Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Instead, I say, “You’re the worst juggler I’ve ever seen in my entire life, you dickbag.”
Chapter 6
Keely
“Excuse us.” Jamila grabs my arm, dragging me away to the book room. She kicks the door shut, turning on me, her cheeks brightening into scarlet. “What the fuck is going on right now?”
“I don’t know,” I say, pacing back and forth, though an idea’s starting to form in my head. “We had that thing at Ash’s wedding—”
“Renewal ceremony,” Jams corrects.
I grit my teeth. “Right, at the ceremony, and I guess we talked a little bit about this whole donut shop thing—”
“You told him?” She crosses her arms, widening her stance. “Why would you tell him?”
“I didn’t know we’d actually do it yet, okay? And I had no clue he’d buy the freaking building, much less blackmail us into letting him invest.”
Jams keeps her cool. I have to admit, in her position I’d be raging right now. She’s pissed, that much is obvious, but she’s not absolutely losing it. That helps me get it together as I lean up against a half-finished workbench, the gleaming industrial metal coated with drywall dust.
“All right, okay, so he got this idea from you at the ceremony. Maybe he didn’t realize we’d actually move in here, but then the opportunity presented itself.”
“Right, maybe.” I shrug a little, but I’m not so sure. I didn’t tell him about this exact location, but he must’ve known that I was thinking about coming here when he bought it. “He did sort of, you know, encourage me.”
“He encouraged you?”
“We got to talking, okay? I was a little buzzed and he can be kind of charming, and when I told him about the donut thing, he just sort of said I should take the risk.”
She cracks a smile. “That’s why you brought it up.”
“Yes, okay, he gave me a little freaking courage. I don’t need you to judge me right now.”
“I’m not judging. It just makes more sense. He must feel a little bit of ownership.”
That word ownership pisses me off. “He does not own any of this. He’s not involved. All he did was say I should go for it. I’ve done everything else.”
“We’ve done it,” she corrects, making me flinch, but she doesn’t seem to mind. “Okay, let’s forget that for a second. The biggest question is, will he follow through?”
We lapse into silence. I stare at the door, thinking. I know what kind of man Nolan is, or at least what he’s rumored to be. The guy’s a mafia prince, a member of a powerful, elite family, essentially immune to any prosecution. Even if I decided to take this to the cops, they’d laugh me out of the precinct.
Which means there’s no way in hell he’d ever get in trouble.
“Yes, he will,” I say quietly, remembering the look on his face when he was juggling.
The utter, intense concentration.
The same look he gave me later on when we were in bed together.
“Then we have no choice.” Jamila turns and storms back into the front of the shop.
“Wait,” I call after, hurrying to catch up.
But it’s too late. Jams stands in front of Nolan, looking up into his face with a ferocious glare. Nolan smiles back impassively like she’s nothing more than an annoying little kitten come to bat him with her tiny little claws.
“We’ll take your money, but the first chance we get to fuck you, we’re going to.”
He looks past her at me. “Do you agree with her, Keely Something?”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Oh, god, is that a pet name?” Jams looks disgusted, not that I can blame her. I blush slightly, remembering the way he whispered, something and everything in my ear as he fucked me. “Listen to me, Mr. Crowley. I don’t want anything to do with you. If I could tell you no, I would, but Keely thinks you’re not going to give up until we accept your money. And frankly, it’s not the worst offer in the whole world. So on behalf of myself and my stubborn, kind of obnoxious partner, we accept your proposition.”
She thrusts a hand at him. Nolan studies it for a moment. The room is wreathed in silence. I stare at him, heart racing, throat dry. Why do I feel this nervous energy pulsing into me? Like a beat from a distant drum? He has me stretched thin, made taut and humming. Brimming over with anxiety. Like at any moment, I might burst—or I might break out into a sprint, throwing myself at him in a frenzy.
“I want to hear her say it.” He draws the words out, making them crisp and sharp. “I want Keely to say she wants me as a partner.”
Jamila’s hand slowly lowers. She looks back at me, chewing her lip, but I can only stare at Nolan.
That fucking prick.