Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 25
HOLLY
“See, the email is anonymous,” Brianna says, showing Asher her phone, which has screenshots of the email on it.
“We know who sent them, Mom,” Asher snarls. “There’s a lowlife who can’t take no for an answer. He’s been harassing Holly for months.”
“I don’t get it,” I mutter. “He could pick anybody, and he’s fixated on me. It’s weird.”
“That’s not the weird part,” Asher says. “You’re beautiful, funny, kind, intelligent, and talented. There are plenty of reasons for somebody to choose you.”
I smile like the world’s biggest fool, like a girl who doesn’t understand this can’t have a happy ending.
“Do you think he has photos?” Brianna asks anxiously.
“I doubt it, Mom,” Asher replies, leaning back in the armchair and groaning. “He’s a lunatic. I don’t know what his problem is.”
“He mentioned something about his childhood.” I shrug. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, it’s bad for us. If he tells Dan …”
“That’s why we need to get there first,” Asher says. “Get out in front of this.”
“Care to explain?” Brianna murmurs.
“This Derek douche has a recording of me admitting I’ve been with Snowflake—with Holly.” Brianna smiles at the nickname. “He’s going to tell Dan I’ve been with his sister.”
“Dan’s going to find out eventually anyway, isn’t he?” Brianna says, sounding confused.
“How so?” I ask.
She looks at me as if I’m missing something. “What’s the alternative?”
I shift in my chair. “Well, the alternative is we keep this …” I almost call it a fling, but it would be dishonest. “Keep us a secret. We go on with our lives. Dan never learns what happened.”
“Surely you can see that will never work,” Brianna says. “I don’t mean to overstep. I hardly know you, Holly, though I feel like I do. And you, Asher, I’ve never been the mother to you I should’ve been.”
Asher lays his hand over hers. “That’s in the past, Mom.”
Pride swells in me.
“Anybody could see that you two are in this for the long haul,” Brianna remarks.
“Why do you say that?” I ask sharply.
Perhaps my anger comes from a place of knowing it’s true and knowing I can’t even wish it wasn’t.
“I just …” Brianna looks at her son and then at me. “If I didn’t know your circumstances, I’d assume you were a couple already. It radiates from you. The sense of being a team: the affection, the love.”
“Nobody said anything about love,” I whisper, sounding desperate.
“You didn’t have to say anything,” Brianna mutters.
“Snowflake has decided, Mom,” Asher says. “Don’t put dangerous ideas into her head.”
Yeah, like those ideas weren’t there already.
“I’m not saying you’re wrong, Brianna,” I murmur. “This isn’t about Asher and me. This is about my brother.”
“Speak of the devil,” Asher says, glancing at his phone. “He’s calling me. Maybe he wants to know why I’ve gone AWOL.”
My belly swirls with nerves as he answers the phone, and his expression changes. He clenches his jaw.
“I can’t deny it,” Asher says. “No, it’s not a deepfake.”
I rush into the hallway to the bathroom and keel over the toilet bowl. By the time I’ve returned from puking my guts out, Asher is no longer on the phone. He stares at his cell on the table, his hand clenched into a tight fist on his knee, bobbing up and down as his foot taps.
“What did he say?” I whisper, tears in my eyes.
“Derek sent him the recording. I think he got drunk after our meeting in the park earlier, hence the emails to Mom’s church. God knows who else he’s messaged.”
“What did my brother say?” I ask desperately.
“He said we’ve ruined Christmas, betrayed him. He said not to think about returning to the office or going home tonight. You better send him the recording of Derek, Holly. At least that prick will get what he deserves.”
Asher’s voice is numb as if he’s disconnected so that he can handle this.
Screw that.
I take out my phone and call my big brother. He rejects the first, second, and third calls. On the fourth, he finally answers.
“Dan, don’t hang up,” I blurt.
“How could you?” he snaps. “And for how long? He called you his woman. You don’t say something like that unless it’s serious. Lie to me, sis. Tell me nothing’s happened.”
I swallow a lump of pained emotion. Tears blur my vision and slide down my cheeks. “I can’t,” I admit.
“Then I’ve got nothing to say to you I haven’t already said to Asher,” he snaps. “Oh, and sis? Merry Christmas.”
He hangs up. I drop onto the couch, sobs escaping me, pain tearing through my soul.
“I’ve never heard him like that before,” I whisper between sobs that tighten my chest. “He’s never spoken to me like that. We’ve always been so close. What happens when he tells Mom and …”
Suddenly, I’m trembling all over, tears flooding my eyes. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Every worst-case scenario plays in my head simultaneously, immediately translating to sensations in my body.