Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“No, Aubrey. I’ve done nothing but eat, sleep and breathe you for weeks.” My tone bordered on angry. “Why would you ask me that?”
“The other night, I returned to my house to get some things I forgot during the move. Philomena saw my car and came out to tell me that you had been there earlier in the day. So, I went to your motel that night. There was a car parked outside. When I peeked in the window, a girl was with you, and she was putting a shirt over her head. I think it was that bartender.”
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Are you kidding me?
Fuck.
“Princess, listen to me.” I placed my hand under her chin, directing her to look at me. “I promise you, I will never lie to you. Do you believe me?”
“Just tell me the truth.”
“That was Carla. She’s a friend. You’re right. She’s the bartender at the bar I frequented. She followed me back to my room because I drank too much that night. She took off her clothes and came on to me, but I stopped it. Nothing happened.”
“Really?”
“I swear on my Mum’s grave. Carla kissed me and started to undress me, but I told her I couldn’t do anything, nor did I want to.”
She let out a huge breath. “Oh my God. I’ve been losing sleep. I know I don’t even have a right to be upset after the way I’ve treated you.”
“My judgment was off that night. I was devastated after I found out you decided to go to Boston. It felt like my life was over.”
“Boston? I never decided to go to Boston.”
“What? But all of your stuff was gone.”
“Yes. I moved out…but not to go to Boston.”
“Philomena talked to Dick while you were packing. He told her you’d made up your mind to go with him.”
“No. That’s not true.”
“Fuck, Princess. That’s why I got so sloshed that night. I thought I’d lost you.”
“Richard was hopeful. Maybe that’s why he told Philomena I was moving with him. He kept thinking he could convince me, dangling the promise of a job and all. I hadn’t told him about you until the next day. I wanted to pack my stuff before things got ugly.”
“Wait. Are you telling me…”
“I never intended to go to Boston, Chance. My mind was basically made up a long time before that, but I was still scared to give in to you completely. The fear is always going to be there. I will always be afraid to lose you because of how much I love you. Spending that one day with you here, though, it felt so right. I’d never been more certain of anything in my life. I knew I had to go back and tie up my loose ends. I knew I had to end it with him.”
“You broke up with Dick?”
“Yes. It was a mess. I told him everything. He accused me of fucking you and your twin brother, Harry the landscaper.”
We both burst out into laughter, startling the goat who miraculously stayed conscious for once.
“If only I were two people and could double team you. Did you tell him I don’t really have a twin?”
“No. Once he accused me of being a slut, I didn’t care to clarify.”
“Dumbass.”
“He really was a good guy, but from the moment you came back, Chance, you need to know there was never really any contest.”
I let out a huge sigh of relief as my mind started to piece together what was happening. “You quit your job…not to go to Boston but to…”
“I wasn’t happy there anyway. Plus, if I were going to move to Hermosa Beach, I—”
“Move here?” A huge smile spread across my face. At that moment, I squinted my eyes to take a closer look at Aubrey’s Audi and noticed for the first time that it was packed to the rim with all of her crap just like the first week we met. Holy shit. We’d come full circle.
“All of your shit is in there?”
“Yes.” She placed her hand on my heart. “But I don’t need anything but this.”
Leaning in, I kissed her with everything in me and lifted her up into the air. People were driving by and honking.
When I put her down, she had tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “I hope this complex allows goats.”
“If anyone gives us shit, we’ll just move. I’m thinking we need a house anyway where I can grow you another garden.”
My breathing quickened as the magnitude of everything started to hit me. I became overwhelmed with an animalistic urge to claim what I finally knew with absolute certainty was mine. I couldn’t wait a second longer to be inside of her. “Princess, hope you don’t have any plans for a while.”
She lifted her brow. “Why is that?”
“Because we have two years’ worth of fucking to do.”