Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“What do we do from here?” I asked.
“Well, we’re heading back to LA tomorrow to get you to sign the paperwork and shit,” Campbell said. “We can have it emailed to you to look over…have a lawyer look over.”
A lawyer. Right. I needed one of those.
“We can recommend one,” Viv said, seeing my deer-in-headlights stare.
“All right.” Then, I blinked. “Wait, tomorrow? You just got back.”
“Yeah. I know it’s short notice. But we want to get everything signed straightaway, and then Bobby wants to run a press announcement about you joining. We’ll do a few interviews next week. They were all planned and ready to go as long as you said yes.”
“Wow. That’s…”
My eyes were wide, and I couldn’t even believe it. This was really happening. Finally happening. My big break. My once-in-a-lifetime break. And I was going with them tomorrow.
“He’s speechless,” Santi said with a laugh. “Perfecto. Let’s go get a drink to celebrate.”
“As long as you’re good with all of this,” Campbell added.
“Why wouldn’t he be good with this?” Santi asked.
Which was the question. Of course this was what I wanted. It was everything I wanted. But now…I knew I had one thing I had to do before I could leave. I was going to have to tell Nora.
My stomach dropped. Things had…escalated between us. We’d started as a fling for her to get over August. We’d agreed to do this until I left. But now, I was leaving. We’d always known that was going to happen, but I thought I had more time. What the fuck was I going to say to her?
Fuck, I needed to figure it out. Because she’d get out of her wedding in a matter of hours, and I’d have to tell her.
“West?” Campbell asked.
“Yeah. Yes. I’m totally cool with it,” I said. “Just going to have a lot of people to tell before I go.”
“Well, invite everyone out for drinks tonight to say your good-byes,” Campbell said. “Because tomorrow, you become a rockstar.”
Part V
Dream Job
26
Nora
I stifled a yawn.
The Locke-King wedding had been my biggest wedding of the year. Even bigger than Morgan Wright’s wedding last year. The Lockes were a wealthy New York City–based powerhouse, and the Kings were one-half of an oil conglomerate. Together, it was the equivalent of marrying a Spanish princess to the King of England.
We’d booked out the entire weekend for this wedding, and Tessi had come with me to shoulder some of the burden. And it was even more beautiful and exhausting than I’d figured.
I watched from the sidelines as Merritt Locke took Margaret King’s hand and strode down the aisle of sparklers, arranged perfectly by their guests. They looked happy. Though I was confused by the marriage. They didn’t act like besotted lovers. It seemed more…arranged. But they sure knew how to fake it for the cameras. Not that I’d voice any of that out loud. They’d paid me, and that was all that mattered.
Merritt hoisted Margaret’s lithe frame up into his enormous arms. I tilted my head slightly to the side, wondering what the Olympic archer’s arms really looked like underneath that suit.
Tessi nudged me and giggled. “He’s huge,” she whispered.
I shushed her and pretended I hadn’t been ogling him. Then, they drove away in an old-timey car. Margaret waved like a princess as she was taken away.
“And that’s the exit, boss,” Tessi said with a bright smile.
I watched until the car disappeared on the horizon. The magic had left, and now, it was herding cats out of the venue and cleanup. I pinched the bridge of my nose. At least it had gone off without a hitch.
“Need some Tylenol?”
“No. I’m okay. Thanks, Tessi. Could you speak to the DJ?”
She nodded. “On it.”
I couldn’t hold back my next yawn. I needed some coffee or something to survive the rest of this night. Why hadn’t I gotten a hotel room in Midland?
Oh, right. Because I had my own handsome man to get home to. I’d rather spend one more night in his arms than alone in a hotel room.
I pulled out my phone to give West an ETA but found I already had a text from him.
Campbell came back today. We’re going to Flips. Join us when you get into town.
I blinked. He wanted me to come out after I got back from Midland? I’d left Lubbock at five thirty in the morning. I wouldn’t get back until nearly midnight. The last thing I wanted was to go out and pretend I didn’t want to kiss his face off in front of my brother.
It’s going to be late.
That’s fine. We’ll be here.
I groaned. Great. Well, I guess I’d go for one drink and then make an excuse to get away.
I’d just put my phone away when I heard my name called.
“Nora!”
And to my surprise, Gavin King strode toward me. I’d seen him in the midst of his family earlier but not wanted to interfere. Wedding planners weren’t seen unless things got out of hand. My goal was to be invisible for nearly everything.