Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
But before she could answer, Vaughn added, “But what’s going to stop this dude from doing this again?”
“That’s what I said!” Wren exclaimed, holding her hands out to him. “I said Wells is basically funding staying in the closet with this guy.”
Wells went to yell, but Jensen very calmly said, “I don’t think Matty is doing that. He’s different. I don’t know, he’s gotta control shit, right? This is the way he stays in control.”
Wells nodded, sighing. “Exactly.”
“But that doesn’t make it okay,” he added then, and Wells glared.
“Thanks, no thanks.”
Jensen shot him a look. “You need to tell him this is a one-time thing.”
“He didn’t want to do it anyway.”
“Well, that’s good,” Vaughn added, shaking his head. “But it still doesn’t make it okay. He should have come out—because, come on, it’s fucking time—and then tell that dude to suck it. You shouldn’t have offered. That would have been the push he needed.”
“Yeah,” Wren and Jensen agreed, and there went Wells’s composure.
Throwing his hands up, he yelled, “You guys are the biggest fucking hypocrites! Instead of making Wren own up to her mistakes when she got knocked up by someone else, you were quick to jump in to help her. How is this not just like that?”
“Because it’s six million dollars,” Vaughn laughed. “That’s a lot of money.”
“And that was marriage!”
Jensen shrugged as Wren shook with anger. “But I loved her, so it was fine.”
“And I love him!” Wells yelled, and Jensen shook his head.
“That’s fine, and we support that. We just want you to be mindful of what you’re doing, what you’re getting into. The same way you went after Wren when we decided to get married and I claimed this baby as mine,” Jensen reminded him.
That made Wells snap his mouth shut. He had been a dick when he’d found out Wren had asked Jensen to marry her and pose as her baby’s father after the shittastic baby daddy didn’t want anything to do with Wren or her baby. Wells was awful to her and not that great to Jensen. Mostly because he was afraid that one of them, or both of them, would get hurt
Just like they were probably worried he would get hurt.
He looked down at the ground. “I know what I’m doing. I appreciate everyone worrying about me, but I promise, the moment I feel I’m being kept in the closet, I’m out.”
He saw Wren’s feet in his gaze before he felt her hands on his face, tipping his head back. Her eyes were dark, full of worry, as she gazed into his. “That’s all I want because I love you, just like you love me. I refuse to let you hurt like you did before when he wouldn’t come out.”
Wells nodded as he swallowed. “I know.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
Kissing his jaw, she slapped her hands together. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”
Everyone agreed, smacking Wells on the back as they passed, going to the boxes Brie had opened since she was already eating.
“It’s really good,” Brie commented as she went for a third piece, not that Wells was counting.
He was too busy feeling like he may have made a huge mistake.
Twenty-One
Matty should have felt better. He had forwarded the money to Brendan and sat on pins and needles as they waited until the date the money was due. Brendan didn’t want to pay the guy until he knew for sure he would sign an NDA and overnight the pictures, along with the SD card. He knew the asshole could have kept them on his computer, but Brendan was positive it was all taken care of and finished when everything arrived Friday. Matty had been beyond nervous, but getting the confirmation from the asshole that morning seemed to alleviate some of the nervousness. Along with Wells, he was confident and wasn’t the least bit worried.
Which was good, he guessed. At least one of them was sane.
As Matty sat with his brothers at Seth’s upscale apartment, he picked at his nails as Laurence went on and on about the new client he had just picked up in Canada for the agency he and Seth had together. People always gave Matty shit for not switching and signing with his brothers, but Brendan had been there for him when he needed him. Seth and Laurence had only been in business a year. Yeah, it was booming, mostly because of the Haverbrooke name, but Matty was happy where he was. Thankfully, they understood that, but like always, talk went to shop.
“He’s the best.”
“You say that about all the clients you find,” Seth laughed, and Laurence beamed.
“Dude, great hands, quick on his feet, and I swear the kid is fast as all hell. Almost as fast as Matty here,” he said with a wink Matty didn’t even really acknowledge. He was too busy thinking about how distant Wells sounded on the phone earlier when he was on his way over to Seth’s. Matty had asked countless times if everything was okay, but Wells only gave him short answers. Something he didn’t normally do. And the more Matty thought about it, the more he realized that Wells had been like that all week. It was killing him, and he felt like it was because of the money.