Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 59044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Scarlet
“Oh, come on,” Di said, looking over at me from her pedicure chair. “Something is different with you.”
“I think it has something to do with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Smoldering,” Drea added.
We hadn’t shown any signs that we were together when we’d shown up to pick up Hugh. But the way Drea’s head tipped to the side, and her eyes went intense as she looked between the two of us signaled something.
Had my gaze slid to him as often as I thought it did?
Had he looked at me a little too intensely, or softly?
It was hard to say.
But after the time in Portugal, I was pretty sure our feelings toward each other practically seeped out of our pores.
Clearly, even without being with Julian, I was exuding something that my friends could pick up on.
“Also, your socials are different,” Di said. “Not in a bad way!” she rushed to add. “Just… different. Like, you know that kind of manufactured fake voice we all use online?” she asked, and we all had to nod a bit at that. As much as we tried to avoid it, we all knew it slipped in there. Especially if our moods were low. “Yours isn’t so fake anymore.”
“Which leads us to conclude that you and your bodyguard have been getting… glandular,” Drea said with a smirk.
“It’s… not like that,” I said.
I’d had sex before.
But nothing had ever felt quite as… intimate as things felt with Julian.
Maybe that was because I’d never let anyone know me as well as I let Julian get to know me. He was the person in the world who knew the most about me. Good and bad. He saw it all. And he wanted all of it.
Over time, he gave me just as much as I gave him, too. Stories about his awful childhood. The good and bad of his time in the military. His career afterward as a bodyguard, working for mostly the famous sort of people who were in town for engagements or to party.
I wasn’t sure a single relationship—platonic, familial, or otherwise—had ever been anywhere near the depth that I had with Julian.
That said, I wasn’t ready to bring the girls in on that.
“What is different, though,” I said, reaching for my mimosa, and taking a sip. “Is that I am thinking of getting involved in the family business,” I told them.
“Really?” Drea asked, eyes shooting up.
“It’s about damn time,” Di said, shaking her head.
“My father brought Stephen on the yacht,” I said, looking at Drea, watching as her eyes slitted.
Drea had been the first person I’d confessed to when it happened. I grabbed her arm, pulled her into the room with me, and spilled it all.
She’d been the one who’d encouraged me to go to my father. And when he hadn’t taken me seriously, comforted me, believed in me, made sure she never left me alone when Stephen was around.
We’d been kids.
But she still stepped up.
“He didn’t,” she said, jaw tight. “Did anything happen?”
“Just the usual talking to me like I’m an idiot thing,” I admitted. “But it got to me more than usual this time. And now that I know what I know about Stephen trying to nudge me out… I decided I want to take him down.”
“Do you need help with anything?” Drea asked.
Maybe I’d been wrong about these girls. About how superficial our relationships were. Perhaps that was only because I kept them at arm’s length, because I never opened up to them.
I mean, yeah, I knew some of them weren’t real friends, were only there for the connections I offered. People like Leona, for example. She didn’t even like me.
But Drea and Di, it looked like I’d been wrong about them. They weren’t here in this spa for a photo opportunity. This was just for us. And, sure, I was almost always the one to pay. But… I was the one who always had their card out first.
I’d been looking for things that were fake.
But there was real there too.
I just needed to foster more of it.
“I will let you know if I do,” I said, giving Di a smile. “Convincing my father is going to be the hardest part. Even with proof, he’s so… invested in his so-called friendship with Stephen.”
“Go for the jugular,” Di said, shrugging.
“He has it coming,” Drea added.
“Excuse me, Miss Chandelier?” one of the spa employees said, stepping into the room in her sage green scrubs, looking apologetic. “There’s someone here who says they need to speak to you for a moment.”
We had a rule where we left our phones in our changing rooms. So if Julian wanted to speak to me, he’d have to show up.
He was on such a tear about this stalker thing, that he probably wanted to tell me that we had an appointment with detectives or a private investigator or something.