Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
He needs a second chance.
Neither of them saw THIS coming.
_______________________________________
ELIAS
Elise Walters has no idea I’ve been obsessed with her for ten years.
The quiet girl who tutored me in senior year.
The one whose horror stories I collected like a fu**ing creep.
The one I never had the balls to ask out.
When she walks into my game with my best friend, James, I can barely keep my shit together. She’s stunning and completely unaware I exist beyond “that basketball guy from high school.”
Then I hear her desperately asking James to fake-date her for our reunion.
Apparently, the mean girl who made her life hell is still at it, and Elise needs backup.
With zero hesitation, I offer myself instead.
She thinks I’m doing her a favor.
She thinks this is all about her plan.
Her revenge. Her backup.
But…
She has no clue I’d use any excuse to get close to her again.
Her plan is simple: we show up together, make everyone jealous, then go our separate ways. But I’ve wanted this woman for a decade.
Now that the universe has given me a second chance, there’s no way in hell I’m letting her go.
Fake dating?
Not a fu**ing chance
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
ELISE
Must be nice being right all the time, Mia. You insufferable oaf.
"Did you want oat milk or almond?" I fight to keep my voice steady as I tamp down espresso grounds because if I don't keep my hands busy, I might just reach over and yank her hair.
"Oh, Elise!" Mia's perfectly glossy lips curve into what a casual observer might mistake for a smile. "I told you ten years ago you wouldn't amount to anything, and look, you're still making coffee."
My hand freezes on the portafilter, its hot metal rim burning my palm. I don't pull away. The pain keeps me from saying what I want to say, which would probably get me fired from my sister's coffee shop.
"I mean, we all have different journeys." Mia's voice drips with honey-coated condescension as she aims her phone at me, panning slowly across the cafe. I see the little red recording light and know I'm being immortalized in her Instagram story. Just my luck. "Some of us just take longer to find success. Dreams take time, right?"
The espresso machine hisses, matching the sound building in my throat. I want to tell her to fuck off, to stop filming me, to go back to whatever pilates-keto-bullshit influencer collab brought her to this side of town. Instead, I silently prepare her drink, focusing on the swirl of milk, and keeping my emotions in check.
"Oh! Before I forget." She slides a cream-colored envelope across the counter. "Ten-year reunion at James Khan's hotel downtown. You should come—might be good networking. Everyone's path is different." She pauses, her perfectly manicured nail tapping the envelope. "You are coming, right?"
I nod. Just once.
"Great!" She takes her latte without thanking me. "Can't wait to catch up more."
The bell above the door chimes as she leaves, her departure sucking all the oxygen from the room.
I stare at the envelope, coffee grounds still stuck to my fingers. Jane emerges from the back room the moment the door closes.
She wipes her hands on her apron, frowning. "Was that who I think it was?"
"Yep." I pop the 'p' sound, a habit when I'm trying not to scream. "Queen Bee-atch herself."
"What did she want?"
I hold up the reunion invitation. "To remind me I'm a failure."
"Elise—"
"It's fine." I am so not ready for the pep talk. "She's right anyway."
Like, seriously, right?
The email is still open on my phone upstairs. Rejection number seventeen. This literary agent didn't even bother with personalized feedback—just a template that says, in summary: "You are not as talented as you think you are." Five years of writing my horror novel, re-writing, editing, sending out queries, getting nowhere.
The only monster in my story is the publishing industry.
Ugh!
Jane watches me with the careful expression she's perfected since I quit my job at the online news outlet and moved into the studio apartment above her coffee shop. She offered me this barista position as a lifeline while I 'figure things out'. That was eighteen months ago, and I am nowhere close to reaching my dreams now than I was then. Still figuring.
"We're low on beans," I say, desperate to change the subject. "I'll do inventory after the rush."
My sister nods, but her eyes say everything she doesn't.
You're better than this. You deserve more. Don't let Mia Snow get to you.
I'm terrible at taking advice, even the silent kind, so I do what I do best—ignore it all.
My phone pings while I'm sorting through bean deliveries that evening. I almost ignore it, assuming it's another promotional email or, worse, a social media notification about Mia's latest post. When I finally glance at the screen, James's name lights up my notifications.
James: Elias playing in town next Friday. Got VIP seats. Coming with?
My pulse quickens like I've shotgunned three espressos. I haven't seen James in person since Christmas, though we text every few weeks—mostly memes and updates about his hotel empire. He's the only person from high school I still talk to. I've carefully avoided mentioning my stalled writing career, calling it a "side hustle" whenever he asks.
He also has no idea I've been half in love with his best friend for a decade.
I remember the first time I saw Elias King. Freshman year, Mia "accidentally" bumped into me in the hallway, sending my books scattering across the floor. While she continued walking, not even breaking stride in her conversation, Elias stopped. He crouched down, gathered my copy of Stephen King's Carrie, and handed it back with a smile that made my tongue forget how to form words.
"Good book," he said. "Though not really my top three."
I managed to nod, clutching the novel to my chest as he jogged to catch up with his friends. It was nothing to him, just a moment of basic human decency. To me, it was everything.
Two years later, James told me how Elias had publicly declared that anyone who bullied James would answer to him, effectively ending the torment James had endured since elementary school. They became inseparable after that. It only made me crush harder, knowing Elias wasn't just the hottest man I've ever seen, but genuinely kind.