Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“I’ve been seeing Klarissa for years. She’s worth it to work out my soccer muscles.”
“You play soccer?”
She nodded. “Not professional, mind you. I played in college and keep it up recreationally.”
“Me too. Well, I didn’t play in college, but I play recreationally with my family.”
“I love that. It makes me so happy.”
“I kind of suck,” I said on a laugh. “I recently got a concussion.”
“Fuck,” she said. “I’ve had one too many of those. And as I get older, it sure creeps up on you, you know?” Her eyes drifted down me. “How old are you?” She clapped her hand over her mouth. “That’s so rude. You just look like twenty-five or something.”
“Twenty-two actually,” I said.
“Fuck,” she said, tipping a mimosa to me. “I just turned thirty. I remember my twenty-two-year-old body. Do not take it for granted.”
“Noted.”
“Seriously shocked that Ashleigh would invite a twenty-two-year-old here. She usually refuses anyone prettier than her,” she said with a laugh.
“But you’re here,” I said as if it were obvious.
She flushed. “Thank you, but I’m old guard, remember? You’re fresh meat.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still not sure if it was out of the goodness of her heart.”
The girl rolled her eyes. “Nothing is out of the goodness of her heart.”
That was fucking true.
Then, the door opened, and the queen bee herself sauntered inside. Her hair was bouncy and full of volume. Her makeup pristine. She looked like a goddess with her minions following in her wake.
“Oh, good! Harley, you met Kennedy!” Ashleigh said. “Kennedy, this is Chase’s girlfriend, Harley.”
Kennedy stiffened at those words. She set her champagne flute down a little harder than necessary. It was several stiff seconds before she glanced back at me with a hard smile.
“Sorry, you’re dating Chase?” Kennedy asked in a small voice.
“Um, yes,” I said, glancing uneasily between Ashleigh and Kennedy. I wished that Elsie were here now to navigate this.
“Oh God, did I not mention that he and Kennedy dated for three years in Houston?”
My mouth opened slightly as understanding dawned. Kennedy. That Kennedy. He’d mentioned her name once in passing. She was Chase’s ex. Well, shit.
“I see,” I said softly.
“They were nearly engaged,” Ashleigh went on.
“That’s enough, Ashleigh,” Kennedy barked. “She gets the picture.”
Ashleigh had set this up. Was it to humiliate me or Kennedy? In that moment, I refused to let her win. She was hungry, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I wouldn’t give it to her. I could be confused and frustrated later.
I put my hand on hers. “Then, we must have so much in common.”
Kennedy’s eyes widened in surprise. When I enlarged my eyes and discreetly gestured to Ashleigh, she seemed to get the message.
“You’re probably right.” She laughed softly. “Thanks for bringing us together like this.”
I held my drink up to Ashleigh like she’d done to me earlier. “Cheers.”
Ashleigh was too poised to do anything but clap as if she were excited, but I watched her size me up. I didn’t know what her deal was. Unfortunately, I had a feeling I was going to find out.
10
CHASE
“So, she’s living with you,” Kai said over a beer downtown.
“She is,” I confirmed.
“And you’re cool with that?”
“I hope she never leaves.”
It was the truth. She’d been here for weeks, and I never wanted her out of my space. Something I still couldn’t believe was my reality.
“Do you remember when Kennedy tried to just move in with you?” Kai asked. He barely suppressed a chuckle at my expense. “You were fucking furious. You wanted your space. You wanted bachelor pad status. You ranted for hours about this.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled.
Sometimes, it sucked having a friend who had seen me through all of my worsts. Between him and Annie, it was just a regular occasion of making fun of me.
“So, Harley is different?” Kai asked. “I mean, you two seem great together when we went out the other day. And Elsie really likes her.”
“I’m glad. Elsie is an excellent judge of character.”
“Better than both of us.”
I laughed. “So true.”
“And she’s living with you,” he repeated as if he still couldn’t believe it.
“She’s the one.”
“You bought Kennedy a ring,” he reminded me.
I huffed in frustration. That was Kennedy’s name two times in a matter of minutes, and I preferred when I forgot that she existed at all. “And I never gave it to her. I did it because it felt like I had to. We’d been together three years. She’d been living with me six months, and it was…fine. I didn’t want to marry her though.”
“Yeah, I know. It was good to see you wake up even if it was Annie who did the waking and then flattened your poor heart for Jordan Wright.”
I held my beer up in the air. “Well, thanks to Annie, I am not married and have now met the one.”
“About fucking time,” Kai said.