AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He just grins at me. I guess he doesn’t realize how important this is to me. I want to talk to this woman even if it’s only for two minutes. This is the third time I’m trying to see her.
“I’ll drive fast,” he says. “There’s no need to set me on fire.”
I just glare at him as we wait for the golden elevator doors to open again. A different set further down the hall open, and I run to them, sliding inside nearly as soon as they’re open.
Emery walks as slowly as he can. What is wrong with him?
When he gets into the elevator, he pushes the first floor and then says, “Oops. I forgot I drove today.” Then he hits the basement button.
“You drive every day! What the hell are you doing? Trying to sabotage me?”
He shakes his head almost instantly. “I’d never sabotage you. I’m just tired. It’s Friday, and you know how long of a week it’s been.”
I glare at him so hard I wonder if he feels his skin start to sizzle. “Then why didn’t you just let me go by myself?”
“Because I wanted to go with you. Is that so much to ask?”
The doors open on the first floor, and I tap my foot, not willing to respond to him. I think this is the first time I’ve ever considered Em to be inconsiderate. I won’t forget today.
They close and the elevator goes down to the basement. As soon as the doors open, I’m running to the car parked in Em’s spot. He drove the Porsche today. When I get there, I look back, and he’s not running, but at least he’s walking quickly. I guess that’s better than nothing.
He clicks the button, and the car unlocks. I’m already buckled before he gets his door open. He gives me a little chuckle, and it’s infuriating. How can he be laughing when I’m this frustrated?
I’m silent, though. As soon as he’s buckled, he’s zipping through the parking garage like always. I’m very thankful that he doesn’t know how to drive slowly. I glance down at my phone and see that we’re already five minutes late, and it’s at least a fifteen-minute drive to the bookstore.
We should have left an hour ago. My heart sinks, and I try to relax. I don’t want to be mad at Em this close to when I have to leave on the trip, but it’s hard to accept that he’s ruined my chance at meeting Maya Hall.
I remind myself that she’s already come through New York two times in the past four years. She’ll be back.
I close my eyes and I lean back in the seat as Em does his best to zip through the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Well, I tried. Maybe next time, I’ll be successful.
***
The line for the book signing is out the door and onto the sidewalk when we finally get there with only thirty minutes left. Em sees the line and sighs. “Well, that’s just not going to work,” he says. “You’ll never get your book signed if we have to wait in this line.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” I nearly shout. “I wanted to leave at five. We’d have had plenty of time then.”
He shakes his head and grabs my hand. “I’ll take care of this.”
I look back at my spot in line as he drags me toward the store. People come and go through the other door, but they’re not there for the signing. They’re just there to buy books.
That’s when I realize Em is going to do something a billionaire would do. He’s going to throw money at the problem, and some other person won’t get their book signed when they rightfully should have. It tears at me as we walk in the door and see Maya Hall sitting behind a table.
Everyone in line is so excited. Groups of women are chatting with each other, holding their copies to get signed. And everyone’s just as happy as can be. It’d be the same if Tessa and I were in line.
“Stop,” I finally say and pull my hand back. “We aren’t going to cut in line. Even if they’d let you, I don’t want to. It’s not right.”
Em chuckles and says, “Don’t worry, Madison. There won’t be any cutting. Trust me for another few minutes.”
He’s got a sparkle in his eyes, like when we played skee-ball. It’s almost childish, but there’s a touch of seriousness too. That’s when it occurs to me. He’s never late for anything. He’s never surprised by things.
This was planned. That asshole stressed me out on purpose.
He grins at me, and I let him pull me to where Maya is sitting. She looks up at us, and an incredibly wide smile crosses her face. “Emery Brooks. Why in the world are you at a book signing when I was sure you didn’t know how to read anything but ads?”
They know each other? But how?
“Maya Hall, this is Madison Carter, also known as BookDragonMaddie on ChitChat.” Maya’s eyes open wide.
