Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 224334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1122(@200wpm)___ 897(@250wpm)___ 748(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 224334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1122(@200wpm)___ 897(@250wpm)___ 748(@300wpm)
“That’s a terrible analogy.”
She shrugs. “If the prices rise at our current supplier, we have to raise memberships.”
“Then raise them.”
“We just did.”
“Did we?”
“Yes,” John says, wandering in. “We talked about it.”
“Did we?”
He lowers next to Sarah. “You need to be at the meeting.”
“I can’t be at the meeting.” I need to take Ava to work. If she’s talking to me.
“Why?” John asks.
“I’m busy.”
“Doing what?”
I look at him, brows raised. You take her to work for me then. He rolls his eyes, as he knows what I’m asking, and he doesn’t call me out on it, so I’m going to take that as a yes. It’s probably safer for all involved if John takes Ava to work anyway. “Fine,” I relent. “I’ll be here. What time?”
“Eight.”
“Eight?” I blurt as Sarah stands and collects the catalogue of fluff.
“Yes, eight. I’m assuming that won’t be a problem since your days of nursing a hangover in the mornings are long gone.” She saunters to the door, the bitch back, and pulls it open. “And just so you know, Coral’s asking if she can come back.”
A bark of laughter erupts. “Sure,” I sing. “Roll out the red carpet for her, why don’t you. And while you’re at it, reinstate Freja Van Der Haus’s invite on Friday. And any other female members out there who are hell-bent on destroying me.”
John smiles a little, rubbing at his top lip with the side of his finger, and Sarah leaves. We both know the only woman in this world who can destroy me isn’t a member. And never will be. Might not even step foot in the place.
“All right?” he asks.
“Great.” I’m not telling him that I’m seeing things. He’ll have me sectioned. “Van Der Haus knows about me and Ava.” I can tell him that, though, so then he might appreciate my predicament.
“So Freja did tell him.”
“Not exactly.” I squirm in my seat as John studies me. “I did.” I’ve fucked myself over good and proper.
“Why?”
“Because I’m an award-winning dickhead, John. That’s why. Because I can’t control my panic or my urges where Ava’s concerned, that’s why. Because she had a meeting with him today and I spent two hours outside the hotel convincing myself that if I didn’t make my presence in her life known, he might try to take her.”
“Take her?”
“Date her. Woo her. Whatever. The fact is, I was right to be worried.” I sink lower into my chair.
“And do we know if he knows when exactly his wife was . . . with you?”
I inhale, regret a vise around my lungs. I’m fucking terrified Freja’s given specifics, whether that be in a fit of revenge or just to prove to Mikael that she’s not short of male attention. “I don’t know.”
“Oh dear,” John muses, shaking his head to himself. “Van Der Haus already didn’t like you.”
“Correct.”
“And then he found out you slept with his wife.”
“Correct.”
“And now he’s found out that the man who slept with his wife has a girlfriend, and he just so happens to be working with her.”
“Correct.”
“But he didn’t know Ava was your girlfriend until you barged in on their meeting and told him.”
I narrow one eye on him, pressing the ice into my hand some more. Whether I stormed the meeting or not, he’d try to take her. Now, though, I’ve just made the chase a little more exciting for him. Fuck my life. “Are you just going to sit here and state the obvious?”
“Yes, and I’m about to state something else obvious.”
“What?”
“You’ve got to tell Ava.” He stands, and I slump some more. Yeah, that simple. Just tell her I betrayed her. Tell her I put my dick in another woman. Two other women. The fact that I was ten sheets to the wind and it was brief won’t matter. The fact Ava and I were only seeing each other, only fresh, new, won’t matter. Because it doesn’t matter. I’ve fucked up. Seriously fucked up.
“I can’t do that to her, John. Not after everything I’ve already put her through.”
He looks down at my hand. And the welts on my wrist. “You also can’t let someone else will do the honors. It has to come from you. You need to get in front of the problem, not wait to see if it explodes.”
I laugh to myself. I don’t see what other option I have if I want to keep her. I can’t get in front of this problem. I sigh. “I need you to pick her up for work tomorrow,” I say, going to my mobile and texting my regular car valet guy.
“No, Jesse. That is not the answer to your problems—me chaperoning Ava to work.”
And all the places in between while I can’t be with her. Or, actually, when she won’t let me be with her. “Her car’s being cleaned,” I say, holding up my phone. “Nothing more.”