi continued to watch me.
I closed the door between us and locked it, not that it would keep him out if he wanted to get in.
But he didn’t try to get in.
I didn’t hear the front door close, so to make my point, I did what any self-respecting girl would do.
I dug my phone out of my clutch, opened my Sonos app to the apartment-wide speaker system that, yes, my father bought me for Christmas, and it was expensive, and I activated it.
I then played Taylor Swift’s “The Prophecy,” because everyone knew Tay-Tay could say it better than anyone.
I didn’t know if Javi got it.
I just knew, when the song was over, I heard the front door slam.
And that was when I threw myself on my bed and did what came naturally.
I let myself be weak.
Which meant I shoved my face in my comforter…
And I sobbed.
TWO
“THE 1”
(TAYLOR SWIFT)
It didn’t take long for a knock to come at my bedroom door.
I knew it wasn’t Javi.
I was proved correct when I heard Jessie call, “Harlow, are you okay?”
No.
No, I was not okay.
The most beautiful man with the biggest heart I’d ever met, a man who I could easily convince myself I was already half in love with, didn’t have a big enough heart to fit me in it and he didn’t have any compunction about sharing that with me.
So yeah.
No.
I was not okay.
I heard Jessie try the door.
Thus, I sniffled back my tears, pushed up from my bed, swiped at my eyes (coming away with a false eyelash…fabulous) and got off my bed.
I opened the door.
My bestest bestie of all my besties, Jessie, stood there, the rest of my besties at her back.
At one look at me, Shanti’s and Willow’s eyes got huge.
Jessie’s, Raye’s and Luna’s got thin.
“What happened?” Jessie rapped out.
“Can I not talk about it?” I asked.
“Javi made you cry?” Raye inquired, sounding shocked.
As she would (see the “biggest heart” note).
“Again, can I not talk about it?” I requested.
They all looked at each other.
I sucked in a very deep breath in order to pull myself together.
It didn’t work.
Per experience, I knew this was because I hadn’t had near enough time to wallow and feel sorry for myself.
So I took another big breath.
That worked (kinda).
“We need a new game plan,” I announced. “Now we have to tackle both Kev and Trev, and my cover’s been blown. Not truthfully, but I’m thinking Kev probably unmatched me.”
Everyone stared at me, and I had a feeling it wasn’t because I only had one false eyelash remaining.
“I think we can assume Trev is in on it,” I went on.
“How did Javi know you were there?” Luna asked.
Hmm.
It might have been good if I inquired about that sometime between instigating my fume and him ripping my heart out and kicking it around my super cute living room.
“I didn’t ask,” I said.
This got me weird looks, and I understood them, because if I had’ve been thinking clearly, that should have been one of my first questions.
“What did you two talk about on your way here?” Raye entered the interrogation.
“Not much, since I was fuming,” I replied.
“Uh-oh, The Fume,” Luna said under her breath.
“The Fume?” Willow asked.