Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
I ponder his words and sigh. He has a point. Being alone with all of this is a lot. But I don’t want to worry any of my friends and family. Not yet, at least. “That’s nice of you. Even if you are breaking your word about leaving. But I would like to point out that I didn’t say we were soulmates. I just got out of a bad relationship and may or may not hate all men. I haven’t quite decided yet. It was the witch who—”
“We don’t need to keep talking about it,” he says, cranky as can be. “Any of it.”
“Fine.” I pour myself another glass of champagne. “Why don’t we sit here in silence, then? Let’s just not talk at all.”
“Sounds good to me.”
4
“You cannot be serious,” Alistair interrupts me. He’s such an entitled prick. Though the Scottish half of his accent gets stronger when he’s wound up. Which is hot.
I don’t really know much about his background. The bulk of it happened before I was born and on the other side of the world. How the future king of England was dating someone deemed unsuitable. Then she disappeared from the London scene, and nothing was heard from her for years. Not until news of her (mostly) secret baby was revealed. Then the press all but badgered them out of the United Kingdom. It must have been awful for them. I remember Mom saying once that it was all anyone could talk about. Even on this side of the Atlantic.
His mother moved them from her ancestral home in the Highlands to California when he was in his teens. But there’s no trace of the Golden State in his speech. “He killed his own father for no good reason. There is no coming back from that.”
“But he sacrifices himself in the end.”
“I don’t care.”
“Of course, if they got married, she’d probably keep her own surname. Otherwise, imagine having to answer the phone at work.”
He just shakes his head. Even the way he sips his coffee is graceful, in a brisk, efficient sort of way. There’s this confidence about him. “I can’t believe you’re telling me that all it takes for you to be okay with murder is for the killer to have muscles and floppy hair.”
“You have muscles and floppy hair.”
“I haven’t killed anyone lately.”
“But you also haven’t been in the situation that character was in. That I’m aware of, at least.”
He gives me a long look. “You’re problematic.”
“I am not problematic.” I scoff. “Well...maybe a little bit. But that’s beside the point. These are fictional characters we’re talking about. Kylo Ren is not a real person, and neither is Rey. We’re discussing Star Wars. An imaginary science-fiction universe, remember?”
He shakes his head and sneers. “I will never understand the allure of bad boys.”
“Um. Excuse me. You just finished telling me Han Solo was your favorite.”
“That’s different. He’s an antihero.”
“I see. Do you consider yourself to be a bad boy?”
“I’m thirty-eight years old. I’m a grown man.” Such indignation. He scowls and turns away. “Don’t believe everything you see on the gossip sites.”
“Like I follow you online. Come back when you’re Beyoncé.” A last lonely drop emerges from the bottle when I try to pour myself another glass of champagne. “Oh, it’s empty. How sad. As I was saying, people need to be free to explore new things in a safe manner through story. To expand upon their experiences and view the world through different eyes. That’s what was so remarkable about the invention of the printing press. It brought the struggles of the lower classes into the drawing rooms of the wealthy for the very first time.”
“I love it when you lecture me.”
I laugh and he smiles and yikes. The way it makes my tummy turn upside down.
“Excuse me, Your Highness?” A teenage girl is standing behind us with her cell phone in hand.
Alistair’s whole demeanor changes. His shoulders stiffen and his face falls. “You don’t have to call me that. I’m not, strictly speaking, one of them.”
“Sorry, sir.”
“Just Alistair is fine.”
She blushes. “Could I take a selfie with you?”
“Sure,” he says gently. Though his smile as she snaps the picture is strained at best. The girl runs off back to her table, and his fingers tap agitatedly against the top of the bar. It must be weird to be famous for just being born. “Don’t you have someone you can call to come down here and wait with you?”
“It’s my best friend’s birthday today. I don’t want to ruin it with all of this. Same goes for my family. Just let them enjoy their weekend. I don’t want to tell them until I know what’s going on. Maybe not even then. I don’t know. I haven’t thought it all through yet.” I paste a smile on my face. “It was kind of you to stay. But it’s okay for you to go.”