Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 140742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
“Friends or not, I doubt Finn would talk about that with anyone,” she says. “And the Barlows tried to wipe everyone’s memory of what happened to Mal.”
I huff out a watery laugh. “I wish they’d done it to me. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so damn guilty all the time.”
“You couldn’t have known it would happen. What happened was awful, but Mal was hanging out with a lot of weird people at the time,” she says, pressing her lips together. “You have to know it’s not your fault.”
I nod, swallowing to rein in tears. Maybe one day, I’ll actually feel that way. Taking a deep breath, I set my hands on the area I have set up for my social media content and focus on the video I’m about to make. If I dwell on that night any longer, I’ll throw up and cancel this entire outing. It’s stupid. I know if the tables were turned, I’d want Mallory to celebrate her birthday without feeling this way, but I can’t help it. I take another deep breath, then turn on my camera with a huge smile on my face. Fake it till you make it, right?
12
FINN
Everyone wears a mask, but none wear it quite as well as Josslyn Santos. It’s a feat, considering how much of her life she posts on social media. The entire world seems to think she’s their best friend. As a popular athlete, it’s something she’s been able to capitalize on. She’s not the best college basketball player out there, but she has more NIL deals than anyone I’ve ever heard of. She spends a chunk of her money funding non-profits she started—one builds basketball courts at schools in underprivileged neighborhoods, and the other provides mental health options to those same neighborhoods.
For those accomplishments, she gets a lot of respect, even from me. She was already popular when I met her, but she’s the internet’s “it girl” at the moment, which comes as no surprise since she’s fucking gorgeous. Probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Especially when she lets that mask drop, as she did in the newest pictures my PI sent me. She was on a date with some idiot from the Fairview basketball team and she was smiling. A genuine smile that reaches her eyes. I guess that happiness wasn’t worth much, since she dropped him the moment Tate Foster came running back. Tate fucking Foster. I couldn’t believe it when I discovered who two-day was. My only regret was not fucking her at Onyx that night. The only thing I’d done was wait until the masked man looked up to take the blur off the glass window, so he could see her on her knees with my cock in her mouth. Neither of us had a mask on by that point, and I knew the moment he saw us from the way he pushed off the woman who’d been doing the same to him. He had two women between his legs, but I had the only one that mattered on her knees in front of me.
We both knew that, and to further prove my point, I’d grabbed the back of Josslyn’s hair, demanded she touch herself, and grinned at the fucker. I’d put the fog back on the window before either of us came, because I didn’t want to give anyone the privilege of seeing that, and I never looked back out there. I didn’t need to. Funny thing is, I didn’t even know it was Tate, and once I found out, it tasted like sweet victory. Just for a moment, because in the end, he had the girl and I only had the memory.
Not that I wanted more from her, though I had to admit it would have been a nice addition to our family feud. Our fathers have been at war for as long as I can remember, which I always thought was beneath me. It wasn’t until Tate personally attacked me that I got involved in that bullshit. I let him get in that one blow, but in the end, I had everything—the lifestyle, the hockey contract, and the women. I’d come home twice since that night at Onyx, and had seen them together once. When he spotted me, he made a show of being with her. The only thing that bothered me about it was that he was under the impression that I gave a fuck.
I’ve had her followed for a while now, so I have pictures from my PI of the moment she found out about his cheating. In the pictures, she looks upset but not distraught, as if expecting something like that from him. Cheating with Gracie, of all people, was quite possibly the worst birthday present Tate could’ve given her.
I drop my phone and exhale heavily. I don’t know how I’m going to get her to cooperate with me, but I need to figure it out before training starts. As it is, I’ve been inundated with team meetings. My days are numbered, though, and I need her to admit that she lied that night. I need her to tell me what she’s been covering up. The bad news is that she’s rarely alone and I’m sure her posse will be with her more than ever after the cheating scandal. The good news is that the Fairview Owls picked up her stepbrother in the NHL draft, and he’s a new teammate of mine. It helps that the guy idolizes me.