Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Then again, she didn’t want to be out on that limb alone.
“Your turn to take a dare,” she said playfully, nudging him with her elbow.
“All right, hit me with it,” Damien replied, his eyes glinting with amusement.
Before Crystal could concoct a worthy challenge, his phone rang. It was oddly jarring and Crystal felt the ring tone slice through their comfortable camaraderie, forcing her to remember that a whole big world existed beyond the two of them.
Damien glanced at the screen and a smile spread across his face—a smile that didn’t seem meant for her. Without hesitation, he hit the answer button and said, “Hey, Opal!” with a warmth to his voice that chilled Crystal to the bone. A moment later he said, “Yeah, I’m just out with a friend.”
Crystal’s step faltered as she listened to the happiness seeping into Damien’s voice, a tone filled with an affectionate familiarity that wound a tight coil of unease through her stomach. He turned slightly away from her, his fingers raking through his tousled dark hair while he laughed at something this Opal person said on the other end. She could just make out a young, playful-sounding voice. Very sexy, and very female.
“When are you coming?” she heard him say. “Great! The sooner the better. You’ll like the house and I can’t wait to get started.”
Each word stung more sharply than ice pellets against Crystal’s skin. She strained to keep her expression neutral, but her chest tightened uncomfortably. Who was this Opal that Damien was so excited to see? How had she never heard the name before? And what was this about a house?
How was it possible to still be as misguided as she’d been at fifteen, when she’d let herself fall into the fantasy that Damien was interested in her as more than a friend?
She was such a fool.
Swallowing the realization like a bitter pill, she kept walking by his side. When he ended the call, she said, “New girlfriend?” like it was nothing.
Damien shook his head. “That was Opal Dahlberg. She’s a talented up-and-coming artist I’ve been mentoring. I was going to tell you about her, but I got so caught up in the idea of getting you into pre-med that I forgot.”
“Oh,” Crystal said, a little dumbfounded, but more than a little relieved. “That’s so nice of you.”
Damien shrugged off the compliment. “It’s important to me to give back to the music community. It’s a tough industry. And this girl reminds me of myself when I was starting out. I was lucky enough to have guidance from successful musicians and producers, so I wanted to pay that forward.”
Crystal nodded. It was admirable and just like Damien to think about how others had helped him on the road to success. How to create balance in the universe. But something still nagged at her. “Did you invite her to stay at your house?”
“Yeah. She’s young and kind of broke. She can stay in the guest cottage and be right there to get to work in the morning.”
Crystal frowned. “She might get the wrong impression. She’ll think you want a relationship.”
Damien chuckled. “I don’t think so. In her eyes, I’m seriously old. She treats me like her dad.”
Crystal must have looked uncertain, because Damien said, “Trust me, Opal is not interested in me. Anyway, she’ll stay in the guest cottage, far away from me.”
Crystal tried to smile, but she felt shaken. Even the briefest moment of imagining that Damien had a new girlfriend had made her feel as though her world were crashing down. It was all too easy to see him with a younger, hotter girl. And it made sense that he would be with another musician, someone who really got his world.
She had to curb this stubborn high-school crush immediately. It was destructive. Instead, she should accept Damien’s dare and their decades-long friendship, and focus on channeling her energy into her girlhood dream.
The rest of their descent was quiet, and Crystal couldn’t help but feel that Opal’s call had broken the spell between them. She slipped into the passenger seat of his car, tired and grateful to be going home.
Damien seemed to sense that she was distracted, so instead of trying to get her to talk, he put on one of his favorite playlists, from a rock album he’d played endlessly when they were kids. Crystal smiled and looked out of the window as the familiar chords crashed into the car. The opening track sounded so good through Damien’s state-of-the-art player. She still knew all the words and soon found herself singing along and laughing as Damien did his falsetto.
By the time they arrived at her house, all the tension had dissolved.
Damien switched off the engine. “What are your plans this evening? Got a wild Saturday night ahead?” Despite the mischievous look in his eye, he knew that Crystal was not a wild child. Something of which she was actually pretty proud.