All Chapters of The Things We Don't Say: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

My days at Paradise Valley were coming to an end, and truth be told, I was nowhere near achieving the aim of my coming here in the first place. It was for Jane. Yeah. Her death was heart-wrenching, and it was a no-brainer coming all the way down here.But beyond that, I thought it was going to be a great opportunity to make up with my cousin, Jordan. I shouldn’t have had anything to do with Heather. I knew that now. But years ago, I was a fucked up teenager with parents going through a nasty divorce.Heather was right there, throwing herself at me, and telling me how I was the most handsome of Arthurs. Of course, I didn't tell Jordan that. I couldn't. But in that moment, I felt wanted. Special. My parents weren't thinking of how their divorce was going to affect me, but at least Heather was. And I didn’t hate myself for it afterwards. Even gloated about it. And fuck, I knew Jordan really liked her. I knew. I just hated that he liked something I thought I wanted for myself. I was such

It was a really long night, doing absolutely nothing but sharing a crate of beer and staring up at the starless skies, lying on our backs. The heat from his body was all I could focus on. Yet, I tried to think of other things, like how the holidays were slowly coming to an end and this bubble we'd found ourselves in was slipping past our fingers slowly. “I should get going,” Jordan whispered, yet he made no move to stand up. “I have a long day at the office tomorrow with the press conference coming up… and there’s still that search ongoing for an artist.”“An artist?”"We need someone to bring our vision of the hotel we plan on building to life. Someone who gets it. Someone in touch with their very being, rather than just wanting to get a job done for the Arthur group. I need someone with feelings."“It sounds really important to you,” I murmured. "I might not like how I got here, or what I'm doing, pretty boy, but I like giving things my all. And I want this to be a project I can l

The whole building was in an orderly chaos by the time I walked in. I knew I was late. Fashionably and intentionally so. I was hoping the press conference would have started without me, so I didn’t have to say anything at all.But the minute I walked through, my father was standing there by the reception, speaking to one of the press guys. “There he is,” he beamed, patting my back like we were best of pals. “How did the meeting go? Were you able to secure the deal?”When he looked at me, every inch of his face was stern, like he was daring me to defy him in front of everyone. I knew what the tale would have been. He must have told the press men that I was going to do with the press conference with him, and when I was running late, he'd told them I was engaged in a meeting for the company. In furtherance of the great announcement we had today.There was one consistent thing about Marv Arthur. He would do anything to save his image and the one he thought he was portraying of his famil

"Now that was smooth." Nita met me outside the conference room, falling into step with me as I headed for my office. “What?”"The way she handed you her card, and then that wink. I have read about it in a book. Coquette 101."“I’m sure that isn’t a thing, Nita,” I retorted, pushing the door open and stepping aside to let her in, like she even needed to be in my office right at this hour. I thought I needed to give up on getting rid of her anytime soon.Nita sauntered inside, throwing herself on my seat, behind my desk. She picked up the minuscule basketball I had on my table, throwing it up and catching it repeatedly, while I moved to my little stash by the left corner of the room, grabbing a bottle of my favorite brand of scotch and two glasses.“Oh no, Mr. Arthur.” I could hear the tease in her tone. “We don’t drink on the job now, do we? What if Mr. Arthur calls me for some intel on you and smells that shit on me? How do I explain it to him?"“Just tell him you’re sleeping with me

"That was all he said," I groaned to Anna, who had been on a video call with me for the last hour. The girl had to think that I was the one person in her life with so much drama, and that was a sharp change from the usual.It'd always been Anna. She was the one who dated the wrong men, called in the middle of the night to cry when she found them cheating on her, or called to talk about her hatred for James each time he called her his dude friend. Yet, she always smiled at him with so much enthusiasm the following morning that it was hard to reconcile both versions of my best friend. But now, she was in L.A, listening to me rant and crash via video call. I wasn’t a strong fan of changes. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it as bland as it read,” she murmured, chuckling. “You have to put yourself in his shoes too. He is a very straight man…” Anna paused, then shook her head. “Or maybe used to be a very straight man, who kissed a gay dude and is now freaking out about it.”“He doesn’t even kno