Chapter: Chapter 64Sexy time?” Mandy rolled her eyes and prayed for the earth to split open and suck her into its center to be burned alive. Was she really about to talk to her sister about ‘sexy time’ with her ex? Was it not enough that Stephen was now married to her sister? She wasn’t at all interested in the bastard any more, but it did happen to leave things quite awkward between her and all of them. “Yep. So he was telling me the other day that you happen to be the best lay of his life.” She huffed. “I was a little surprised. Most girls with a little extra in the middle won’t get naked to save their life. I’m actually proud of you.”“A little extra in the middle?” Heat rose up the center of Mandy’s chest. “Right. I’ll have to call you back, Claudia. Wreck up here and I need to pay attention. Best of luck on your issues. Bye, now!” She used a sugary-sweet voice and growled loudly after hitting the ‘end call’ button. “That sorry bitch.” Mandy hit the steering wheel. She had been working so hard to
최신 업데이트: 2026-08-04
Chapter: Chapter 63Carl wasn’t in the bed beside her when she woke, but the smell of his soap lingered in the air. Mandy rolled onto her back and tugged the covers up to her nose, breathing deeply and groaning. The man could be a pain in the butt, but he was a god in bed and smelled like heaven itself. She laid there a moment more before getting up and checking her phone. There was a text from Gina that Nicholas, one of their investors who had vied for Mandy’s attention and then effed that up royally, had called and was stopping by at nine to talk with Mandy. “Nine?” She glanced at the clock and let out a yelp. She had fifty minutes to get ready and get to the office. There was no way. It took that long to get into work.She texted Gina back as she tried to get her dress back on. It would have to be nine-thirty. Gina seemed more than willing to keep the handsome investor busy. Mandy couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the saucy Italian woman. She was too much for her own good. After slipping her feet
최신 업데이트: 2026-08-03
Chapter: Chapter 62You’re making this up. He’s a perfect gentleman, and besides... he knows we’re together.” She handed him his glass and took a sip of hers, enjoying the bitterness of the grapes as it raced across her tongue. “Oh, yeah? Did you say something to him?” Carl lifted his eyebrow. “No, Mr. Reid. You were like a Pitbull in my office this morning, spraying your scent everywhere.” She slid up against him. “It was almost hot.” She ran her tongue over her lower lip, enjoying his eyes follow it. “I almost had to go into your office to cool my libido down. I managed to take care of that on my own.”Carl’s eyes grew big. “Really?” He cleared his throat. “Good! So Paul got the hint to back the fuck off.” He shrugged, kissed her once, and moved to the counter. “I still want him out of your office. Give him Jerry’s office, and put that old fart in there with you.”“I think Jerry’s handsome.” Mandy suppressed a smile and started to work on tearing lettuce. “Well, damn... Jerry’s out, too.” They laugh
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-15
Chapter: Chapter 61SHE HAD JUST FINISHED braiding her long wet hair when her phone buzzed. She hit the talk button and leaned over, spreading a light coating of pink lip gloss on her lips. “Hey.” “Hey, baby. When are you coming up here?”“Ten minutes. I just got out of the shower.”“And you didn’t think to invite me?” The pout in his voice was almost cute. Almost. “Nope. I worked out and tried to decide if I wanted to spend the night curled up with a good book about a man who showed off his woman, or have dinner with a handsome bachelor.”“Mandy,” his voice softened. “I’ll be up shortly.” She pressed the button to end the call. A growl left her as she turned her head slightly, studying herself in the mirror. The weight loss had been good for her face, having slimmed it down nicely, but, like most women, another flaw popped up in its place. “I thought you weren’t going to say anything. Needy bitch.” She shook her head and walked to the bedroom to get dressed. A simple white dress with sandals, sexy
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-10
Chapter: Chapter 60Paul nodded as a smirk lifted his lip. “I understand, Mr. Reid. I’ll not bother Mandy. I promise.” “Good.” Carl lingered in the doorway for a minute more before turning and walking out. Mandy let out a growl and dropped down in her chair. He could have just cut across the room to his office. That obviously was going to be a no-go while Paul was in here. She had a feeling Carl was going to be pushing the construction to get done faster now. She worked to get her computer on as Paul moved to stand in front of her desk. His hands were in his pockets, his boyish good looks accented by the cute smile on his face. “How long have you guys been dating?” He lifted an eyebrow. “What? We’re not dating.” She shrugged and glanced down at the floor, trying to find the on button for her power cord. “Right. Keeping it on the down-low, I take it.” He chuckled and walked back to his desk. “I might be young, but you learn guy code as a boy if you’re raised right.” “Guy code?” She sat bac
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-09
Chapter: Chapter 59After a few minutes of breathing deeply and calming herself, she got out of the car and walked into the office. A stop by the kitchenette had her grabbing a large cup of coffee and snagging a donut from the unholy, large box of them. She hadn’t had anything that sugary-sweet in months, except for maybe the ice cream and vodka. However, the occasion called for something to help her take her mind off of it. Food always worked well. Carl walked out of his office and down the hall, stopping in front of her as she glanced up. “Oh, hi, Mr. Reid.” Mandy lifted the donut. “Someone brought breakfast in the kitchenette.”“You don’t need that sugary shit, Mandy. It’ll make your stomach hurt worse. Go chuck it and get a yogurt or a banana.” The concern on his face was apparent, but his words drove remembrance into her. How many times had her mother forced her to forgo a simple treat because she was too fat to indulge... even a little. “Right,” she whispered and walked into her office, closing
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-07
Chapter: What Elowen knewI didn't notice it until Ms. Okafor pointed it out.That was the embarrassing part. It was my manuscript. My character. My two-in-the-morning handwriting filling up a notebook I'd carried from San Diego in the front pocket of a duffel bag because it felt too important to pack in a box. And I had been writing Elowen's story for eight months without fully seeing what it was doing.Ms. Okafor saw it in eleven minutes.We were twenty minutes into Thursday's elective, the room in that good focused quiet it reached when everyone was deep in something real. I had read three new pages — Elowen in the new world, navigating a city she didn't choose, finding small things to love about it while missing the old one with the specific ache of someone who knew they weren't going back. She had a friend in the new world who was steady and warm and knew her without being told. She had someone else who was electric and present and made her feel like the city was smaller when he was in it. And underneath
최신 업데이트: 2026-08-04
Chapter: Midnight and Empty IceThe Eagles lost 3-2 on a Tuesday night and the town felt it like a weather change.I felt it in the group chat, which went from its usual chaotic stream of celebrations and terrible memes to a silence so complete it was louder than the noise. I felt it in Dad, who came home after the game and reorganized the condiments without making eggs, which was a new and concerning variation of the tell. I felt it most in the fact that Knox didn't text.Not after the game. Not at nine. Not at ten-thirty when I sent a single message that just said hey and watched the two grey ticks sit there unread like a door that didn't open.I went to bed at eleven and stared at the ceiling for forty-five minutes.At 11:52 the ticks turned blue.No reply. Just read.I got up, put on three layers and my boots, and told myself I was getting water. I was not getting water. I was getting my car keys from the hook by the door, pulling out of the driveway very quietly, and driving the ten minutes to the rink in the s
최신 업데이트: 2026-08-03
Chapter: what Finn Said.It happened on a Friday after school, in the least dramatic location imaginable.The bleachers. Empty rink, no practice, the ice freshly resurfaced and gleaming under the overhead lights like nobody had touched it yet and nobody was planning to. I'd stayed late to return a textbook to the athletic office and was cutting through the rink because it was faster, and Finn was sitting in the third row with his elbows on his knees and his gym bag at his feet and the expression of someone who had been sitting there long enough to have a conversation with himself and reach a conclusion he wasn't entirely comfortable with.He looked up when he heard my boots on the rubber mat."Hey," he said."Hey." I slowed. "Practice ended two hours ago.""I know." He looked at the ice. "I've been thinking."I should have kept walking. The textbook was due back and the office closed at five and I had perfectly good reasons to say see you Monday and continue through the exit door and let whatever Finn had bee
최신 업데이트: 2026-08-02
Chapter: Robert Callahan, MenaceKnox warned me about his dad on the drive over.Not in a concerning way. In the specific, slightly pained way that people warned you about family members they loved unreservedly and were also mildly embarrassed by on a situational basis. He said it while merging onto the main road, one hand on the wheel, eyes forward, with the energy of someone delivering a legal disclaimer before a theme park ride."He's going to ask you questions," Knox said."Okay.""A lot of questions. Personal ones. He has no concept of the warm-up period.""I can handle questions.""He's also going to make at least one joke that lands somewhere between dad humor and actual comedy and you're going to laugh and then he's going to think he's hilarious for the rest of the visit, which will make the jokes worse.""Knox.""I'm just managing expectations.""You've mentioned the questions twice now. How many questions are we talking?"He glanced at me sideways. "When Finn came to visit sophomore year after the ankle thi
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-15
Chapter: Beware of NiceRiley Voss smiled at me on a Monday morning and I almost walked into a locker.Not because the smile was warm — it wasn't, exactly, it was the kind of smile that had been assembled from the correct components but in the slightly wrong order, like a sentence that was grammatically fine but semantically suspicious. It was because Riley Voss had spent the better part of my first three weeks at Evergreen High treating me like a weather event she was waiting to pass, and now she was standing by the water fountain in the east corridor at eight fourteen in the morning with her cheer squad flanking her like a very well-dressed security detail, and she was smiling at me like we were old friends who had simply been too busy to connect."Avery," she said. Warm. Easy. "Cute sweater."I looked down at my sweater. It was the green one. Fine sweater. Nothing notable."Thanks," I said, because I had apparently left my survival instincts in AP Lit."We're doing a spirit week planning committee meeting
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-15
Chapter: Elowen Goes Through The DoorI almost didn't bring it.The chapter had been sitting in my notebook since Tuesday — handwritten, which I almost never did anymore, but something about the night after the hospital had made typing feel too clean, too final. I'd needed the drag of a pen. The way handwriting slowed you down and made you commit to each word before the next one arrived.Elowen went through the door on page three.I had written it in one sitting, two in the morning, the house quiet and the Minnesota dark doing its particular thing outside my window. It had come out the way the best writing sometimes did — not constructed but discovered, like the chapter had already existed somewhere and I was just the person holding the pen when it surfaced. I had read it back once, changed four words, and closed the notebook.I hadn't looked at it again until Thursday morning when I was packing my bag for the elective.I put it in. Took it out. Put it back in. Arrived at Ms. Okafor's repurposed-storage-room with it wedge
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-15
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