Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 145123 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145123 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Seduction is what Caroline is known for. She’s highly skilled at it, and the younger version of me was mesmerized by that power of hers. She just has a way about her. She knows how to use all her sensual tools to spin a web that pulls you straight in.
Men look twice when Caroline is in the room.
And you don’t look away when Brooke enters a room.
I don’t know why my thoughts go to Brooke in the middle of a call with my ex, but I choose not to linger in the aftershock of it.
“Chase, talks to me,” Caroline purrs my name again, and it’s a stark reminder of who she is as a person.
This side of her, the sexual goddess she’s trying to encompass, is a front for her deep-rooted insecurities and issues. Now that I’m older and wiser and have matured from the superficial tendencies of a twentysomething man, I can see right through it.
Caroline only thinks about Caroline. And she has this nagging need to chase the high she gets when she successfully seduces someone. It goes without saying that is a recipe for disaster when you’re supposed to be in a long-term, committed relationship.
The honeymoon phase doesn’t last forever. Eventually, couples evolve into something more complex and emotionally rooted that should be treasured and held tight with both hands. Something that means far more than lust and attraction.
But Caroline didn’t evolve, and frankly, I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to. She’ll probably always be chasing that high, and every relationship she gets involved in will fail because of it.
“Caroline, this is getting old.”
“Don’t say smy name lick that, Chase,” she orders, hardness replacing the seductive purr.
“How do you want me to say it, then? Because I prefer not to say it at all.”
“Why do you haves to be so mean?” she questions, her tongue still incapable of keeping up with her words.
“I’m not being mean, I promise you. You’d know it if I were being mean.”
“Can’t you forgive me?” she whispers then, the tears and dramatics the next stop in her five-step plan.
“Forgive you for sleeping with my best friend for a year and a half right under my nose?” I scoff. “No, I don’t think I can.”
“You were always sooo perpfect. Mr. Perpfect Chase Dawson. Better than everyone else.”
“I wasn’t perfect, and I’ve never thought I was better than anyone. But I do have a moral compass, and having an affair with my significant other’s best friend isn’t anywhere on it.”
Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Justin weren’t her only affair during our relationship.
“A thousand miles away and you still dunn think you’re far enough, do you?”
Damn. A question that makes sense.
“Truthfully?” I retort. “No.”
“Thas cuz you still love me, you know.”
“No, it’s not,” I correct her. “It’s because you never stop calling.”
The thing about my ex is that I am so far past that relationship and her that I don’t even feel hate for her anymore. I’m mostly just a mix of sad and annoyed.
And this call is about her own self-involvement, not about her really wanting me back. She is a toddler in a room full of toys who is angry that one of those toys was taken away. This is elementary-level selfishness and the furthest thing from love.
“Lossa girls there in New York City, huh? Think you’re some hot shit now?”
It’s moments like this that make me wonder how I stayed in a relationship with this woman for so long. How I’d planned to marry this woman. But it’s also moments like this that have the power to make me lean into my annoyance and lose my cool.
“I’m living out my dreams, working with intelligent, interesting people, and touring the country with one of the most successful authors I’ve ever met,” I grit foolishly, allowing my emotions to get out of check. “So yeah, I think I’m doing pretty fucking well for myself. Better than rotting away with you.”
“Chase?” I hear from behind me, the sweetness of that voice altogether different from the one on the phone. I spin fast to see Brooke leaning out the door of the motor home, a towel around her neck as she scrubs at her wet hair. A fluffy robe covers her body, and I find myself silently wondering if she has anything on underneath it. Seemingly noticing the phone at my ear for the first time, she puts a hand to her lips and widens her eyes. “Oh my gosh! I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were on a call.”
I shake my head, pulling the phone away from my ear even as I can hear Caroline asking things like “Who the hell is that?”
“It’s okay. No big deal at all.”
Brooke’s cheeks pink a little bit, but she pushes on. “I just wanted to let you know that the shower’s free if you want to use it.”