Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“Thankfully? Speak for yourself,” I lobbied back with a playful slap to his chest. He smiled, the thin golden necklace I bought for him glinting around his neck.
I’d been on a little bit of a spending spree lately. But after landing a seven-figure book deal and multiple film and TV projects, I allowed myself to splurge a bit. Especially when it came to Gabe. I was so excited I could shower him with gifts, similar to how he’d showered me early in our relationship. Everywhere I looked, I was on the hunt for something I could bring back home to Gabe, like a dragon swooping around for treasures to bring back to my beloved.
It had been five months since everything happened with Steven and Mason. Five long but also lightning-fast months. I had gone through the gamut of emotions, finally settling on somewhere between calm and hopeful. The crippling fear had diminished, although random anxiety attacks were now a permanent part of my life. Coping mechanisms were being learned, but that took time.
With the Midnight Chemist locked up for life behind bars, I felt like I had a whole lot of time left.
Which was perfect because all I wanted to do was spend eternity with Gabe, soaking in our successes and living life the best way we possibly could. The book deal had come out of the blue after going on submission with a passion project of mine that I was only able to complete two months after the ordeal.
It only took a weekend—one of those unicorn moments—for three editors to get back to us. By the end of the day, there were seven publishing houses bidding for rights.
Gabe and I drank a whole lot of champagne that night. And the night after.
We also discussed our future. Gabe was taking time off from work to pursue some other passions: mainly his painting. We had a studio that was covered wall-to-wall in canvases, many of them already done, covered in a blend of oil and water color paint that made the room feel like a mosaic of life.
I loved spending time in there. Watching Gabe paint, truly disappearing into his element. We spent a lot of sun-soaked mornings in there.
Lately though, things had been busier on my end, putting a brief pause on the relaxing mornings. I had to buckle down for a national book tour and press circuit while also working on the next book to make sure this wasn’t just a (massive) flash in the pan. We’d bought this house and settled in for the long haul. Sometimes I walked around the new house in complete shock, wondering how I’d gone from questionable plumbing and cracking foundation to imported wood floors and vaulted ceilings that turned our living room into a cozy cavern.
Then I remembered all the shit we’d gone through to get here, and I allowed myself a moment to think, You know what? We deserve this.
The doorbell rang. Gabe opened it to reveal four smiling faces: Eric and Colton looking cute in slightly matching green polos and jeans, and Noah and Jake, both dressed completely opposite to each other but still complementing the other perfectly. Noah was in a blue-and-white-striped shirt and Jake in a black V-neck.
“Come in, come in,” Gabe said. They stepped in just as Yvette showed up with her new boyfriend, Jamie Thomson, a lawyer in a rival firm who’d wooed her over drinks after he suffered a devastating loss when Yvette mounted a kick-ass prosecution against his client.
The whole gang was here. I gave one big tour, showing off the various still-empty rooms with their gorgeous views of the neighborhood lake, spending a little extra time outside by the pool, the sound of a small waterfall competing with the casual chatter.
When we went back inside, we gathered in the family room, everyone taking out a copy of the book we were reading.
A Dragon’s Fall by none other than me. The first fantasy book I’d ever written and the one that made me a national best seller overnight. Now, I was getting together with my best friends and the love of my life to get drunk and play games as we talked about the characters and situations that I’d created.
Life really couldn’t get any better, and I couldn’t be any luckier.
“Alright, I’ll do the honors tonight,” I said, opening my book and starting our Reading Under the Rainbow club with Gabe’s hand on my knee and my smiling friends surrounding me, my book in their laps.
Luckiest man in the world.