Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
A black sedan pulled up, and I glanced at the tag to make sure it matched the one on my Uber app. Seeing that it did, I said nothing more to him and hurried to the passenger door, jerking it open. There was no rule that stated I had to stand here and take that. He had no idea what he was talking about. And I would never have taken off my wedding bands when I had been married to get a man to do something for me or to get my way. Insinuating that I would was nasty and insulting.
Often, over the years, I had thought that perhaps the boy I had loved died that day with his mother. He’d never been the same. He had changed from that day forward. He’d cheated on me. Dropped me from his life as if he had never felt anything for me at all.
The Rome I had known and loved was no more. He’d been gone for a very long time. Left in his place was a barbaric biker named Tex.
8
Salem
Twenty-One Years Ago
The attention we were drawing made this less enjoyable. Tyler Creets carrying my book bag and walking me out to the parking lot after school had been nice, until I realized that every set of eyes we passed, including the faculty and staff, seemed to be watching. It wasn’t me they were curious about. It was him. Tyler’s life was something they were all fascinated with and wanted to be a part of. He was new this year, and it was his first time attending an actual high school.
Since the age of five, Tyler had been a television star. He’d starred in two different hit series. The one he was widely known for had run for nine seasons. He had wanted to take a break from the screen and moved to live with his dad in Ocala. His mother was still in his house in Beverly Hills, but from what he’d told me over the past few days, he was burned out. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to that life.
His dad was an equine veterinarian, which was why he was in Ocala—since it was the horse capital of the world. His parents had divorced when he was seven. His dad had been against him being so young and on set all the time. It had caused fights because his mother was the one who had gotten him into that life to begin with.
He liked to talk about himself, and I listened. I did not like to talk about my life, so having someone not ask me anything was a relief.
“You sure I can’t take you home?” he asked me for the third time.
“Vanna, uh, Mrs. Bower is waiting on me. She had a doctor’s appointment today, but she said she’d be back to get me,” I explained.
This was her fifth doctor’s appointment this month. I had asked her if she was okay, and she’d assured me she was just behind on all her checkups. But five? That was a lot, wasn’t it?
“Maybe tomorrow then. You could ask her?”
I simply nodded. Tyler was attractive, but I felt as if he might like me more than I did him.
Scanning the parking lot, I looked for Vanna’s car. The familiar truck I found instead sent my stomach into a fit of flutters, even before I saw Rome leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes fixed on me. I hadn’t seen him in a week. I’d casually mentioned him not coming for dinner the other night, and Vanna had said he was busy with some new girl. That information had sent my mood spiraling.
He lifted his chin slightly at me, and I wanted to snatch my book bag off Tyler’s shoulder and sprint to the truck.
Thank you, Vanna!
“Do you know that guy?” Tyler asked.
I swung my gaze back to him, unable to stop smiling like an idiot.
“Yes. That’s Mrs. Bower’s son. She must have sent him to pick me up,” I explained.
Tyler frowned. “I could have taken you. I still can. Would she mind?”
I didn’t know, but I would mind. Nothing was going to stop me from having a chance to sit in Rome’s truck and have time with him.
“I’d feel bad. He came all this way. He works in Ocala. So, I don’t want to tell him he came for nothing.”
Tyler didn’t seem thrilled about it as he looked back at Rome. He continued to hold my bag as we walked over to Rome’s truck.
“He might have something else he needs to do,” Tyler suggested.
I scrambled to think of something to say to keep him from asking Rome if he could take me. I was sure Rome would take him up on it. Either I was imagining it or he had been going out of his way to avoid me since he’d brought me home on his bike two months ago. I’d tried to think of what I could have done, and I didn’t know.