Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
My heart twists in a knot when I see her background. It's her…cuddled up to some asshole with blue eyes in a baseball uniform who has his arm around her and a shit-eating grin on his face. He looks like a dick.
"See?" she says triumphantly. "My boyfriend."
Well…fuck.
Why do I feel like she just ripped the goddamn rug out from beneath me again?
"You're happy with him?"
"Why?" she asks suspiciously.
"Just answer the question, Zoya."
"Fine." She rolls her eyes. "Yes, I'm happy."
"He treats you right?"
"I…yes."
I jerk my chin in a nod, my throat tight as I reach for her phone. I hit the button to switch the screen off and then lean forward, slipping it back into her pocket. My lips brush her cheek.
"If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me, princess," I murmur against her skin.
"Jareth…"
"Behave." I turn and stroll away before I do something she'll regret…like fuck her up against the post. As much as I want to do exactly that, I won't make a cheater out of her.
Instead, it's time to come up with a different plan. One that ends with her breaking up with the prick before I fuck my kid into her. Because, make no mistake about it, that will be happening. Soon.
"Ineed a favor," I say, pacing my hotel room early the next morning. The sounds of traffic drift up from the street below as half the city fights to get to work on time.
"Hello to you, too," Bastian says, his tone wry.
"Fuck off, Bastian. I'm serious."
"Clearly," my twin says with a soft laugh. "What kind of favor?"
"Nadia Mikhail and Teo Kirby are getting married."
"I heard. It's all over the news."
"I need them to get married at the vineyard."
"Don't they already have a venue?" he asks.
"That's beside the point," I growl. They're planning to get married at an estate in Beverly Hills, but they've been keeping the location under wraps to keep the paparazzi from descending en masse. Convincing Nadia to change it won't be a problem. She's already stressing about uninvited guests crashing the festivities, especially since her family is flying in for the two-week break we have from the tour. She's pregnant. The last thing she needs is more stress right now. "I need them to get married at the vineyard."
"It's not exactly wedding season here, man."
"I'm aware of that," I grit out, my grip tightening on the phone. "But the vineyards are beautiful any time of year." Oliver and Lucy got married at Christmas last year, so it's not like it's unheard of for us to host a wedding in the dead of winter.
"When are they getting married?"
"Two days before Christmas."
Bastian's sigh sends static down the line. "Christmas is six weeks away, Jareth. Do you know how much work it's going to take to pull off a wedding in six weeks?"
"All you do is fucking work. You can make it happen. Besides, you've got Ridley, Haven, Trystan, Jace, and Oliver there to help. Not to mention, the rest of our cousins. They can pull it off." There's a whole fucking army of our cousins working at the vineyard. Honestly, I'm not even sure what half of them do anymore. But whatever it is clearly works. The family business has become its own wine dynasty over the last few years.
Bastian is quiet for a long moment.
"The vineyard is as much mine as it is anyone's," I remind him. When Mom and Dad decided to retire, Mom divided her share among all four of us kids. Hermione is still in college. Arwen is currently living her best life with Granger and their little girl. Bastian and I are the only two with any interest in running the place.
"And yet, I'm the one here while you're living your rockstar fantasies," Bastian says.
I scowl at the wall. "You know damn well that I spend most of my time there helping do what needs to be done. It's not like you're complaining about being in charge, anyway. We both know you fucking love getting to call the shots." It's the truth. If Bastian isn't in control, he isn't happy.
He's my twin, and I love him, but the man can be a nightmare sometimes. He's a cranky pain in the ass on a good day. Most days, he's a tyrant.
Oliver and Trystan handle his moods a helluva lot better than I do…which is to say they haven't come to blows yet. Thank God Ridley is back from Italy. He's the only one who really knows how to handle my brother.
"I know," Bastian relents with another sigh. "I just don't understand why this needs to happen here if they already have a venue."
"The paparazzi won't be a problem at the vineyard. It's half a state away from Hollywood." And having the wedding there means getting Zoya in my space for two weeks. I don't tell Bastian that part, though. He'll never fucking agree if he knows that I haven't even run any of this by Nadia and Teo yet. But desperate times and all that.