Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
He buzzes me again.
“If you’re here to keep tabs on me, you can let Grant know I made it home safe.” I’m being facetious, I know. But I can’t help myself.
“Brie, buzz me up. Please. Let’s talk.” He slurs a couple of his words.
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Fair enough,” he says. “But you might want to listen to what I’ve got to say.”
38
Cainan
“Why have you been ignoring me?” Is probably not the best way to greet a woman I had to beg to buzz me up. But the words are out. There’s no taking them back.
The floor is slanted, so I brace myself in her doorway.
“Good God. How much have you had to drink?” She hooks her hand into my arm and pulls me in, closing the door without letting me go. “You can barely stand.”
Too much to exercise good judgement apparently.
Not enough to numb a damn thing.
“Sit down.” She drags me to a velvet chair in the living room the color of electric raspberries. And then she wanders off to the kitchen, returning with a bottle of water. “Grant told me everything.” Brie paces, hands on her hips. “I know you’ve been keeping tabs on me this whole time. I feel like such an idiot for thinking we actually had a connection …”
Holy shit.
She felt it too.
It wasn’t wishful thinking.
It wasn’t just me.
“I haven’t been keeping tabs on you,” I say. “I would never. I … Brie … I’m falling for you. That’s why I can’t stay away. That’s why I find every excuse to be around you, even if we’re wandering around the city doing nothing at all. Even if I’m re-reading the same book for the millionth time because it’s the only way I can feel closer to you without hating myself for it.”
She’s speechless, squinting or glaring at me—I can’t tell.
“You chipped your front tooth when you were twelve. You have to get it fixed every few years … Christmas is your favorite holiday …Your hair gets frizzy in the summer … Greece is at the top of your bucket list … ”
Brie blinks twice, head tilted, and then she frowns.
“Okay, Casanova, maybe you should lie down and sleep this off.” She leads me to the sofa, slides off my leather shoes, and covers me with a knitted throw she grabs from who-knows-where.
A moment later, the lights go out, and everything fades to black.
In the middle of the night, I stir awake, eyes barely opening to catch a glimpse of her watching me from the bedroom doorway, her white t-shirt bathed in moonlight.
But for all I know, I’m dreaming.
39
Brie
I didn’t sleep last night. If I did, I don’t remember it. I spent the majority of those midnight hours wracking my brain about all those things he spouted off about me, things I rambled off as I held his hand and tried my damnedest to keep him from fading away. I thought if he could just hear my voice, maybe he’d stay with me. So I talked for the sake of talking. I told him every little thing about me that I could possibly think of.
The fact that he remembered it is one thing.
The fact that he knew about my chipped tooth—is something else entirely.
I never told him about that.
I’m one-hundred percent certain.
It’s a middle school memory I don’t tend to bring up—and one I didn’t so much as share with Grant during the tenure of our relationship.
There’s no verifiable way Cainan could’ve known about it.
I wait until half past seven before making my way to the kitchen, desperate for coffee but not wanting to wake my guest from his liquor-induced slumber.
Only he isn’t sleeping.
He’s perched on the sofa, slipping into his shoes.
“Busted,” I say.
Cainan peers up. “Excuse me?”
“You were just going to slip out of here and pretend last night never happened?”
His handsome face is painted in confusion, and he drags a hand through mussed hair.
“You don’t remember last night, do you?” I ask.
“I’m sorry.” He winces. “I don’t.”
“Convenient.” I shrug. “Want to stay for a coffee? Maybe rehash things for a hot minute before you bolt?”
“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. If you want me to go, just say so.” He rises, his shirt wrinkled and his hair a mess, and yet somehow he still makes my breath hitch in my chest until I glance away.
“Stay.” My back is toward him as I scoop coffee grounds into the shiny silver machine on Maya’s counter.
“Brie …” He clears his throat. “I want to sincerely apologize for anything I said or did last night that made you uncomfortable. I’ve never blacked out before …”
“First time for everything.”
The machine percolates, not unlike my thoughts or the cocktail of confusing emotions simmering beneath my skin.
After almost a week of being ignored, Cainan got hammered and showed up at my door.