Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
By the time we were walking the short distance from the front doors of the building to the waiting black SUV, I was a mess. A complete and total disaster.
And it wasn’t acting.
The finality of everything hit me like a thousand books to the head, each one a memory of Aleks that I’d never forget. I slid inside the car with camera lights flashing, reporters calling my name and asking what happened while I fell apart for their entertainment.
“Mia! Is it true you and Aleks have split?”
“Who ended it, Mia? Was it you or Aleks?”
“Mia, are the rumors about Aleks cheating true?”
“Mia, is this the end of the wedding plans? Are you calling it off?”
“How are you holding up? Can you give us a comment?”
James shut the door behind me, snuffing out the noise as another sob tore through me. I folded my arms over my stomach, aching and rocking and shaking my head.
This can’t be happening.
This can’t be real.
The driver already knew where to take us, every part of the plan set into place. He headed toward the airport while I tried to calm my breaths. I pressed a hand against my chest and closed my eyes, focusing on each inhale, trying to lengthen my exhales.
In, and out.
In, and out.
The tears were still sliding fast and furious down my cheeks. I let them. I watched them fall to my thighs, felt them dry on my chin. My skin was tight from their tracks, my nose running, eyes fatigued.
After a few minutes, I gained my composure a bit, sinking back in the seat and letting my head loll to the side. I sniffed, watching the city of Tampa pass in a teary blur.
I started counting trees.
1… 2… 3…
But the trees turned into memories, each one pelting me like the rain that had whipped against Aleks’s windows last time I was here.
A magnolia tree, but I saw Aleks, brows bent in concern as he shielded me from the paparazzi in New York. I felt his hand on the small of my back, the way it held onto me even still in the car when all the cameras were gone.
A palm tree, but I saw Aleks’s beaming smile at the beach mansion, his bare chest exposed by an open, tropical button-up. I felt his heat from that first fake kiss, heard his words whispered only for me. Läck du mir.
A jacaranda tree, but I saw Aleks in a stupid fish head mask, saw him peeling it off and beaming at me, felt his strong body when I jumped into his arms to celebrate our win.
An oak tree, Spanish moss hanging dreamily from its limbs, but I saw his heated eyes as he stripped the jersey with his name and number on it over my head, felt his hot breath on my skin as he whispered filthy words along the column of my neck.
All of it hit me in unrelenting flashes, wave after wave of feeling crashing over me until I was drowning.
And that’s when I realized.
None of it was fake.
Not one single thing that had happened since we first met up in New York had been pretend — not to me.
And I didn’t care if he didn’t feel the same. I didn’t care if I was crazy for breaking all the rules I’d set for us. I didn’t care if I’d feel like a fool in the morning.
I had to tell him.
I blinked, snapping out of my haze and into the moment with my heart thundering loud and fast in my chest. “Don’t get on the highway.”
James frowned at me, the driver’s eyes snapping to mine in the rearview mirror. “But, Ms.—”
“Don’t get on the highway,” I repeated, leaning forward. “Boomer’s. Take me to Boomer’s.”
“That’s where Aleks is,” James said.
“Exactly.”
I thought I saw the corner of James’s mouth inch up, but I was too busy snapping my fingers at the driver.
“Boomer’s,” I repeated, louder this time. “Please. And hurry.”
I knew now what I wanted, what I was willing to risk.
I just hoped I made it in time.
The Last Nail
Aleks
I couldn’t go through with it.
I knew I’d have my ass handed to me by Isabella and Giana. I knew Mia would scream at me and tell me how I’d ruined everything. Even as I peeled Renee, the girl I was supposed to be making out with, off my lap, I tried to think of an alternative, a way to fix the mess I was about to create.
But I didn’t care. Even if I couldn’t figure something out, even if I had to answer to the feminine rage of all three of those women, that was just how it would have to be.
Because I couldn’t go through with it.
I could barely stomach the blonde when she grabbed my hand and led me to the VIP area of Boomer’s — just like she had been paid to do. She’d signed an NDA, too, one that would ensure all our asses were covered.