Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
I nod. “Yeah, that’s what he was always talking to me about when he called.”
“You’re such a moron.” She rolls her eyes. “Dad didn’t want you here. He just wanted you to be at peace. I know you probably couldn’t see it at the time, but you were so unhappy with the work you were doing in the city. We were all watching you slide into the darkness while you were working those homicide investigations. He worried that it would get to you one day.”
I absorb her words, turning them over in my mind. I hadn’t realized how much of the darkness my family recognized. I thought I was doing a better job of hiding it, of bearing up under the weight of things that were tearing my heart out. “He wasn’t disappointed in me?”
She pushes to her feet. “He was so proud of you. We all are. Though if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny it.”
I chuckle. Piper tries to act tough but she’s a sweet little marshmallow underneath it all. I hope she finds someone who recognizes that. I mean, officially I’ll have to threaten the guy and pretend I hate him. But I’d like to see her happy.
“Now go find your romance writer.” She bounds out of the room.
Before I can get back to my forms, my phone dings with a voicemail notification. I frown when I see it’s from Zoey. She must have sent it earlier when I was out in the field.
Pressing play, I listen as she says in a tone that sounds far too chipper, “Hey, Brock. Just returning your call. I’ve had fun with you the past three days. You were exactly the distraction I needed to get out of my writing rut. This has been a great vacation fling. We should do it again sometime.”
I pull my phone away from my ear, certain that I’ve misheard her. But after playing it through three more times, I know exactly what I heard and now, I’m even more ticked off. Little sweet cheeks thinks that she can just skip out on me. Hell to the no. I am claiming Zoey, the same way she claimed my heart.
12
ZOEY
I left Brock’s house and took one of those overpaid cab rides to my cabin. But I didn’t let myself cry until I was alone. I sank to my butt on the floor behind the front door and started ugly sobbing right there.
The truth is that I could call my Galentine’s friends and they’d surround me in a second. Emmy would offer chocolate chip ice cream and Paige would find me a pitcher of Sangria. Clover would let me cry on her shoulder and promise me that it would all work out in the end.
Mina would offer to kick his ass while Cassia would stage a dramatic confrontation with him for me. Somewhere big and important like in the middle of his workplace. She’d probably even film the whole thing and put it online, gaining me viral sympathy.
I shake my head at the thought of my friends and their fierce loyalty. As much as I love them for it, I’m not ready to share this pain with anyone else. I’m tired of this. I’m tired of always being second choice.
As if she senses that I need a good putdown, my sister calls. I answer because why the hell not. If you’ve already taken ten kicks to the lady balls, what’s one more at this point?
“Hey, I caught you,” Zola sounds genuinely surprised and not all that happy. “Normally, I get your voicemail at this time of day.”
“Let me guess. Right now, you’re in a beautiful location with a hot guy and you’re making more money than you ever dreamed possible while listening to a director tell you that you’re beautiful. Have I summed it up?” Normally, I’m a little nicer to my sister but today, I’m angry. It’s not something I’ve ever let myself feel when it came to her.
“Has something crawled up your ass today?” She demands in the usual belligerent tone she gets when she’s challenged by someone who calls out her bad behavior.
“You slept with my boyfriend. You cheated with him.” Just saying the words out loud to her makes me feel powerful. We’ve never talked about this. We just carried on like everything was normal when it wasn’t.
“That was three years ago. Get over it.”
I don’t know what I expected her to say but it definitely wasn’t that. It’s not as if I thought she’d offer me an apology or something. But I figured she’d at least go for a lame-ass excuse. “You knew I liked him, and you were sleeping with him.”
“Yeah, for about a year. I can’t believe you kept buying his bullshit about wanting to respect you. The only reason he started dating you in the first place was because he wanted to get to me. He told me that. We used to laugh about how pathetic you are.”