Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I bet.” She sighs.
I stand.
“Are you going to say something to him?” she asks.
“No. Why bother?”
“You should ask him what his problem is.”
“I don’t care,” I reply dryly. “He can fuck her all night.”
Her eyes hold mine. “You don’t mean that.”
I fake a smile. “Yeah, actually, I do.”
I stand and make my way over to the kitchen, order a dessert to go, and wait for them to cut the cheesecake for me. If I’m going to be depressed tonight, I may as well do it in style. I get my cheesecake and as I am on my way out, he catches my eye.
“I’m going,” I announce.
He nods, unaffected. “See you.” He goes back to his conversation.
Is he fucking kidding? What is his problem? “Can I speak to you for a moment please?” I ask.
“What about?”
I glare at him and he rolls his eyes and stands begrudgingly. I walk out of the common room and he follows.
I turn to face him. “What are you doing?” I whisper.
He frowns. “What do you mean?”
“Why aren’t you talking to me?”
“I didn’t know I had to.”
I fold my arms angrily in front of me. “Is that so?”
He shrugs. “I’m going to hang with Chelsea tonight.” My eyes hold his. “I’m kind of bored in the same old cabin.” He pauses for a moment. “If you know what I mean?”
If he had hit me in the stomach, it would have been less painful.
“Hook up with someone if you want,” he replies nonchalantly. “I’m sure someone else can get the job done.”
I swallow the lump in my throat.
That hurt.
Of all the things he could say to me… the fact that he thinks I’m a slut is the worst.
I drop my head in shock. How do you even respond to that? I turn and walk away before he sees the tears that are welling behind my eyes.
I’m done.
* * *
Stace.
Standing still on the spot, I watch her walk down the hall away from me.
I should feel something other than what I do. I should be elated to get rid of the conniving bitch, not remorseful.
What I should be doing is hooking up with Chelsea for real, not standing here wishing I was going home with Rosh.
Fuck you for being a cop.
Fuck you for being the first chick I have dug in forever.
Regret swirls deep in my stomach that I’m not a better man, that she was right. Fuck her for showing me time and again why I am out of her league.
She deserved that, I remind myself. She deserved to feel betrayed by me because that’s what I feel from her. The act she showed to me in those first few days is what captured my attention. She had this strong willed vulnerability, and I found it so damn arousing.
What an actress.
Anyway, I don’t have time to worry about her now. I head to the control tower to ring Chris. I am anxious to see who Little Miss Innocent really is.
* * *
Two hours later I sit at my desk as I watch the clock. I have rung Chris every half hour and the results are still are not in. I blow out a frustrated breath. Come on, come on. I tap my pen as I think. If she is a cop, I have to kill her. I don’t have a choice. She has seen too much. I know she hasn’t had a radio to contact back so they know nothing yet. If she leaves, though, they will for sure. I rub my forehead in frustration. I don’t want to kill her. Fuck, what the hell does she think she’s doing out here, anyway? I hold my bottom lip between my fingers as I sit deep in thought, wondering if she is working with someone. Do we have a mole on this ship that has called the authorities? I narrow my eyes as I remember her coming out of that back door that night.
She was crying. She did put up a good fight. I should have known then that she was no normal chick.
The phone rings and I pick it up first ring. “Hello.”
“Hey, Stace.” It’s Chris.
“Are they in?” I ask.
“Yep.”
He hesitates and I frown. “What?”
“How long since you have heard from this girl?”
I bite my lip as I think of my answer before I reply. “A while.”
“I know why,” he replies.
“Why?”
“She’s reported missing. It’s all over the news.”
I screw up my face. Of course he was going to find that out. “What happened?”
“She apparently caught her boyfriend making out with her best friend in a nightclub.”
I frown as I listen.
“Took off and they think she has committed suicide somewhere.”
Her best friend and her boyfriend. What the fuck? That’s why she was crying.
“Anyway, she’s a nurse,” he continues.
I frown again. “Nurse?”
“Yeah, ICU.”
“I thought she was a cop?”
“Nope, did she tell you that?”