Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Kinny had become a pretty good friend over the years, and I called him one of my greatest friends. I’d tried to set Kinny and Keda up once, and they’d hated each other. Honestly, they had that really fine line between love and hate, and had things gone differently—ie: her not getting nearly killed in a drunk driving accident—I think they might’ve made that change from hate to love.
But now, Kinny was seeing someone new, and she semi-hated me because I showed up at her boyfriend’s shop to work on my car when I needed to, and sometimes that was too much female contact.
Honestly, Kinny could’ve done way better.
But I secretly felt like he was trying to punish himself with this woman.
A hard knock on my window had me glancing up to find a narrow-eyed Quincy staring at me. He was making the universal sign above his left shoulder with his hand and pointer finger in a ‘hurry up’ gesture.
I nearly snorted.
If he thought making that gesture at me would get me to move any faster, he was sorely mistaken.
And, just sayin’, but my shitbox took some time to warm up. If I tried to leave now, it’d die again, and that wasn’t something I was interested in doing in the middle of a busy street.
I rolled my window down just enough that he could hear what I was about to say and said, “Listen. I’m trying to leave, but this thing takes some warmup time. If I tried to leave now, it’d just die at the stop sign when I came to a stop. These things take time.”
His sigh of aggravation wasn’t nearly as sexy as it would’ve been had he not yelled at me earlier and told me he’d arrest me if he saw me near Taite again.
When he went to say something, his mouth opening just as the words started to come out of that stupid sexy mouth of his, I rolled the window up.
He narrowed his eyes, saying something that I could clearly make out as ‘pain in the fucking ass,’ and went back to scowling at me.
I revved the engine, hoping to help it along, and it growled like the awesome beast that she was.
Quincy’s eyebrows went up, surprised at the sound of the motor—most people were when they were shown the outside first—and I looked away.
I gave it another two or three minutes before I put it in drive and peeled out of my spot.
I took one last glance in my rearview mirror to see the man I was most certainly not attracted to shaking his head at me.
Well, fuck him, too.
A woman’s anger is like a check engine light. There’s no easy way to know what caused it, so you just ignore it and hope it goes away.
—Text from Quincy to Hollis
HOLLIS
The first thing I did the next morning after waking up was curse Quincy Carter’s name.
It didn’t help that I’d dreamed about him the night before.
The dream was forgotten almost the instant I woke up completely, but the remnants of how I felt—hot and bothered—still lingered, even now, an hour after my eyes opened.
I’d just finished putting the final touches on my makeup, which consisted of mascara and glitter eyeshadow—because everyone needed a little sparkle in their life—when I heard the knock on my apartment door.
I ignored it, because I wasn’t expecting anyone, and got onto my favorite social media app.
Mainly I got on social media—with three minutes to spare before I needed to leave—to see if Alana had dumped Taite’s ass. But what I saw wasn’t what I was expecting.
A photo of the two of them as they ate at my favorite freakin’ breakfast joint.
That. Asshole.
Of course he had to ruin it for me there, too.
Then there was the video of the two of them eating, real time. Him eating my order.
Of course he was.
The woman who was obviously doing the recording came over the line.
“Breaking news, Taite DeRosa is currently out with girlfriend, Alana Eldorado… playing on each other’s phones, making wacky faces at each other over breakfast. Is this a match made in paradise?”
I nearly rolled my eyes.
Because, of course, what I showed her last night wasn’t enough.
Was she just doing this for the PR at this point? I mean, she was a B-list actress and Taite was the most beloved man in the world today with his hot body, his ‘humor’ and his personality and charm. If anyone was going to propel anyone toward A-list it was him.
The knock repeated at the front door, but I again ignored it.
Shaking my head at the audacity of her not making the move she should have, I picked up my most recent burner phone.
Last night, in the dead of night, I’d been doubting myself, thinking that maybe I should have more control and not do these things anymore. But then I’d reminded myself of Quincy’s asshole comments and decided that no one got to tell me how to live my life. Not even that hot, sexy beast of a man.