AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, it is.” She swallows and meets my gaze. There are tears gathering there. I’ve only seen her cry once before, and never like this. Our arguments never felt this frigid, this final. “I get it. I’m not cut out for this. You know it, and so do I.”
“Don’t do this to me now.” I glance at my phone again.
Shit, shit.
Archer’s going to die of a stroke if I don’t report back.
“We’ll finish this later. I have to go,” I say, turning on legs of pure cement.
“You don’t have to do anything, so don’t worry about it,” she whispers. “With Haute going down and the business with him toast, there’s no reason to continue with this, is there? This fake fiancée crap…”
God. Fucking. Damn.
I don’t have time for this.
It’s killing me that I don’t, driving a slow dagger through my heart.
And what would I say if I did?
Now isn’t the time for a heart-to-heart, even if it’s long overdue.
If I don’t leave now, I could blow my best chance at nailing Haute’s dick to the wall.
Fuck.
“This isn’t my priority,” I tell her, shoving my phone back in my pocket. When I meet her eyes, just for a second, the hurt there threatens to undo my conviction, and I look away again. “Just stay here, Junie. We’ll talk when I get back, I promise.”
“No need,” she says coldly.
Fuck.
I wish like hell I could stick around and find out what that means, but there’s truly no time. Another text comes through, probably telling me to meet Archer at the office ASAP. But with a lot more expletives. He’s not fucking around.
Neither am I.
“Stay,” I growl back over my shoulder, one hollow, desperate word before I’m running to my car.
25
SWEET GOODBYES (JUNIPER)
Istill don’t know what hit me.
How did it all come crashing down so fast?
Dexter’s living room feels like an empty cave without him in it. My chest, emptier still. The kind of lonely I’ve felt before and hoped—I dreamed—I might never have to feel again.
Not with Dexter.
But this is what happens when a girl ignores her basic instincts.
I swore I’d never get involved with another man after Liam, and now look at me.
Look at us.
Look at what we’ve destroyed.
I don’t know how it died so swiftly.
