“Six fucking years,” Garrett bit out, breathing heavily as he tossed the sledgehammer aside and shook his head in disgust.
“What happened?” Reed asked again, taking in the muscle clenching in Garrett’s jaw and the devastated expression on his face and knew without a doubt that this was about the adorable woman living across the street.
“I destroyed everything,” Garrett said as he met his gaze. “And the best part? It’s not going to be enough to stop me from doing it again.”
“Stupid adorable chipmunk,”Kristen muttered pathetically as she reached for the delicious chocolate milkshake that Amber surprised her with only to grumble, sigh, and pout when the bandages wrapped around her hands prevented her from grabbing the cup.
Grumbling to herself, because it felt right given the circumstances, Kristen used her elbows to steer herself towards the nightstand as she shimmied, wiggled, and flopped a bit here and there until finally, she reached the nightstand, pushed herself up on her elbows, and after a few mishaps, finally managed to close her lips around the straw and-
Damn it.
Sighed heavily when she realized it was empty. Muttering to herself, she released the straw and flopped over onto her back so that she could stare up at the ceiling while she debated her next move, go downstairs and hope beyond hope that she had chocolate milk in her fridge or lay there and continue staring up at the ceiling while she tried to pretend that she wasn’t thinking about the man that she was supposed to hate.
She just…
She didn’t know what to think anymore.
She should hate him, Kristen thought, sighing heavily as she rolled over onto her stomach so that she could stare at the wall instead. He was a jerk who turned his back on her over a simple misunderstanding and went out of his way to make her life a living hell for the past six years because of it. She had every reason in the world to hate him, but every time Kristen tried, she thought about the little boy who used to sneak into her room late at night just so that he could watch her write.
He was the same boy who made her smile when her mother didn’t show up for her birthday and held her hand after she had her tonsils taken out, but he was also the man who broke her heart and destroyed her entire world with three little words. He was the reason why she cried herself to sleep every night for a year and he was also the man that she-
Really needed to stop thinking about.
Deciding that staring up at the wall was more fun than she could handle at the moment, Kristen reluctantly rolled over and-
“Is she in love with Tristan?” came the softly murmured words that drew her attention to find the incredibly handsome man that was confusing the hell out of her leaning against her bedroom door.
“Who?” Kristen asked, unable to help but frown as she tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about.
“Emily.”
She opened her mouth to give him the same lie that she used when readers asked her that question only to find herself answering, “Yes.”
Slowly nodding, Garrett pushed away from the door and walked away, leaving her lying there, wondering what the hell just happened.
CHAPTER 20
One Week Later…
“Why exactly do you have your face pressed against the window?”
“I think I’m having a nervous breakdown,” Kristen said, slowly exhaling as she knelt there, trying to figure out what was wrong with her.
“That would explain the whole face pressed against the window thing that you’re doing,” Amber said as Kristen allowed herself thirty more seconds of doing whatever the hell it was that she was doing before she reluctantly leaned back, dropped back onto the couch, sighed, and promptly fell onto her side so that she could stare helplessly at the television.
“I should have sold the house when I had the chance,” Kristen mumbled sadly as she reached over and helped herself to what she was really hoping was an extra chocolatey cup of chocolate milk.
“Probably,” Amber absently murmured as she glanced around the living room. “Where’s the dog that has yet to be named?”
“That life-ruining bastard has him,” Kristen mumbled pathetically, only to follow that up with a long-suffering sigh as she took a sip of the delicious, creamy concoction that always made everything better.
“He stole your dog?” Amber asked as she grabbed her bag off the floor.
“He’s a traitor,” Kristen mumbled around the straw.
“I see,” Amber said, her lips twitching as she pulled out her notebook. “We need to go over your preorder, the release, the groups, and the upcoming signings, including next week’s in Boston.”
“That does sound like fun,” Kristen said, taking one last sip before she placed the cup back on the coffee table.
