Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“I wish you’d gotten a real proposal out of him.” Nee took hold of my left hand, her fingers stroking over my beautiful engagement ring. “I mean, if he chooses this perfect a ring, I bet Murray’s proposal would have been phenomenal.”
“I think his performance at the Lantern should count, no?” Taran teased.
Cammie pretended to fan herself. “Fuck, aye. That was the hottest and most romantic thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“People are still talking about it,” Taran agreed. “They think you two must be very much in love.”
There was more than a little hint of a question in her tone.
“Are you in love?” Cammie asked with her usual bluntness.
Deciding I was safe here with these women, my best friends, I nodded. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone. But that also scares the hell out of me.”
“Murray has reason to be scared too,” Taran offered gently. “But he pretty much told you with that song in the Lantern that he loves you.”
“Yeah, but Spoon deserves to hear him actually say the words.”
While Nee was right, she was also wrong. “I think, especially after our fight yesterday, that Murray deserves for me to say them first. And honestly, it wouldn’t just be for him. It would be for me. It would prove to me that Nick didn’t win. He didn’t ruin my chance at real love.”
Taran wrapped an arm around me, giving me a squeeze of encouragement while Nee beamed broadly. “I’m proud of you, Spoon.”
“Proud of you, Silver,” I said, my old nickname for her.
“Hey. Together your nicknames are Silverspoon.” Cammie chuckled. “Kind of perfect for two rich kids from Manhattan.”
I snorted. “Yeah, that was kind of the point.”
Cammie tapped the heel of her hand off her forehead. “Uh, duh.”
We chuckled, and I screwed my face up at Nee, pretending to be pissed. “Ramsay commandeered it. He got all possessive over her maiden name because he doesn’t call Nee anything else but Silver, so I had to give up my rights to it.”
“It just got weird.” Nee gave me an apologetic look. “I can’t hear anyone but him say it now.”
“Why?” Cammie winked. “Because he says it all sexy to you.”
Nee nodded. “Uh, yeah. Exactly that.”
We filled the pub with our raucous laughter, and it was almost, but not quite, a perfect moment. My horrible argument with Murray still weighed on me, making me impatient to get back to him.
To make everything right between us again.
39. London
We were on the ferry to Glenvulin, so close to the harbor I could see Murray and Kelly waiting for me at the dock. They waved frantically and my heart leapt into my throat. Murray wasn’t mad at me. He was here, waiting.
Suddenly, however, I realized the ferry was turning away from the island. Confused, I glanced back at the girls, but they were gone. The outside seating area was empty. I looked back at Leth Sholas, at Murray and Kelly becoming smaller and smaller the farther the boat traveled away. “Wait!” I yelled to whomever was steering the ferry. “Turn back!”
“Why?”
My heart froze as Nick stepped out onto the deck, hands in his suit pockets, silk shirt unbuttoned at the throat. The breeze from the water blew through his hair and his eyes were as hard as his jawline.
“I’m taking you home, London. Where you belong.”
“I don’t belong with you.”
“You don’t belong with them.” He jerked his chin toward the harbor.
Murray and Kelly were walking away.
“No.” I rushed toward the railing. “Murray!”
But my shouts were swallowed by the sound of the ferry’s engine.
Sirens pierced the air, and I whirled around, bracing to face Nick. But he was gone. The sirens, however, grew louder and louder—
“London, wake up!” Taran appeared in front of me, reaching out to shake me. Hard. “Wake up!”
My eyes flew open and I gasped in panic at the sight of Taran’s face above mine in the low lamplight. Screaming sirens blasted my ears painfully, and I reached up to cover them. “Taran?”
She winced against the noise as she pulled back. “Fire alarm! We need to evacuate!”
Oh.
Oh! My surroundings rushed back to me. I was in the hotel with Taran.
Fire alarm!
Throwing back my covers, I stumbled sleepily out of bed and reached for my jeans, hauling them on quickly and stuffing my feet into my sneakers. Taran had already thrown her jeans over her pajamas and had her boots on.
We opened the hotel room door to discover the hallway was pitch black except for the flare of a blue alarm light that lit up the corridor in flashes. Other people were already making their way out of their rooms. Taran tugged on my hand, pulling me out with her.
“Nee! Cammie!” I shouted.
“They’re probably already out!”
A guy suddenly stumbled between us, breaking Taran’s hold on me, shuffling her farther along the hall with the guests. As we turned the corner toward the staircase, a man suddenly yelled, “The fire is moving toward us!”