Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 65939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“Ashton is not my boyfriend,” I say, and see Bubba raise his bushy eyebrow. He clearly also has an opinion on this.
“Who is he then?” Cameron asks.
“Emma’s new husband’s friend,” I reply.
“Ah,” Cameron says. “You don’t want to jeopardize your relationship with your best friend by dating someone close to her husband. I get it.”
“You get it? The man who cost me two friends because he couldn’t resist dating them?” It’s actually two friends and one frenemy, but I was glad to be rid of the latter.
He sighs. “Come on, sis. Can’t you let that go? It was high school. I didn’t do much thinking with my brain.”
“Gross.” I take a calming breath. “But fine.”
No reason to beat this dead horse anymore. After the third incident, Cameron and I got into a big fight, which we resolved by making a pact not to date anyone in our respective circles—a pact he’s honored to the best of my knowledge. Then again, I never introduced him to Emma, Janie, or anyone else I was friends with in college, so it’s not like he’s had an opportunity to betray said pact.
“Anyway,” Cameron says. “If you’re not dating this guy, how did you get stuck together?”
“Because he took the same cursed tour as I did by sheer accident.” I glance at Bubba in time to see him wince. “We collaborated in order to survive. Nothing more.”
“So… Mom was right? This guy saved you?”
“We weren’t stuck long enough for me to need saving,” I say. “But I guess if we had been, he does know an obscene amount about surviving in the wild.”
“I see,” Cameron says. “How about this? Once you guys are far enough along in your relationship to be meeting each other’s families, I’ll buy him a drink.”
“There is no relationship.” Nor can there be one, given Ashton’s attitude toward something I’m not ever going to discuss with my brother. “But you probably should meet him, sooner rather than later. He wants to add AI features to his app.”
“Oh. What app is that?”
“ThriveFit.”
“Shit,” Cameron says after a moment of silence. “I just looked him up. An amazing catch for you—and a great business opportunity for me. Invite him to my birthday.”
“He’s not my catch.” Also, crap. With everything that has happened, I almost forgot about my brother’s big day. Speaking of… “Do you really want to talk business on your birthday?”
Cameron scoffs. “Are you really going to accuse me of being a workaholic… on my birthday?”
“Today is not your birthday, so I can call you whatever I want.”
He sighs. “I agreed to the big shindig for Mom. She guilted me with the story of my birth and how she labored to push me out for twenty-five hours.” I can visualize his grimace on the other end of the phone. “If something productive comes out of it, that would make me happy… on my birthday.”
Fuck. I can’t say no to him now. Except… “I don’t know if he’ll go to such a family event.” I would surely hesitate if our roles were reversed.
“It won’t hurt to ask.”
“No. I guess not.” And if Ashton is insane enough to agree, Mom and Dad could thank him at that time instead of having a separate dinner—which sounds a lot more embarrassing.
“All right,” Cameron says. “I’ve got to run.”
“See?” I tell him. “Workaholic.”
My brother mumbles something like “incorrigible” as he hangs up the phone.
All right. Time for the most unpleasant part.
I skim the million texts from Tierre.
At first, he was merely annoyed that I was late for work. Once it became clear that I wasn’t coming in, he grew increasingly irritated, with texts like, “It was bad enough you took a four-day vacation, but how dare you skip day five?” His last text informs me that I’m fired.
Seriously? No “what happened?” No “Are you okay?”
I check his voicemails, and they follow the same pattern as the texts.
Gritting my teeth, I call the asshole.
“You’ve got some nerve,” Tierre says instead of a hello. “First, you disappear off the face of the Earth, and now you call me like nothing is the matter.”
What was I supposed to do? He hasn’t even given me a chance to speak yet.
“I had a good reason for my absence,” I say as politely as I can. “I went on a tour and—”
“Spare me,” Tierre says. “I meant it. You no longer work here.”
My stomach feels like it’s hit an iceberg. I’ve heard Tierre say “you’re fired” to other people in the heat of the moment, but he usually changes his mind and lets the person keep their job.
“I was stuck on a deserted island.” I glare at Bubba. “Barely survived. I can bring you proof.” Like maybe that waiver I signed before the tour? Or—
“I’ve already given your job to someone else,” Tierre says with zero remorse.