Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
“You came here to make me your paid whore?” I bellow, much too loudly, but, luckily, my voice is swallowed by the loud din of the bar. I lower my voice and hiss, “We’re done here.” I jerk to standing, intending to bolt to my friends’ table across the bar, but Alexander is quicker than me. He rises with astonishing speed and grips my arm like a vise before I’m able to stride away.
As I try unsuccessfully to jerk my arm away, Alexander grits out, “You’re forty years old and you’ve got a small child, Marnie. Do you really think you’re going to get a better offer than the one I’m making you? Take what I’m offering and be fucking grateful for it.”
“Let go of her!” a male voice shouts as a blur of a figure descends upon Alexander.
I whip my head toward the source of the voice, and to my immense shock and relief, its owner is the man I love. The man of my dreams. The one and only Maximillian Vaughn.
.
33
MAX
As I sprint along the sidewalk toward Captain’s, I check my phone to confirm Marnie’s still there, and, thank God, she is. Although I suppose the term “thank God” is a relative thing when the woman of my dreams is at Captain’s on fucking Singles Night.
When I reach the large, metal front door of the bar, I swing it open and barrel inside like a man possessed, and then stand immediately inside the door, surveying the place. It’s packed tonight. Noisy as fuck. Where’s Marnie? When I don’t immediately see her, I head toward the tables in the back.
Is that Selena? It is! She’s sitting with all Marnie’s friends at a large table in a corner. My entire soul breathes a sigh of relief to realize Marnie came here on a girls’ night out, and not specifically to meet a dude. But wait. No. False alarm. Marnie’s not sitting with her friends. Did she go to the bathroom or to the bar to get the next round? Did she step out the back door to a quiet spot to say goodnight to Ripley? Or has she already left with someone for the night? Oh my fucking God. Has Marnie already “headed outside for a smoke” with some lucky guy?
My skin and lungs are on fire and my head is spinning. I turn around and scan the bar area frantically, but Marnie’s not there. Same thing when I peek out the back door. She certainly wasn’t out front when I got here moments ago, so that means my only hope is that she’s in the bathroom. Please, God, please. I start marching across the bar toward the short hallway leading to the bathrooms . . . and stop dead in my tracks when I spot her.
Marnie is sitting at a small table with my father.
How did this come about? Was she here with her friends, and she happened to run into Dad? Or did Dad call Marnie and ask her out the second Ashley dumped his ass? Or, shit, worst-case scenario, did Marnie somehow find out about my father’s newly single status and immediately contact him to rekindle their romance? The thought makes me want to drop to my knees and weep. Either that or lurch across the bar, smash one of those martini glasses onto the table and use a jagged shard to slit my father’s fucking throat.
As I’m still trying to process what I’m seeing and feeling, and how this travesty came about, Marnie jolts up, looking furious. In a flash, Dad jerks up from his chair and grabs Marnie’s arm in a tight, angry grip. And that’s it. My body flies into action, instinctively, whether or not my mind knows what to make of this situation.
In three bounding steps, I make it to my father and grab his arm. “Let go of her!” I shout.
There’s a blur of commotion as a couple nearby figures leap into action to keep the peace. Two guys suddenly hold me back while someone else gets between my father and me. I’m vaguely aware of a swarm of activity surrounding us—Marnie and all her friends clustered around my father and me, shouting and screaming.
“He’s my father,” I say to whoever’s holding me back. “I’m not gonna deck him. I just wanted to stop him from hurting her.”
After a beat, my captors release me. As it turns out, one of them is a bouncer. A big one, at that. “No fighting at Captain’s,” he says in a deep baritone. “You fight, you’re banned for life. One strike and you’re out.”
“He was violently grabbing my fiancée’s arm.”
The big guy shakes his head. “Rules are rules.”
“She’s not his fiancée,” Dad spits out, smoothing his shirt from where I grabbed him.
“She is, as far as I’m concerned,” I say. I turn to Marnie. “Unless I’m too late to make things right?” I motion to my father and Marnie by way of explanation, nonverbally asking if she’s chosen him over me.