Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
“Excuse me, please,” I say to a man who seems to be in charge. “I need to attend a meeting. Thank you for everything.” I hold up my statue. “Really. Thank you.” I dash toward an exit sign, and I don’t stop. I close the space between me and it and push the bar on the door beneath it. On the other side, I find myself in some sort of narrow hallway that renders me trapped if Macom tried to follow. Wanting out of this maze, I head down the path, and I’m close to an archway leading to another room when a door opens in front of me and Macom steps in my path.
I start to back up, but he’s fast, and already he’s in front of me, his fists on the wall on either side of me, caging me. And with the statue in my hand, I’m at a disadvantage that reaches beyond his size versus mine. “Please move,” I say, not because I want to be civil but because I know him. If I set him off, this gets worse.
“Baby, please talk to me. Don’t put me through seeing you with that man for another minute. I saw the painting. I know what it means. I hurt you. I get it. But you’ve punished me.”
“That painting wasn’t about you but me. Step aside, Macom.”
“It killed me to hear you thank him tonight. It’s you and me. It’s always been you and me.”
“There is no you and me.”
“I’ll be more supportive in all things, your art especially. Whatever he’s doing to help you at the winery, I’ll do ten times as much.”
I laugh without humor. “Priceless. Josh took all of thirty minutes to run his mouth to you. And you can’t do ten times what Nick does, because Nick is a hundred times richer than you. Move.”
“Faith—”
“Move or I will put a knee in your groin so hard that your balls will retract and disappear.”
He reaches for my face and leans in, intending to kiss me, and I don’t hesitate. I raise my knee, and I don’t hold back. He grunts and doubles over. “Fuck, Faith. You fucking bitch.” He sucks in air and straightens, leaning close again, his breath warm on my cheek. “You will pay for that. You will not get into another gallery in L.A., ever.” He turns away from me and starts walking, or, rather, hobbling in obvious pain.
I sink against the wall, aware that I’ve provoked the vicious monster I was trying not to provoke right up until the moment I stuck my knee in his balls. But I also know him well enough to know that he’s gone. He’s not coming back.
“What the fuck,” he growls, and I look right to discover Nick is standing under the archway, his shoulder pressed against the wooden frame. “Move out of my way,” Macom orders, trapped the way I was just trapped.
“Here’s the thing, Macom,” Nick says. “No. Not until I’m ready.”
“You don’t want to fuck with me.”
“I have compromising naked photos of you,” Nick says. “I have IRS documents, bank records, and the list continues, all of which have your name on them. And if you don’t believe that I will use those things fifty ways to Sunday, you haven’t researched me the way I have researched you. Touch Faith or her career again, and I will come for you.”
They stare at each other for all of two beats before Nick steps aside and Macom quickly leaves. I walk to Nick, and he immediately folds me into his arms. “How long were you there?”
“The entire time,” he says. “And I let you handle him as you wanted to handle him, certain that he’d give me a reason to punch him. But then you went off and retracted his balls before I got the chance.”
I laugh. “I can’t believe I said that.” I cringe. “I can’t believe I told him that you’re a hundred times richer than him.”
“Why? I am.” He softens his voice. “You okay, sweetheart?”
“Yes. I am. Really okay, actually. And ready to go upstairs.”
He slides his arm around my shoulder, and we start walking through what looks like an empty banquet room. Thankfully, we make it to the elevator without being stopped, and we wait on a car. The doors open quickly, and Josh steps out. “Faith. Holy hell. I’ve been looking for you. You rocked it tonight.”
“You’re fired,” I say.
He blanches. “What?”
“You told Macom about our conversation. We’re done. I won’t change my mind.”
Nick catches the door as it begins to shut, and I step around Josh. Nick and I enter the car, and when we face forward, Josh has turned and is staring into the car. Nick punches in the code to our floor, and the doors shut us inside. “That was unexpected,” Nick says.