Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Oh, God.
Dad had mentioned it during our fight, but he’d thrown out so many ways Cody wasn’t good for me that I glossed over it. I’d been working on whether Cody really wanted me. When he said forever, I assumed it meant… everything. But he hadn’t meant everything if he didn’t want more kids.
God, he’d already raised one.
When I pictured having kids, it wasn’t being a stepmom to my own close high school friend. It was like a bad TV movie.
I wanted a house full of noise and laughter and a slew of kids. Babies, not a nineteen-year old.
There was now a tarnish on the luster of our relationship. God, it was because I was so inexperienced! Why hadn’t I thought all of this through? Why did I think Cody saying all the right things meant everything would actually be all right?
Because you’re nineteen and have never been with a guy before. Not even a starter-guy like Matt or Ethan. I jumped all-in, didn’t I?
The band struck up a song. “Hey, Hank–why don’t you go see if one of those women cares to dance?” Cody suggested.
Hank slid off the bar stool and downed his beer. He was a little wobbly on his feet but would probably dance better half-drunk anyway. “Okay. I think I will.”
“You got this, buddy.” Boyd thumped him on the back, sending him away with a grin. Audrey slid up against his side, and he wrapped a muscled arm around her waist. “Riley, you seem like a real sweetheart. I’m glad things are going to work out between you two,” Boyd said, as if there had been some doubt about it.
Cody’s gaze was on me. He winked.
Alarm bells were going off at Boyd’s words, but I wasn’t sure why. I swallowed. “What do you mean, work out?”
Boyd missed my disquiet–too boisterous after cajoling the drunk customers. He laughed. “Rob said if anyone could make a woman fall for him in one week, it’d be Cody!”
I reeled back, suddenly dizzy.
What was he talking about?
“One week?” I croaked. It was way too hot in here. I sought Cody’s gaze. “What does he mean, one week?”
Boyd realized his mistake, and his smile fell alway. Audrey’s forehead wrinkled in concern.
Cody glanced at both of them, which was the clincher for me. They all knew something I didn’t. “No…it’s nothing, sugar,” he said in a way that made me believe the exact opposite.
My stomach, already queasy, churned. Tears burned behind my eyes. I remembered what Audrey had said–Boyd mated her after she’d found out about his secret.
Oh my God! Was that all this was? Rob told him to make me fall in love, so I wouldn’t tell anyone about what I’d seen out on the trail? Maybe he didn’t think Tyler had the chops to make a woman fall in love, so the task fell to Cody.
A more experienced seducer of women. A player.
I felt sick.
“What was the week?” I demanded. “One week to claim me?” Damn the wobble in my voice!
Both Boyd and Cody darted glances around, as if worried someone heard me say “claim.”
“No.” Cody shook his head. “It wasn’t that. Listen, sugar. Let’s go somewhere private to talk.”
Now he just wanted to get me out of here before I revealed their precious secret.
I took a step back. “No! I don’t want to go anywhere with you. If you have something to say, you can say it here, in front of everyone.”
“Okay, listen.” Cody stepped up close to the bar and lowered his head to speak in a low voice. “It’s like I told you before. Rob wanted me to wipe your memory. That’s why I took you from your Nana’s house in the first place. I made a bargain with him–I asked for a week.”
“A bargain,” I whispered because the wind had been knocked out of me.
I stumbled further away, almost tripping over a stool, to get away from his intoxicating pull. Out of his magnetizing influence. He seemed to think his explanation made it better, but it didn’t.
One week. It was a game. A bargain.
I’d been manipulated. Played. I felt so damn cheap right now.
My dad was right. Cody was just like my mom. A player. But it was so much worse. He wasn’t just out to take my virginity or to fool around. He was using my attraction to him to buy my silence.
It was sick.
I felt sick.
“So, what? Was everyone making bets on whether Cody the man-whore could land a virgin or something?” The tears started to spill.
Boyd looked pissed. Audrey looked concerned enough to set her hand on my arm.
“What?” Cody’s brows slammed down. “No. Absolutely not.” He came around the bar, like he wanted to touch me. I couldn’t let that happen.
I held up a hand. “Stay there.”
For once, Cody did what I asked, pausing at the end of the bar with a tortured look on his face.