Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
“Okay,” I say softly. “I’ll walk away from Iris.”
“Thank you.”
“I won’t kick her out of the bungalow, though. I’ll offer her the place for the week, on my dime. It’s the least I can do after what she’s been through.”
“Make her sign an NDA in exchange for the place.”
“Would you drop the NDA thing? I’m not gonna tell Iris who I am. For the first time in a long time, I got to be with a woman without having to wonder if she only wanted to be with me because I’m Roman Maguire.”
He sighs. “I’ll get a new place booked for you. Do you want to fly over to Maui, since that’s where Coach is staying?”
“No, he wants to play at some golf club here in Kauai.”
“Okay. I’ll text you the info. Thanks for listening to reason about this, Roman.”
I glance at that happy family playing in the shallow waves again. I might be listening to reason about this, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.
Chapter 11
Roman
As I open the door of the bungalow, Iris laments, “I’ll never be able to leave my house again.”
Shit. I quietly close the door and peek around the corner. She’s lying on the couch facing away from me in the midst of a FaceTime call.
“News cycles move at the speed of light these days,” one of two female faces on Iris’s screen offers. The other woman on Iris’s screen adds, “Give it a day or two, and the world will forget all about the viral ‘Runaway Bride.’”
“The ‘Horny Runaway Bride,’” Iris says with a sniffle. “Let’s not gloss over that.” She sniffles again. “I can’t believe the only part anyone cares about is that I said I was going get myself railed and scrambled in Hawaii. Why isn’t anyone talking about Brandon being a lying, cheating piece of shit?”
“They are, honey. Lots of people are saying exactly that.”
The second woman says, “I know the negative voices seem a lot louder to you, but not everyone on the internet is dragging you. Lots of people are cheering you on and calling you a badass for what you did.”
Iris shakes her head. “If only I hadn’t said that thing at the end about getting myself railed and scrambled. You know I was only parroting Brandon’s exact words, right?”
“We know that, yes, but it seems that got lost in translation for anyone who hasn’t pored over Brandon’s phone, like we have.”
Iris groans. “If Roman sees that video, I’ll die of em-
barrassment.”
I jolt at the mention of my name.
“Why?”
“If he sees it, he’ll think I walked in on him in that bathroom as part of some diabolical plan.”
“Was it a plan?” one of the women retorts. “No. But did you manifest that hunky man? I honestly think you did, baby.”
The other one laughs. “I think maybe you’re a witch.”
Iris scoffs. “If I had magical powers, I assure you, a video of me at my absolute worst wouldn’t be going viral.”
One of the women lets out an angry grunt. “I swear, if I find out the identity of MackDaddy310, I’m going to strangle them for posting that stupid video.”
“It had to be one of Brandon’s fraternity brothers,” the other woman says. “Or one of their plus-ones. The angle is from where they were sitting.”
Iris exhales. “It doesn’t matter. Identifying whoever posted it won’t put the genie back in the bottle, unfortunately.”
“I’m so sorry this is happening to you, honey.”
Iris sniffles. “It’s okay. At least I’m not Mrs. Gladstone right now. I’m trying really hard to focus on that silver lining.”
“Another silver lining?” one of the women says. “You finally got to experience amazing sex for the first time. Kudos to you, Iris. Your manifestation worked like a charm.”
Iris scoffs again. “If I manifested Roman, then why didn’t I think to manifest that video not existing, too? Damn it! I can’t let Roman see that stupid thing. Everything that happened between us unfolded in such a genuine, organic way yesterday, but that video makes it seem like I’m some kind of horny, homicidal maniac who landed in Kauai and immediately set off to find a random hot guy to rail me.”
“He wouldn’t think that. But if he did, why would he care, since he got some fantastic, meaningless sex out of the situation?”
I bristle at Iris’s friend’s word choice. Rationally, “meaningless” is an accurate descriptor for the sex that transpired last night, I suppose, and yet my body is reacting like it’s been gravely insulted.
One of the women asks, “What’s his last name? I’ll google him.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
“What? Rookie move, Iris.”
“Because I’m a rookie!”
The women on the call crack up at Iris’s comedic delivery, as I burst out laughing, too, without meaning to do it; but luckily, the sound of my laughter is drowned out by all three women cackling like hyenas together.