Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“What about all your stuff at the house?”
“I’ll have to get it eventually.” I paused to blow my nose. “What’s he doing at your place?”
“Griffin invited him over for dinner. He said he felt sorry for him.”
“How long will he be there?”
“I don’t know. We just ordered takeout. Why, do you want to come over?”
“No! I’m wondering if I have time to go get some more stuff from the house. All my clothes are there.”
“Do you have to sneak around? Can’t you just talk to him?”
“I don’t know if I can handle it yet,” I said honestly, my voice breaking. “Last night was so hard. I barely held it together. I don’t want him to know how I feel—that will only make it worse.”
“Why?”
“He’ll just pity me. He’ll look at me like he did after I got my period. Like he feels sorry for me.”
“Well, he does. I do too.”
“It’s not how I want him to see me, okay?” I was trying not to cry openly—I didn’t want my brother to hear me—but I broke down anyway as I paced back and forth. “I want my pride back. I want my strength back. I want him to look at me and see the girl he thought I was. The one with courage and determination, who can handle anything life throws at her. The one with moxie.”
“Moxie?”
“Yes. He once said he liked that about me—that I had moxie.”
She sighed. “He likes a lot of things about you. He’s just being an idiot.”
“No, he isn’t. He’s being exactly who he is.” I stopped pacing and took a breath. “Exactly who I knew he was. And it’s on me for falling for him when he told me not to.”
“I hate this,” Blair said. “Tell me what to do to help.”
“Can you figure out how long he’ll be at your place?”
“Am I supposed to do it without mentioning why I’m asking?”
“If you can.” I chewed the tip of my thumb.
Another sigh. “I’ll try. And I’ll text you.”
“Thanks.”
Seventeen
Enzo
I was sitting on the couch at Griffin and Blair’s apartment, nursing a beer and a bad attitude when Blair came out from the bedroom, her phone in her hand and a strange, plastic-looking smile on her face.
She perched on the edge of a chair adjacent to the couch, her feet side by side and her spine completely straight. She looked like a pageant contestant waiting to be asked about her thoughts on world peace.
“What’s going on?” Griffin asked suspiciously from the opposite end of the couch.
“Nothing’s going on,” she said, false brightness in her voice.
“I know that face. Something is going on. Who called?”
“Called? When?” she asked, as if she hadn’t leaped off the chair, dashed into the bedroom, and slammed the door the moment her phone buzzed five minutes ago.
Griffin and I exchanged a look. “Just now,” he said.
“Oh. Uh, that was Cheyenne.”
“Cheyenne and Cole are at the movies with Mariah tonight,” Griffin reminded her.
“Oh, right. Ummm, it was your mom.”
“My mom is out of town.”
“Oh.” Blair looked frantic. “It was a wrong number?”
“A wrong number?” Griffin stared at her. “And you took your phone into the bedroom and talked to this stranger for five minutes?”
“Blair,” I said. “Was it Bianca?”
She gave up the act. “Yes, but you’re not supposed to know that.”
“Why?” Griffin asked as I tipped up my beer and took several swallows.
“Well, she wanted me to find out how long he’d be here, because she wants to grab some clothes from the house without running into him.” She met my eyes. “I’m sorry, Enzo.”
“Wait a minute. Bianca moved out?” Griffin looked at me.
“Yeah.” I finished my beer and stood up. “You guys got any whiskey?”
Blair followed me to the kitchen, and along the way she grabbed a brown bottle off a bar cart. “You want ice?” she asked as she took down a glass and poured.
“Nah.”
“I told Bianca I’d let her know,” Blair said, handing me the drink. “You think maybe a couple hours?”
I didn’t answer until I’d taken several swallows, wincing as the liquor burned its way down my throat. “Why can’t she call me herself?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she say?”
She shook her head, although her expression was sad. “I can’t betray her confidence.”
I took another drink. I should be the one with Bianca’s confidence. I was her husband, for fuck’s sake. “I don’t understand her. Last night when she left, she said she wanted us to be friends.”
“I think she does want that.” Blair chose her words carefully. “She just needs a little time to get there. She’s . . . she’s sad, Enzo.”
“About what?”
Blair shrugged. “Everything.”
“The whole thing was her idea, did she ever tell you that?” I asked angrily.
“Yes.”
Griffin ambled over and opened the fridge, grabbing another beer. After removing the cap and tossing it out, he leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms. “What happened?”