Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39300 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39300 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
And he hates me.
Tears sting my eyes, and I blink rapidly, trying to hold them at bay. I'm not crying on a damn sidewalk in downtown Nashville because I was naive and stupid. No way.
I fumble for my phone and dial my cousin, Triton, with shaking fingers. Thank God he refused to let me run away to Nashville alone because I need him right now more than ever.
"Hey, baby cousin. What's up?" he answers on the third ring, his voice smooth as bourbon.
"Triton, I…I…" The words stick in my throat as a tear slips down my cheek. Dammit. I quickly brush it away as if hiding the evidence will mean it never fell at all.
"You went to see him, didn't you?" Triton asks.
"Yes." My traitorous voice wobbles as I press myself up against a building, trying to hide in the shadows as a passerby glances in my direction.
My cousin sighs quietly. "I'm sorry, baby cousin. I tried to warn you."
Damn him for saying it, but he's right. He did try to warn me that Dalton would break my heart if I wasn't careful. He doesn't trust the billionaire my father chose for me at all. But in my naive fantasy, I was so sure it would all work out. Dalton and I would meet. He'd fall in love with me too. And my life would be nothing like my mother's. I wouldn't spend it married to a man incapable of love.
Stupid, stupid girl.
"I'm an idiot," I mumble, tasting the salt of my tears on my lips.
"No, you aren't. He is," Triton growls, as protective of me as always. "Where are you? I'll come pick you up."
I glance around at the high-rises butting up against historic buildings that have been here since Nashville planted roots, feeling lost and out of place. Los Angeles could swallow this city easily, yet nothing here feels familiar like it does there. It's overwhelming. "Music Row," I mumble. "I'm down the block from Grady Records."
"Stay there, and I'll come get you."
"Okay," I whisper, exhaling a shuddering breath. Panic immediately starts clawing up my throat. "What am I going to do? I'm going to lose everything." A slightly hysterical laugh bubbles out of me. "Oh my God. I've already lost it, haven't I?"
No. I didn't lose anything. I basically freaking threw away everything I've worked for and then walked over the wreckage of it on my way out the door. All because Dalton Grady doesn't want me.
I'm such an idiot.
No man is worth this. I've poured my heart and soul into Evernight. I'm the first to arrive and the last to leave. Even when I don't get the credit—and I rarely get the credit for what I've accomplished—I still work my ass off. All because I knew that one day, the company would be mine.
And I just blew it all up over a man. That's the dumbest thing I've ever done. And I dyed my hair pink and spent my freshman year of high school writing the most God-awful poetry anyone could ever imagine, just to read them at slam poetry sessions around the city, so I've done some dumb things.
Falling for Dalton might be the worst.
So…why doesn't my heart want to listen to my head here? Oh, right. Because something about that gorgeous man makes me unreasonable. Maybe it's those striking hazel eyes or the wild hair my fingers itch to comb through. Maybe it's the perpetual five o'clock shadow on his razor-sharp jawline or his ridiculously kissable lips. Or the broad expanse of his shoulders or the tattoos that peep from the edges of his expensive suits. Or maybe it's the hint of sadness lingering in his eyes in every picture I've ever seen of him.
Or maybe it's the way he looked at me today. For just a minute, I could have sworn he felt the same pulse of energy I did. That it was consuming him alive, too. That he wanted to kiss me.
Clearly, I was wrong. He didn't want to kiss me. He probably couldn't wait for me to get out of his office.
"Don't think that way," Triton soothes, but there's an edge to his tone that I don't understand. Impatience? Annoyance? "I'm on my way to get you. We'll figure out how to deal with this. We won't let Uncle Zen take the company from you."
"Okay." His promise should reassure me, but it doesn't. My father was crystal clear—no Dalton, no inheritance. No company.
I end the call and wrap my arms around myself, fighting the urge to crumple to the dirty concrete in devastation.
Triton's on his way. He'll fix this. Somehow.
But even as I cling to that fragile hope, dread coils in my stomach, cold and heavy. Because deep down, I'm terrified that there is no fixing this and it's already too late.