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“She deserves one.”
“I already pay her more than I pay my lawyer.”
Holy shit.
“Good.” I thought I’d made it, my feet flat, my body upright—but then the room started to spin. I swear it did. The floor was moving on its own, and I stumbled, trying to find my footing.
Two hands grabbed my upper arms, steadying me, though everything around me was still a blurry mess. I closed my eyes, allowing Reed to keep me from falling until I felt like the spinning had stopped. Then, I blinked a few times to bring everything in the room back into focus. Reed kept a hold of me as I shuffled myself backward until the bed hit the back of my knees, and I dropped down onto the soft surface.
Then we both took long, deep breaths.
“Next time you stand, if you could do it a little slower, that’d be fucking great. I thought we were going to have a repeat of yesterday,” Reed growled, finally taking a step back. “If I didn’t already mention, the hospital isn’t my most favorite place to be, and going back isn’t on my list of things I want to do.”
The giggle that left me, I think, surprised both of us, and I pressed my hand over my mouth. “Sorry.” Another laugh escaped, though this one was much softer and more normal. “Honestly, the past twenty-four hours have been so ridiculous. It’s starting to feel like a fever dream.”
That was no joke.
One minute, I was about to get married.
The next, I was in Reed Lawson’s apartment, single again and sporting a head injury.
“I get it.” The acknowledgment felt genuine. Like he really did understand the nightmarish downpour I’d somehow found myself caught in without an umbrella. Surprising because a man like Reed didn’t seem like the kind to accidentally stumble into a storm.
He would more likely be the one creating them.
Reed held out his hand, and I placed mine in it, allowing him to pull me back onto my feet.
“You should get dressed,” he said, his hands hovering as I waited to see if the spinning top I was standing on was done for today. Satisfied, he finally took a step back. “I’ve got a short meeting to catch, but it shouldn’t take long… then I have a surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“We can call it something else.”
I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t like surprises. I liked to be prepared, and with my world already feeling a little off-kilter, I’m not sure I could handle another movement of my axis. “How about you call it by the name of the place and include a brief description of what you do there.”
Reed smirked. “But then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Exactly.”
He backed toward the door, still refusing to give me much more than this smug, know-it-all-all look on his face. “Dress like you would if you were cutting down a tree.” With that, he turned, marching off down the hall. “We’re leaving in twenty minutes.”
“I’ve never cut down a tree,” I called after him, but there was no response.
What the actual hell was happening?
And why couldn’t I stop smiling?
Chapter Seven
REED
“You’re joking, right?” I questioned, staring at my father in absolute disbelief. “The offer we agreed to was five million, well over the three-and-a-half million dollar valuation we had done at the start of the year and almost twice the dollar amount you need to pay back the debtors you’re in the shit with.”
“You’re talking like you can’t afford it,” Christine commented, strumming her claw-like nails on the tabletop. “We are fam—”
“Wearenotfamily,” I snapped.
“Reed!” Dad hissed, slamming his open palm down, the loud bang pulling the attention of almost everyone within the bar for a few seconds before they returned to their drinks. My staff and security were watching cautiously, the boys on the door inching closer and closer as they felt the tension at our table rise.
