Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 131387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“You’re acting like this is some kind of dire confession when nothing you’re saying seems out of hand after you found out what your jackass fiancé was up to,” he remarked.
“I changed my name,” I said quickly, thinking he’d think that was weird and extreme, or even unhinged. “There are more reasons than just this, but we can say, Bryce took his wife finding out he was cheating as some kind of boon. Like he was on a game show and could now officially pick door number one or door number two. I was door number two, and when he was, as it was in Bryce’s mind, given the choice, he picked me.”
“But you didn’t pick him,” he said.
I shook my head vehemently. “God no. Of course not. The man was living a double life, for heaven’s sake. Gave me this whole song and dance about how he traveled for work, when he was at home a few miles away with his wife and kids. And just to say, was also making one of those kids with his wife when he was also with me. He texted all the time ‘when he was away.’ Called all the time when he was ‘on the road.’ I honestly don’t know how he did it. Truthfully, how she didn’t catch him is a mystery. Then again, in the end, whatever he was doing, he wasn’t being as stealthy as he thought, because she did catch him.”
“Why are we talking about this now?”
“Well…look,” I said, pulled up the video on TikTok, turned it, tapped it and gave my phone to him.
He watched it, and when he was done, swiped the program closed, muttering, “How the fuck did that get so many hearts?”
“Likes,” I said automatically. “And, um…I don’t know. Maybe because you’re gorgeous.”
“And maybe it’s because you’re gorgeous,” he shot back.
I didn’t need him being sweet right now.
Though, with time to consider, if the owner of the MP Community TikTok went around filming some of the men who lived here in action, I was now seeing why tourism stayed so strong year long.
I pushed that thought aside and pointed out, “Hutch, it wasn’t me sinking twenty shots in a row.”
“I shouldn’t have asked the question,” he said tersely. “Let’s get back on target. I can see you don’t want to be on social media, babe. But it’s gonna be a thing for as long as those people have the attention span to give it, and since they exist to ping-pong from one thing to be pissed off about to another, you can just chill. It’ll blow over.”
“Bryce doesn’t know where I live.”
“Not surprised. It’s not his to know anymore.”
“Bryce is my Bree, Hutch. I just didn’t bother with the restraining order. I took off.”
Oh dear.
I could see immediately I shouldn’t have told him that.
“He’s stalking you?” he asked ominously.
I shook my head. “No. Not really. Just…not taking no for an answer. Not accepting I broke up with him. I blocked him on my phone, he went to my DMs. I went private, he started sending me flowers and gifts. He’d show at my house, though I wouldn’t open the door to him. He’d come to my work to”—I did air quotation marks—“‘take me to lunch,’ and I’d never know if he’d go away calmly or we’d have a thing. Though, more often than not, we had a thing.”
He extended his long arm to me and snapped. “Phone. And engage it.”
“What? Why?”
He dropped his arm. “You still got him programmed in?”
Yes, I did, in case things escalated and I needed evidence to present to authorities, so I didn’t delete anything, not even his contact. And I did this before I knew what Hutch told me about blocking a number and those comms would still be there.
I didn’t say that.
I just said, “Yes.”
“Right. Why I want your phone is because that was on the Misted Pines page. So that means he knows where you are. Which means he might be gearing up to do something that will bug you and piss me off. So I’m gonna call him and tell him to keep his ass home, because if he hauls it up here, it’ll be in a jail cell because we got a lot less patience in our hick town for men who don’t take no for an answer than those fucks in the big cities do.”
I wasn’t certain of his assertion (case in point, the cult next door).
However…
Part of me was curious to hear how he’d communicate that to Bryce.
Part of me wanted to hear him communicate that to Bryce.
All of me was wondering if this was a friends-with-benefits side benefit.
I’d never had such a friend.
Though, I sensed we were making it up as we went along.
“Babe,”—he did the arm extension, snapping thing again—“give me your phone.”