Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 160782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 804(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 804(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Natasha
Weeknights are meant to be relaxing and calm, but I have never been so anxious. I was a regular person. I had a normal life…that is until Joshua Stanton came back into it. Now it seems I jump from one nightmarish situation to the next. Totally unrelated stupid things that are making my head spin. I feel like I am in an out-of-control plane and I don’t know if the landing is going to be ok or if I am going to crash and burn.
Cancer, serial killers, hit men, bodyguards, paternity…Jesten, Joshua’s feeling about me. I just want some damn peace…with a boyfriend who I know loves me. Why can’t I be in love with a normal man…a boring, weedy, slightly overweight man? My stomach clenches as nerves fill my system and I look at my watch for the fiftieth time tonight. Why haven’t they contacted me yet?
It’s Tuesday night and I’m waiting for the call from Bridget and Abbie to let me know that the fight between Jesten and Joshua is over…and that Jesten is still alive. Nine pm, it’s got to be on soon. I got home from the hospital at seven and have been waiting ever since. I put my head into my hands as I sit on the toilet. This is a nightmare. How am I supposed to be calm when I know what is going on in the Luna Park Convention Centre just across town? My phone rings, it’s Abbie.
“Hello,” I answer. “Hi, it’s Abbie.”
“I know who it is, what’s happening?” I snap.
“Right, so Joshua is fighting Jesten. I just saw it on the draw.” “Shit.” I was hoping that they wouldn’t be put against each
other. “Are they fighting right now?” I ask.
“No, not yet, I will call you when it starts.”
“Ok,” I hang up.
I walk into the kitchen and pour myself a vodka with soda and go out onto my balcony and light a cigarette. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I need to calm my nerves. I’m a walking basket case.
I pace up and down my balcony for another forty minutes with my stomach in my throat. What if Joshua actually hurts Jesten? What if Jesten hurts Joshua? No, that won’t happen, Joshua is too strong. Maybe I should have gone. Shit, this is total bullshit. I dial the number again.
“Hello,” Abbie answers.
“What’s happening?”
“I think they are next,” she replies.
“Oh shit.” My heart starts to thump.
“Hey, did you know that Bridget likes Ben?” she asks.
I frown. “Who told you that?”
“Cameron and Murph.”
“Huh?”
“Apparently they call each other all the time.”
I screw my face up as I hold my hand in the air. “What?”
“I know that’s what I said and now she is sitting with him and they are giggling and flirting and shit.”
I shake my head as I listen to this story. “Are you serious?” “Totally, oh here they come. I will call you back,” she yells over the noisy crowd. Oh my God, oh my God. I pace through my apartment with my hands on my head.
Twenty minutes later my phone rings. I snatch it from the table. “Hello.”
“Okay, so.”
My eyes widen. “So what?”
“Um, so they really hate each other.”
My horrified face drops. “What happened?”
“So, the fight was okay. Josh won.”
“Yes,” I answer nervously.
“But then it got out of hand again and they kept fighting after the bell.”
I bring my hand to my face as my eyes widen. “Yes.”
“And I think Joshua has done something to his arm and then he knocked Jesten out.”
“What!” I shriek. “What do you mean?”
“Joshua hit Jesten so hard he fell to the ground and then he didn’t get up.”
My eyes widen in horror. “Is he dead?”
She laughs. “No, I don’t think so. No, definitely not, he’s alive.”
“Where is Joshua?”
“He is in the dressing room and Cameron is with him.” “Okay I’m going,” I hang up and immediately dial
Cameron’s phone.”
“Hi Tash.” He answers first ring.
“Is Joshua ok?”
“He’s fine.”
“Is the guy he fought alright?” I close my eyes as I wait for the answer.
“Yeah, I just went and checked on him, he just hit the ground hard and knocked himself out. He will be ok.”
“Can I speak to Joshua?”
“He’s in the shower. I will drop him at your house on our way home.”
Hmm. “Okay, see you then.” I hang up, dry-retch again and get into a scalding hot shower, the only place lately where I seem to be calm.
Two hours later, I am sitting on my lounge drinking tea while trying my hardest not to get fuming mad. Where are they? Have they gone out? The key turns in my door and Joshua walks in, his arm in a sling. Cameron is behind him.
I glare at him while biting my tongue. Don’t say it, don’t say it.
Don’t fucking say it.
“You’re an idiot,” I blurt out. Shit, I said it.
“Hello,” he says deadpan as he walks into the kitchen and throws his keys onto the kitchen counter.