Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“I was going to tell you today,” I say. “I fucking swear. I just finished talking to Nolan about how we needed to change the plan. Actually,” I laugh, but the sound is humorless. “That’s why you’re finding out when you did. He got pissed and sabotaged us to get back at me for backing out of the plan.” I move around the desk, reaching for her hands.
“Don’t!” she snaps, backing away and pulling her hands up defensively. “Don’t,” she says more softly, eyes meeting mine.
“Charli,” the word sounds pathetic to my own ears. I can’t think of what else to say, but it feels like my fucking insides are being ripped out and I can barely string a coherent thought together.
She shakes her head. “I really should thank you. Vaughn taught me how dangerous it is to trust people with your heart. I was dumb enough to go right back and hand it to you. Now there’s really no excuse for me anymore. No more stupid Charli. I’m going to be smart from now on. That starts with walking away from this. From you.”
Those last two words hit me like punches. I search for the right words, but what the fuck can I say? Tell her I did plan to gently screw her over originally, but I just changed my mind? Tell her again that I really was about to tell her the truth? She’s right. I was willing to betray her trust. Maybe that’s all that matters.
I hang my head and hear the door click shut a moment later.
When Charli leaves the room, it feels like all the color from my life drains away–all the color I hadn’t realized was seeping into the lines these past few weeks. It leaves with her.
21
CHARLI
“Done,” I say. I click the laptop shut and look up at Dani, who is studying something out of a textbook and still wearing her scrubs from work on my couch.
“Done?” she asks.
“Done!” I say, smiling a little.
“I thought you were already done,” she says, eyebrows creased.
“Done editing, doofus,” I say. “It’s kind of a big part of the process, and part I still needed to do. I couldn’t bring myself to until I knew the book was actually mine again. But I finished it. I really finished it. Signed, sealed, and ready to deliver.” I wait, then smile and lift my hands up. “That means we celebrate!”
Dani leaps up, pumping her fists and laughing as we dance around with no coordination or rhythm. It’s a beautiful, chaotic moment of fist pumping, booty shaking, and hugging. When we settle back down, her expression tells me she’s about to ask me something she knows I won’t want to talk about. That means it’s about Jameson.
For the past month, Dani hasn’t given it up. Her attempts to talk about what happened lurk around every corner like the bad guy in a scary movie–and that’s exactly how talking about it makes me feel. I want to run, scream, or fall to the ground and curl in a ball when I think about it.
It physically hurts to think about. I remember how happy I was. Jameson didn’t come into my life with a bag of tools, a know-it-all mentality, and start trying to fix me. He was like a bright light that shined into all my dark places, forcing me to see myself for what I really am. He showed me my flaws as well as the good parts. He made me see I’m worth standing up for–that I should have been speaking up all along and defending myself. But then he went and screwed it all up by making me use that lesson to push him out of my life, because I do deserve better than being lied to. Don’t I?
I think about the weirdness and wildness of Jameson and so many parts of me long to go back, but I know I can’t. Except maybe I could. That’s the part that haunts me the most. I could go right back to him, but I’m convinced I need to stay strong and stay away from Jameson Wolfe.
“Are you going to tell him you finished the book?” she asks.
“Why would I do that?” My tone is harsher than I intend, but I can’t help it. It has been four weeks and three days since I stormed out of his office. Four weeks and three days since his legal team helped me get the rights to my story pulled from Landmark. I haven’t contacted Vaughn, Aubrey, or anyone else at Gray Wolfe. All I know is I’ve been given the go-ahead by the legal team to resume treating the story like it’s mine, and their assurances that nobody else is going to publish it. They even made sure my copyright status is ironclad as a favor to make sure I can rest easy against any other forms of piracy.