Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
But then fate intervenes and her eyes land on me, delight sparkling within. Her face softens. Not enough to make me feel better, but enough to make the turmoil inside me flare warm and uneasy. She approaches, a smile on her face, and the man follows. My hands involuntarily curl into fists.
Daisy reaches me… stops toe to toe, but she doesn’t touch me. She can’t hug me, kiss me or otherwise indicate that she and I are fucking. But I can see it in her eyes. She’s happy to see me and that’s confusing since she seemed to only have eyes for this guy not thirty seconds ago.
She clears her throat. “Grizz… this is Elias Reed, my dearest friend in the world.”
Friend? “You don’t say?”
She nods with a smile, loops her arm through his to draw him closer. “We met freshman year at Duke.”
I nod once, stiff. I wait for him to stick his hand out for me to shake, and I truly hope he does so I can crush his fingers. Instead, he merely raises his brows in Daisy’s direction. “He’s charming in person.”
Daisy shoots him a look—Don’t start—but he ignores it, instead beaming a confident smile my way. I want to knock his teeth down his throat.
“So,” I say, folding my arms, “how’d you end up in New York, Elias?”
Daisy jumps in first before he can answer. “Elias is from New York. He’s actually the person who talked me into moving here after undergrad.” Daisy nudges her shoulder against her friend’s. “Best decision I ever made.”
I grit my teeth as he casually drapes his arm over her shoulders, eyes locked onto mine in defiance. “We’re thick as thieves, Daisy and me.”
For a moment, I succumb to the fantasy of ripping off his head, then tossing it over my shoulder so that it rolls underneath a table. But Daisy elbows Elias playfully, getting him to dislodge his arm.
“Elias helped me get my job with the team.”
“Excuse me?”
Elias sips his drink. “Uncle’s the owner. You might’ve heard of him. Julian Langley? He likes to hire people with… potential.”
Daisy smiles, seeming completely oblivious that I don’t like her friend or that he’s yanking my chain. “Elias put in a good word for me.” She beams at him and he smirks at me.
“Uh-huh,” I say.
She finally catches on that something is brewing and her brows knit. “What does that mean?”
“It means… uh-huh,” I reply smoothly.
Understanding dawns in her eyes. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make it sound like—” She stops, breathes, steadies. “Elias and I have known each other forever. He’s the closest thing I have to a brother.”
Brother. Is that where she’s going?
The word hits me where I don’t want it to. But the burning in my chest doesn’t simmer. If anything, it heats up, because all I see is Elias touching her back again. His hand resting casually, intimately, like it’s natural, like this is where it is whenever they’re together as “friends.”
He does it again now—palm brushing the small of her back as someone squeezes behind them. I see fucking stars.
My jaw grinds so hard I feel my molars protest.
“… and then Daisy told me she thought this game was the most exciting display of sports she’s ever seen.”
I try to focus in on what Elias just said, but all I can see is that fucking hand on her lower back.
Daisy flushes and gives a nervous laugh. “I did not phrase it that dramatically.”
My head snaps to her.
She said that.
But not to me.
I feel myself about to explode.
Elias clocks it instantly. His eyes light up. “Relax, big guy,” he says, understanding exactly what he’s doing, even if Daisy doesn’t fully get what’s going on. “We’re just friends.”
And that’s the moment I snap. “I’ll accept that you’re just friends if you accept the fact I’m going to break every bone in your hand if you don’t get it off her.” The restaurant stills around us—or maybe it only feels that way. Daisy stiffens. Elias lifts his brow.
“Well,” Elias says, voice amused, but thankfully for him, his hand falls away from her back. “Someone’s a little proprietary.”
“Grizz,” Daisy whispers, eyes wide. There’s even a hint of empathy in her voice, but it grates on every last nerve in my body. I don’t need her feeling sorry for my big emotions.
I have to get out of here.
I turn and exit the private dining area, past the velvet rope, past the host stand, past the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that reflect my expression back at me, but I’m someone I don’t even recognize at this point. I shove through the door into the whipping New York air.
The chill hits me hard and so do the footsteps behind me.
“Grizz!” Daisy’s voice cuts through the noise of the city.
I don’t slow, lengthening my strides. I hear the click-click of her boots as she tries to catch up.