Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
“It isn’t—” I don’t even wait for her to finish before I raise my gun and shoot her straight between the eyes.
“Fuck, give some notice next time. I would have let her go and backed up a bit,” Lucas gripes, stepping back. “I got my good suit on, and now it’s covered in blood and gore.”
“You have another suit exactly like it,” I remind him.
“Which is good, you fuck,” he swears, walking away with a groan. I turn back to look at Adora, where her eyes are locked on Magina’s dead body.
“You killed her.”
“Yes, betrayal is not an option.”
Her whiskey-colored eyes, the ones I dream about, stare back at me.
“I betrayed you.”
“That’s different.” I shake my head because the thought of hurting her sickens me.
“Why?” she asks, then holds up her hands. “Don’t answer that.”
“Because I don’t love Magina. But I do love you,” I tell her honestly.
“But you don’t want me.”
“I do. I very much want you,” I tell her.
“Not just for sex, Joey. You don’t want all of me, which includes a child.”
“I…”
“That’s what I thought. You can’t even say with certainty you do. I think it’s time we stop this merry-go-round and start with a clean slate.”
“What?” I’m sure I didn’t hear her correctly.
“No more contact. We can be exes. I’m going to visit your mother again and tell her I can’t come around anymore. I don’t want to risk running into you anywhere. I ask that you never come to my bookstore either.”
“I can’t do that,” I say honestly because that’s fucking impossible.
“Why?”
“Because you are mine.”
“Eventually, Joey, I will move on. And you won’t be the man in my bed or whose ring is on my finger. I deserve better, and you can’t give me that. So leave me alone.” She pushes past me and rushes out the door.
I don’t chase her.
I’m not even sure I should.
“Well, you sure as shit fucked that up again,” Lucas says, coming out with a new jacket on. “Not even I’m that stupid.” He laughs. “You like the kid, you love the woman, so work it the fuck out.” He looks down at the body on the floor. “Clean this up.”
“You fuckhead!” I growl, storm out, leaving him with the mess I created.
THIRTY-THREE
ADORA
Being in love isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, is it?
I never intended to fall in love with Joey, yet I fell anyway despite trying everything humanly possible not to. At the beginning of our marriage, I thought that if we could at least try to get along, it would make everything a whole lot easier. But it didn’t. It made it worse. Because I saw him—the real him. And I really, really enjoyed what I saw.
When I walked out of Lucas’ club, I didn't think he would follow after I asked him not to, but he did. He’s knocking on my door, and I won’t answer it. Jerome is asleep, and I don’t want to wake him.
Putting my back against my door, I say, “Go away, Joey.”
“No, this needs to happen. We need to talk.”
“We talk, we kiss, we fuck. I think that’s enough.”
“It’s not enough. Now, open the door so we don’t wake Jerome.”
He’s right. I know he is. But it still takes me a minute to open the door to let him in. When I do, he doesn’t try to push his way in. Instead, he stands there casually as if he doesn’t have a care in the world while he stares at me with those icy-blue eyes.
I’m not proud of the fact that I am my father’s daughter, but a little bit of me feels better knowing that my mother didn’t just abandon me. I always had this complex growing up that people just left. That it was a normal thing to do. So when it came time for me to walk away from my own son, I didn’t realize how much I would miss him. It wasn’t normal, and I get that now. I’ve done a lot of growing over the last few years, and Joey even had a part in that. He made me realize I am worth having someone fight for me because, despite all our back and forth, he stood by my side until he could no longer do so.
Even then, he had the choice to kill me, yet I still breathe when I know many others would not have for the same deception. Magina is proof of that. She didn’t even get to explain. That’s how it works in this world. But he let me explain when he should’ve shot me directly between the eyes. And I’m so thankful he allowed me to explain everything to him.
“Why are you here?” I ask on a sigh. “I told you to stop.”
“I want to go back with you.” His words confuse me, and he sees the puzzled look on my face. “I want to go back to Bora Bora with you.”