Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 130673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 523(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 523(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
I advanced toward them unsteadily, stopping beside Dylan and extending a hand to make him stop touching my fiancée. “Anything for my future wife.”
“Gotta love two young lovebirds.” He smacked the envelope onto my chest. “Here. All the details for the private flight and chauffeur that’ll take you to us. The missus and I are looking forward to getting to know y’all better.” His eyes bounced between us, assessing.
“Sounds good,” Dylan chirped, unaffected by Bruce’s obvious distrust. “Grav’s met plenty of ponies in her lifetime, but this’ll be her first stubborn ass.”
Bruce elevated a brow. The little sasshole was giving him attitude. I was torn between kissing her and berating her.
“’Scuse me?”
Dylan batted her eyelashes innocently. “Cherrie mentioned you have a donkey—Eeyore?”
“Dang straight we do.” His eyes lit up in delight. “Not many folks know this, but donkeys are smarter than horses. Don’t get scared as easily.” He stuck a red Marlboro to the side of his mouth, pulling a box of matches from his front pocket. He struck a match and held it to his cigarette, waving the match back and forth between us. “And lemme just give you a heads-up, I ain’t completely sold on that app of yours. Been makin’ some calls to people who know you through the grapevine, Coltridge. No one but Tate Blackthorn could vouch that you have any type of marketing and social media experience. And I trust Blackthorn just a tad less than I trust last year’s weather forecast.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Oh, got my reasons,” he muttered darkly. “Five hundred and thirty million of them.”
I gathered from this that Tate had screwed him over. Well, he was welcome to join the never-ending club.
“I don’t like what you’re insinuating, Marshall.” I placed an arm over Dylan’s shoulder. “I’d like to do business with you, but I’m not about to jump through unnecessary hoops to grant your investment. I have a good product that fills a massive hole in the dating-app market. I did all the legwork. All you have to do is put your already established platform to use and reap what I’ve sowed. If you’re not interested in doing business, that’s fine. Just tell me now so we don’t waste our time.”
“I’m not saying I don’t want to work together. I’m just saying I need more time to study this app of yours.” Bruce puffed his cigarette in my direction with a careless shrug.
It took everything in me not to lash out. I’d seen Tate and Row conducting business. They were always carefully unruffled. And to be fair, when I used to work with Row and when I worked as a fake boyfriend, I always maintained my professionalism too. It was only shit I cared about that riled me up. I cared about this deal greatly.
“That is fine.” I smiled cockily. “If you have any questions, you know where to find me.”
“Oh, I sure do,” Bruce chuckled, turning on his heel. He took a few steps toward the black Escalade waiting for him before he stopped and tossed me a look over his shoulder. “Know what else I heard through the grapevine?”
I glared at him wordlessly. I had a feeling this one was going to hurt.
“That you’re pawning your shit all around town. Are you losing your pants, Coltridge?”
Heat rose up my neck, spreading across my face. I opened my mouth, but Dylan beat me to it.
“I’m teaching him how to be less materialistic. He has no use for all those fancy watches and man jewelry. He’s donating the money to children in need.” She tossed her hair back.
“Which charity?”
“He’s splitting it evenly between Children of America, Locks of Love, and Make-A-Wish Foundation. We won’t be attending the latter’s gala at the end of the month, but we’re sending a check for both our plates and someone to do the bidding for us at the annual auction.”
Holy fucking great liar. Was she a politician or something?
“What’ll you be bidding on?” Bruce remained unaffected.
“The Damien Hirst skull.”
She did not miss a beat. She was frighteningly good.
Bruce’s face softened. “All right, Lil Miss. Either you’re saying the truth or you’re a fantastic liar. I can appreciate both.”
“He’s turning a corner, Marshall.” Dylan patted my ass, and I could see the flare of her eyes when she realized my buns of steel could smash nuts, they were so tight. “I’m civilizing this man. A few more months and he’ll be ready to join society.”
“Careful, or I just might believe you.” He saluted her, slipping past the door one of his assistants held open for him. “See y’all next week for the spice thingy.”
“You mean the thing where you could’ve given us the useless invitation we’ve already RSVP’d?” I hissed sardonically.
He rolled down the backseat window with a shit-eating grin. “Yup. That’s the one. I like to ensure my business partners are willing to drop everything and make time for me, as I tend to do the same for them.”