Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 73462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
I run inside. “Alex, Sebastian! Brett!” I yell.
Evangeline comes running out of the kitchen. “What are you going on about, Misty?”
“Where are the men?” I demand. “Tell me now, Evie, or I swear I’ll—”
She yanks my arm so hard I’m afraid she may have pulled it out of the socket. “Quiet, Misty. Stop it, already. I got you here. I’ve done my part, so quit throwing what you know in my face.”
I look at Evangeline, at her long dark hair pulled back into a long braid, her thick Goth eyebrows, her red lips. She’s quite a beauty if you like the type.
Definitely not my father’s type, though. Which means…
I can’t go there right now. Not when my long-lost brother has come back from the dead.
Jake is alive, but I don’t know where he is. Alex ran off with Sebastian, and I don’t know where they went. I don’t know where I should go, except…
“Evangeline,” I say, “please. Just tell me where the men went.”
“How am I supposed to know?”
“Uh…because you’re running this event? Alex and Ariel were scouting wedding sites when I ran into them on the beach, and then Sebastian came running, said Jake was alive, and he was here.”
Evangeline raises her thin eyebrows. “Who the hell is Jake?”
“Evie, damn it!” I throw up my hands and walk briskly through the first floor of the mansion, looking in every room. Nothing.
Some of the women are on the deck eating lunch, but not a man in sight.
I run past them and check the pool area and changing rooms.
Again, nothing.
The island isn’t huge, but they could be anywhere. I run back to the beach and follow the shoreline.
I run and I run and I run until my chest burns the way it used to when my father forced me to stay underwater.
And I do what I did then.
I keep going.
Keep running.
Until in the distance…
I see them.
Five figures.
Five men.
Three with dark hair—Alex, Sebastian, River.
And two blonds.
One is Brett, and the other…
The other can only be my brother.
“Jake!” I yell, sucking in air as I race toward their huddle.
As I near them, they turn as one, their expressions ranging from shock to incredulity. Brett is the first to break away from the group, rushing toward me with a horrified look on his face.
"Misty! No!" He bellows as he tries to intercept me, but he's too late.
I stumble and fall into the sand just feet away from the group, my breath coming in harsh gasps as I struggle to fill my burning lungs with air. But I don't care about that. All I see is him. Jake. My brother.
He's taller than I imagined, with broad shoulders and sun-kissed hair. He's older too—not the young boy Brett described, but a mature man in his prime. His eyes widen as he turns and looks my way, his face twisted in confusion.
“Misty,” Brett says again. “You can’t be here. Not yet. He doesn’t know.”
“I don’t know what?” Jake asks.
“That I’m your sister,” I say, my breath coming in rapid puffs. “They told me you were dead, Jake. They told me you were dead.” I stumble forward, my head spinning.
“Misty!” Brett lunges at me, catching me.
A moment later, I’m lying on the land, the sun above me, five faces looking down at me.
“She’s okay,” Brett says. “Her breathing’s getting back to normal.”
“Misty.” River’s deep voice. “You shouldn’t have run so hard.”
Ten eyes stare at me, concern shining in them. But all I can see are the blue ones that look so much like my own, with golden hair falling into them.
“Jake,” I murmur. “My brother…”
“River,” says a voice I don’t recognize. It’s coming from my brother. “Is this her?”
EPISODE 201
ALL THAT JAZZ
Sienna
Emily and I make our way to the beach to look for the men when Ariel waylays us, followed by Evangeline, Ariel’s mom, and Ariel’s friend Jazz.
Jazz is a sassy blonde—just the type I hated back in high school. She would have called me a nerd and probably stuffed a fake love note from an imaginary admirer in my locker just to watch me blush and get my hopes up before she and her friends laughed about it later. Or maybe she would have gone the classic route—accidentally spilling her soda in my backpack, smirking as my books soaked through. As the resident wallflower in my youth, I’m well-versed in mean girls.
In fact, when I imagined Stephanie, the stripper that Leroy dumped me for…
She looked exactly like Jazz.
Leroy told me she was blond with green eyes. Jazz is blond with blue eyes. Close enough.
I dislike her on principle.
But Ariel comes first.
“Emily, Sienna!” Ariel says, smiling. “Isn’t this the perfect spot for the wedding tomorrow?”
Emily and I look at each other.
Damn. That’s right. Alex and Ariel are getting married tomorrow. Does she even know that her intended’s old friend has risen from the dead?