Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
He grinned and nodded once toward me. “Okay, Ms. Holly. Can I give you one small piece of advice, though?”
“Sure.”
“Maybe you should take a shower. You kind of stink. I’ll see you later.” Curtis turned and walked to the elevator, leaving me completely stunned and silent. Then, I lifted my arm and smelled my armpit. I grimaced from the stench.
Maybe he was right. Maybe I could use a good round of body wash.
After my egg rolls, of course.
Later that night, I watched as a piece of paper slid under my apartment door. I headed over to pick up the note, which was from Kai.
Holly, I know how bad it looked when you walked into Mano’s, but I wasn’t kissing Penelope. She kissed me. I know that sounds stupid as hell, but it’s true. She came to pick up the divorce paperwork from me and confessed these bizarre feelings for me out of nowhere. It meant nothing to me. I look at her and feel nothing. I’m sorry you walked into that. I swear I didn’t see that coming. She means nothing to me, Holly, but you? You mean everything. Please unblock me. Please come find me. Please let me back in.
-Kai
I read his note repeatedly. Tears flooded my eyes as I bit my bottom lip. My stomach hardened as nausea formed. My tired heart still whispered, “Give him another chance.” Even after everything it had been through. After the heartbreak, the aches, and the exhaustion my heart had gone through, it still held onto enough hope to beat for love.
However, I had to quiet it because my heart always led me astray. It was time to listen to my brain for a while. It was time to put my heart and its love away.
Around ten that night, my door intercom went off. At first, I thought it was Kai trying to sneak his way into seeing me, but when it buzzed, and I got a text message on my phone, I knew it wasn’t him.
Alec
Let me in, jerk.
I half grinned at the message from my brother before I buzzed him up to my apartment.
When he knocked on my door, I checked the peephole to make sure it was him on his own.
“I didn’t bring Kai to bumrush you,” he said from outside the door. “But I did bring cheesecake. Let me in.”
I opened the door, letting my brother enter the space. Then, I shut it behind me quickly. “What are you doing here?” I asked. It wasn’t every day that Alec popped in for a visit.
“Rumor has it that you’re going through a rough patch.” He glanced around at my messy apartment and grimaced. “And it looks like the rumor is true.”
I hurried to my kitchen area and began collecting the old take-out containers and tossing them into the trash. “I’m just in my writing mode,” I lied. “I haven’t had time to clean.”
“Right,” Alec said unbelievingly. He set the cheesecake on the dining room table, then crossed his arms as he looked my way. “What’s going on, Holly? Kai called me and asked me to check in on you. He said you’re upset with him.”
“I’m not mad. I’m just over it. I’m over it all.” My voice cracked a little as nerves began rocketing through my stomach. “I don’t want to talk about it, though. My brain is tired from thinking about it. So, if you came here to have a heart-to-heart—”
“I didn’t. I didn’t come here to hug you, seeing how we got in our one hug for the next decade during Christmas.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Then why are you here?”
He walked into my cupboard, pulled out two clean plates, and grabbed two forks. “To eat cheesecake and watch bad reality television.”
A small sigh of relief rippled through my system. Now, that was something I could get on board with. Alec wasn’t the best at encouraging me or having heart-to-heart conversations. But my brother was good at showing up when I needed someone to be around me. The same way he sat outside my bedroom after my heartbreak last year was the same way he sat on my couch that evening.
Having someone sit beside you during the hard times felt like the biggest comfort ever.
We’d watched one too many episodes of trash television on my couch before Alec got up and began cleaning my kitchen.
“You don’t have to do that,” I told him, but he continued loading the dishwasher. It was clear at that moment that Alec’s love language was acts of service. He also told me to piss off when I tried to get up and help him clean.
When he finished, I offered him the opportunity to stay the night in my guest room, and he took it. I got ready for bed, and as I climbed onto my mattress, my brother appeared in my doorway.