And then it felt like the world shook beneath me. My head hit something hard and unyielding. I'd fallen to the deck, sprawled out with Harry beside me.

  He wasn't kissing me anymore. That was the first thought. "Why am I on the ground?" I asked. My voice sounded groggy.

  Harry got to his feet and looked over the edge of the boat. “Because a whale headbutted us. Look.”

  I stood up, touched my head again, and winced.

  Harry frowned and took me by the shoulders, helping me to sit. “Shit. You’re bleeding.”

  “Blood?” I asked. “That’s not good. I faint when I see too much blood.”

  Harry licked his lips. “Uh. Maybe close your eyes.”

  “But I wanted to see the whale.”

  He laughed. “Real fast. Then we’re going back to shore and getting that looked at.”

  I turned my head, which felt like it was swimming a little. When I leaned over the edge of the boat, I didn’t see anything except a vague, dark shape under the water. If Harry hadn’t told me it was a whale, I probably would’ve had a panic attack and thought Jaws himself had come to bite our small boat in two.

  A single drop of bright red blood dripped from my forehead and splashed in the water. I watched it swirl and disintegrate. “Oh,” I said. “That’s my blood.”

  I felt Harry’s steadying hands on my shoulders just before I slumped forward and passed out.

  14

  HARRY

  I felt good. I mean, aside from the part where kissing Nell had turned into racing back to shore to get her to the emergency room. Thankfully, the cut on her head had been pretty shallow, but since it was on her forehead, it was bleeding like crazy. I was more worried that she had a concussion based on how woozy she’d looked standing up.

  But I felt good because I came clean. Telling the truth had felt like shrugging a giant boulder off my shoulders. So, while I sat beside her as she slept in the hospital bed, I made a quiet vow to myself that I'd always be honest with her from here on out, especially when it wasn't easy. Nell deserved that. I knew most women would've pushed me over the boat after I confessed what I did to her. It was just too bad that some asshole of a whale had decided to interrupt us. God only knew how far things would've gone if it hadn't been for him.

  Maybe it was for the best, though. If I’d slept with Nell on the boat, I might’ve wondered if she was really in a state of mind to make a decision like that. She was in the middle of a crazy phase of her life, and I’d just upended it by telling her the truth about Damian. I could forgive myself the kiss, but anything more would’ve been questionable, to put it lightly.

  Her friend, Davey, came into the doctor's office with a young, teenage girl at his side. I squinted in confusion for a few seconds as I tried to figure out if she was his girlfriend. I hoped not, because she didn't quite look old enough to vote, let alone date a guy in his twenties. Then I saw the resemblance. She didn't have crazy, dyed hair, but she had the same upturned nose as Nell and the same bright, expressive eyes. It must've been her sister.

  “Hey,” I said as the two of them moved to her bedside.

  “Is she going to make it?” the girl asked.

  I laughed. "Yes. S just bumped her head. The doctor said she'll be fine, but she might have a concussion. She'll just need to take it easy for a couple of days to be safe."

  Davey nodded. “This is Ashley, by the way. Nell’s little sister.”

  Ashley gave a nervous smile and waved. “Are you her boyfriend?”

  Davey looked suddenly very interested and amused. “Yeah, are you?”

  “It’s complicated,” I said.

  Ashley gave Davey a knowing smile. “Do you think they’ve made it to first base?”

  “Sorry,” Davey said. “I haven’t been in elementary school in years. What happens at first base again?”

  She glared, and I almost laughed at how similar to Nell she looked right then. “I’m in high school. And just because you’re a geezer, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know what first base is. Or maybe it’s because you’ve never made it that far.”

  I put my hand to my mouth and covered my smile. Apparently, Nell had rubbed off on her little sister.

  Davey made a choking sound in his throat and crossed his arms. “As we were saying. I think they’ve definitely hit first base. But let me enlighten you from the perspective of somebody older and much wiser than you, Ashley. Harry says it’s complicated because they’ve committed a crime of passion. They got lost in the moment, took things farther than they were ready to, and now they aren’t sure where that leaves them.”

  “That’s pretty insightful for a virgin,” Ashley said.

  I laughed. “I like her.”

  Davey rolled his eyes. “Yeah, just wait until she turns those evil little kid eyes on you. Then maybe you won’t think it’s so funny.”

  Ashley looked to me and gave a little shrug. “Don’t worry. You seem way cooler than Davey. I totally vote for you and my sister getting married.”

  “Is this a bad time to say I’m awake?” Nell asked.

  Ashley leaned in and hugged her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like a whale knocked me down and gave me a concussion.”

  “Wait, he wasn’t kidding about the whale thing?” Davey asked.

  “It’s more common than you’d imagine on the open water,” I said. “They don’t mean any harm by it. It’s more like a playful thing.”

  “Yeah,” Nell said. “Remind me not to play with whales again.” She met my eyes, and I thought she must’ve been remembering what we’d been doing right before she hit her head. She looked down at her lap and tugged the blankets up in the bed a little. “Hey, guys, do you mind giving Harry and I a second alone?”

  Ashley nudged Nell and wiggled her eyebrows. “He’s really cute. Don’t screw this up for us.”

  “Ashley. Please, go.” Nell said through tight lips.

  Davey snorted. “Nell knows he’s cute, Ashley. She has hardly stopped talking about what a ‘snack’ Harry is.”

  I grinned to see how red Nell’s cheeks were getting.

  Once Davey and Ashley were outside the room, Nell sighed. “He’s exaggerating, by the way. I only said a few brief, tasteful words of description when I met you that first time.”

  “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

  “Yeah,” Nell said. “She still lives with my parents, and my parents are kind of done with me. So visitations are kind of tricky. We mostly just Facetime each other.”

  “What happened with your parents?”

  “Uh, well… It’s kind of a long story.”

  I gestured to the quiet room around us. “Last I heard, you aren’t supposed to go anywhere for a few hours.”

  "My last boyfriend kind of sucked, to put it lightly. His name was Chuck. I met him at a really low point in my life. He was nice, and he made me feel better. I guess I started latching onto him instead of fixing the real problems I had. He'd compliment me and make me feel like I was important, and I'd put up with all the issues he had. I knew where I'd go back to if I broke up with him, and I think that fear kept me shackled to him. Little by little, he got more possessive and more jealous. At first, he just always wanted to know where I was. I'd have to text him every time I hung out with friends. Then he wanted me to text when I got there and when I was leaving. Then he wanted me to get an app so he could track my location."

  “Jesus,” I said. “No wonder you were ready to run when I butted in between you and Damian.”

  She laughed. “It gets worse, actually. He started saying I shouldn’t need friends—that having friends was a form of emotional cheating. He thought he should be the only person I needed, and the only person I wanted to spend time with.” Nell’s smile faded as she looked down and worked her fingers together in her lap. “I probably sound so stupid for going along with all of this, but it happened so gradually and so subtly at first that I barely noticed.”

  “No,” I said. “It’s not exactly the same, but I’ve seen countless authors get manipulated in the same sort of way by agents and publishers. Some people are really good at taking advantage of people, and when those people are already going through something, it’s even easier.”

  "Thank you. It still feels embarrassing to talk about. And maybe part of why I got so mad about the thing with Damian was just because it reminded me of how blind I'd been. I was just starting to get my self-respect back, and when I thought I saw the faintest hint of Chuck in you, instinct took over."

  “Don’t be embarrassed. The best people I know are only who they are because they made mistakes, lived through them, and learned from it. You hauling ass away from the party was just proof that you’re not the same person he took advantage of. You’re stronger now.”

  She grinned. “I didn’t exactly ‘haul ass.’ It was more like a fast walk.”

  "Then you should compete in fast walking competitions because you would've smoked the field."

  Nell laughed. “Yeah, well, the end of the Chuck story is just that his final move was driving a wedge between my parents and me. He convinced me it was their agenda to keep me from getting into beauty school. I accused them of all sorts of horrible things and went to beauty school, failed out, and blamed them for it.”

  “So, what happened to this Chuck guy?”

  “I found out he was cheating on me, too.” She laughed. “I guess he was so jealous because he’d been assuming I wanted to do all the things he’d actually been doing.”

  I found myself gripping the armrest of my chair tight enough to make my fingers ache. “Where is he now?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Why? Are you going to go punch him for me?”

  “Unless you tell me not to, that was kind of the plan.”

  Nell smiled. “I don’t want anything to do with him, even if it’s sending my terminator boyfriend to punch him in the face.”

  “Boyfriend?” I asked.

  15

  NELL

  I still hadn’t decided what I was going to do about Damian Cross when I met him at his offices. I ran through my battle plan while I rode the elevator up to his floor. I decided I had a few options. One was to unleash my apparently devastating punching power on him. The bruise Harry still wore on his cheek was a testament to how much I could make him regret thinking he would pull a fast one on me. Then again, I hadn’t entirely confirmed he had bad intentions. Yes, Harry had enlightened me about his scummy reputation. Yes, all signs pointed to “beware of the dog,” but it probably would’ve been premature to give him a taste of the old right hook. For now.

  My slightly more reasonable option was to thank him for his help and excuse myself from his life. I could worry about salvaging any bridges I might burn in the process later, but I’d know there was no risk of Damian taking advantage of me in a personal or business sense. Harry had voted for that option, but I also couldn’t rule out the fact that as my newly minted “boyfriend.” he was a little biased against keeping me within spitting distance of Damian.

  Mental note. Spitting on Damian didn’t sound like a half-bad idea. Save that for later.

  I finally decided on the boring option. Wait and see. The truth was that simply knowing Damian was probably out for blood meant I could have my guard up. If my guard was up, what could he really manage to do? It would mean I still got to take advantage of the personal relationship he had with Maya North and most of the big art buyers. I’d still get the money Ashley needed, and I wouldn’t risk tipping Damian off about who was secretly in my corner.

  That much was important. Damian couldn’t know about Harry. If he found out I was dating—was I officially dating Harry now just because I’d called him my boyfriend in a concussion-fueled haze? Before I could decide on that little matter of syntax, the doors of the elevator swished open.

  Here goes. Kick some ass, Nell. Not literally, either.

  I found Damian in his office with a stack of prints. He was looking through artwork and making notes on a pad of legal paper. He looked up and smiled when he saw me. “Nell. I’m glad you came. We’re running out of time before the gala, but I managed to find another place we can show the bush tonight. It’ll help drum up some more hype before the big day.”

  “Tonight?” I asked.

  “What? Did you have a hot date to go to instead?” Damian asked with a smile that said he clearly meant that as an improbable joke.

  “Uh, no,” I said slowly. Except I did have a hot date planned. Harry was going to take me deer hunting with a paintball gun. The doctor had even given me clearance for it, despite his worries that I might’ve suffered a minor concussion. Harry said we’d mostly be doing slow speed creeping through bushes in the dark, which the doctor admitted wasn’t going to really put me at risk of worsening the condition.

  “Okay. So, what’s the problem?”

  “There’s no problem. I’ll be there.”

  “Great. Oh, and, listen. I know how this is going to sound. But please, hear me out. One of the people who will be there tonight is an ex-girlfriend of mine. She also happens to be dating a man named Kyle Van Buren. If Van Buren bids on a piece, he absolutely kills interest. The man has horrible taste in art, and he’s notorious for it.”

  “What are you saying?” I asked.

  “That we’d be wise to do anything we could to make sure he doesn’t bid on your bush.”

  I frowned. “I’m not okay with having him…” I lowered my voice and leaned closer. “whacked. If that’s what you’re getting at. So my answer is no.”

  “Whacked? What does that even mean?”

  “Like making him sleep with the fishes? Scrambling his brains from the back seat of his car with an ice pick?”

  “Jesus. What kind of movies do you watch? No. I’m not talking about anything like that.”

  “Oh. Then what?”

  “If my ex so much as thought we were dating, even if it was a mild suspicion. I know she’d force Van Buren to promise not to bid on your piece. It’d be mortifying to her if her new boyfriend bought work from someone I was representing.”

  A wave of cold ran up my back. “You want me to pretend we’re dating?”

  “No, no.” Damian laughed easily. “I’m just saying if we even give the slightest suggestion that we’re not not dating, it would be a huge move for your career. Because trust me, if Van Buren bids on your bush, you’re screwed.”

  I took in a long, deep breath. “How likely is this guy to even bid on it in the first place? I mean, won’t there be like hundreds of people there? And what if somebody else bids higher first, or any number of ways that would make this idea of yours a waste of effort?”

  “I’m your agent, and my job is to do whatever it takes to get you the most for your work. I know Van Buren’s taste, and your piece is right up his alley.”

  “Wait, I thought you said he has notoriously horrible taste?”

  Damian grinned. “He does. Which is why he won’t see what makes yours so special. He just likes shock and awe art. Gore. Sex. Mutilation. Anything that grabs attention. Yours is more than that, but it won’t matter to him.”

  I chewed my lip and sat down.

  "So, what do you say?" Damian asked. "Is it a date?"

  16

  HARRY

  I pinched my temples and looked up at Nell, who was standing in my living room with a worried, but somehow determined look on her face.

  “You really think this is a good idea?” I asked. She’d just finished explaining Damian’s plan to me, and once I got past the simultaneous urges to throw up and choke the man to death, I had to remember what Nell just got out of. Her ex-boyfriend was apparently the king of all control freaks. She didn’t need me to be her guard dog. She needed me to be her support, and no matter how much it felt like chewing on glass, I had to let myself relax and give her the power to decide.

  “Business-wise? Yes. And I know you have nothing to worry about. I hope you know that too. It’s not like I’m going to make out with him in the middle of the gallery. I think he just means like we’ll walk in together and maybe stand a little closer together than normal. Trust me, if he makes it weird, I’ll give him a bruise a lot worse than yours.”

  I laughed. “I’m not going to tell you what to do. This is your life and your decision. But you can bet your ass I’m going to sneak my way into that venue and watch him like a hawk.”

  “Harry,” Nell said warningly. “If he sees you creeping around again, he’s going to suspect something. Don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, he’ll suspect that if he tries anything stupid, I’m going to jam your sculpture up his ass.”

  “Ignoring the fact that it’s a bush and it would just crumple up and bend, that’s not going to help, and you know it. Not unless you want to throw your career away.”

  I was annoyed that she was right. The truth was that it wasn’t so much my own career I was worried about. I was managing William’s wife, Hailey, my brother, the Fredericks’ twins, and dozens of other authors I’d come to think of like family. Even if I tried to quietly step away and hand them off to a new agent, I doubted Nathaniel Cross would stop at sabotaging me. He’d go after the agents they moved to, making sure none of them even came close to having successful careers. It would all be my fault, and I wasn’t about to make that decision and screw over the people I cared about.

  “Okay. Fine. I won’t go. I promise.”

  Nell came to sit beside me on the couch and leaned in. She was so close that I could smell her shampoo, and that set off a chain reaction of mental images—chief of which was her naked body covered in warm water and trails of suds. There was a stirring between my legs, but I needed to remind myself of what I’d promised. I wasn’t going to take advantage of her and trying anything before we’d figured out what to do with her sculpture and what to do about Damian would’ve felt like taking advantage. I wanted her to choose to be with me, not to fall into it.

 

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