Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 132097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
It worked.
I upped my scores just enough to pass that year. I lied to my parents about why. They wouldn’t have understood it if I’d told them, taking the old man’s wisdom to heart.
Damn, I miss him sometimes.
He left his mark.
Because of Gramps, I’m somehow about to fake-marry Pages and consider a deal with the devil.
Maybe I’m not as doomed as I always thought.
Maybe it’s not too late to make Gramps proud one last time.
13
ALL THE GHOSTS (HATTIE)
Margot holds out her arms as she walks along the dock, her smiling face tilted to the sun.
I asked her to meet me, but now that she’s here, I can’t remember what I planned to say.
Hi, Margot.
So, I’m sleeping with your brother.
Yes, the one you thought I couldn’t stand.
Yes, my soon-to-be fake husband.
Yes, it’s still fake. But the sex is real.
No, I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.
Brutal.
Absolutely not the conversation you want to have with your best friend.
But I’m afraid it needs to happen because this thing with Ethan keeps happening. More than once.
I just spent the weekend with him and a whole week later, I can still feel every blistering kiss.
Margot, she’ll understand (I hope).
I can’t lie to save my life, and she should have the truth. It’s only fair she knows, right?
I just dread telling her, but I guess that’s the price of sexy mistakes.
She loops her long blonde hair into a bun as we make small talk about the bookstore, strolling past enormous fishing boats and private yachts with long sleek noses and too many windows.
Leonidas used to take us to this marina when we were kids. It still feels like there’s a part of his ghost on the breeze. He’s one with the lapping sea and the squawking seagulls overhead.
A cute chubby harbor seal floats by, diving back underwater when it sees us.
There’s an old man fishing off the end of the docks, one leg dangling lazily into the water.
I smile, remembering how much Leonidas loved fishing. Ethan was usually the one going out with him, though.
Margot preferred to sunbathe, and I preferred my books. Sun and scenery, that’s just fine, but I was never big into fish guts.
“So, what’s up besides working yourself raw?” she prompts when I don’t launch into what’s bothering me.
She can read me way too well.
I sigh. “Okay, so… first, you have to promise you won’t freak out.”
The corners of her mouth turn down.
“You do know that’s like the one thing you could say to make me freak?”
“Yeah.” I squirm. “But if you could just not, that’d be helpful.”
“Right. Okay, Hattie. Whatever it is, let’s hear it so we can grade it on the freakout scale. Oh no.” She winces.
“What?” My eyes snap to her.
“Don’t tell me you’re turning the bookstore into a hookah bar?” She sighs dramatically, rubbing her face.
“Tempting, but no.”
“Pity.” She bats her blue eyes, and they look way too much like Ethan’s today.
I’m so screwed.
“I can keep guessing if you want,” she says. “But it might be better if you just spit it out.”
The sun suddenly feels blazing on my shoulders.
I’m going to burn out here if I’m not careful.
I’m also not remotely ready to tell her, but I can’t put it off any longer.
With a deep breath, I pull every bit of courage from my depths.
“So, um, Ethan and I… we kinda slept together,” I blurt out.
Silence.
Lovely.
I close my eyes where we’re standing, ships swaying on either side of us, blank windows staring, pointed noses too sharp.
Margot stares at me in stunned silence.
When I risk a quick peek at her, she’s scowling in a way that would make Ethan proud.
“You slept with my brother,” she says slowly like the words are foreign.
Oof, not a good start.
“Yes,” I say.
“Hattie, why?”
“Things got weird. And we got carried away.”
Several times.
Several brilliant, breathless, sheet-ripping times.
“I don’t get it.” Margot twists her lips like it’s a struggle to digest the news. “I thought you hated him.”
“I did. Back when we were kids for sure. But now, he’s different. He’s not so bad. He’s—” I bite my lip as I try to think of the perfect adjective. “He’s nicer.”
“I knew it!” She snaps her fingers. “Fucking Ethan. I knew my idiot brother would make a mess of this somehow. I predicted it the second you agreed. He’s dead.”
“Wait!” My protest is weak. “It’s not just his fault.”
“No? Well, whose fault is it, Hattie? Did he trick you into falling on his dick?”
“There’s no one to blame, actually. That isn’t it at all…” I trail off again at the murderous look on her face. “He didn’t force me into anything. I was a willing participant.”
“Of course you were!” She gestures at the sky in clear exasperation. “It’s Ethan. You know he fucks a new girl every week.”
My heart shakes like it’s been kicked.
Is she right?