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Contents (64)
  1. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  2. PROLOGUE HIM
  3. CHAPTER ONE AUDREY
  4. CHAPTER TWO CAT
  5. CHAPTER THREE AUDREY
  6. CHAPTER FOUR CAT
  7. CHAPTER FIVE AUDREY
  8. CHAPTER SIX CAT
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN HIM
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT AUDREY
  11. CHAPTER NINE AUDREY
  12. CHAPTER TEN HIM
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN CAT
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE AUDREY
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN HIM
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN AUDREY
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN HIM
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN CAT
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN AUDREY
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CAT
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN HIM
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY AUDREY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CAT
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO AUDREY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE AUDREY
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR HIM
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE CAT
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX AUDREY
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN HIM
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT CAT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE HIM
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY AUDREY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE CAT
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO AUDREY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE AUDREY
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR AUDREY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE CAT
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX AUDREY
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN AUDREY
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT HIM
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE CAT
  42. CHAPTER FORTY AUDREY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE HIM
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO AUDREY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE AUDREY
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR CAT
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE HIM
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX AUDREY
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN AUDREY
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT HIM
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE AUDREY
  52. CHAPTER FIFTY CAT
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE AUDREY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO CAT
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE AUDREY
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR HIM
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE CAT
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX AUDREY
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN MAX
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT CAT
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE AUDREY
  62. CHAPTER SIXTY MAX
  63. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  64. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Unless someone stopped her.

“I can’t help you,” I said quietly, and pressed the pillow down over her face. “Not anymore.”

She struggled weakly, her pale limbs barely moving. My stomach shifted queasily. Was this really how Audrey Miller, the most sparkling, vivacious woman I had ever known, was going to go out? Not with a bang, but with a whimper? I closed my eyes, telling myself it would all be over soon. Then I could start putting the pieces of my life back together. I would make myself a priority, much like Audrey had always made herself a priority.

Dimly, I heard a scraping noise behind me. Still holding the pillow over Audrey, I opened my eyes and turned toward the sound just in time to see the bottom of the wine bottle swinging at my face.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE AUDREY

Nick set a cardboard box bursting with my clothing down in the center of the empty floor and looked around. “This is a nice place. Much better than that hole in the ground you used to call home.”

I set down my own box and surveyed the space, happiness flooding my body. My new apartment in a recently constructed building on the waterfront had floor-to-ceiling windows, which were a welcome change from the small, ground-level, bar-covered windows at my old place. More important, these windows were on the fourth floor—meaning no aspirational stalkers could be peering through them, watching me sleep.

“I know,” I said. “I should have held out for something like this the first time around. The doorman alone is going to be worth the cost of rent.”

“Just getting out of that basement is worth it. I always hated staying over there, and that was before I knew that nutjob was hiding in the shadows.”

I glanced at him. “I didn’t know you hated staying over.”

“It was the location, not the company,” he said, tousling my hair.

“Careful,” I said, bringing a hand up to protect the still-tender spot on my scalp.

“Sorry, babe,” he said, wincing. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “But … hey, Nick, are we okay? I feel like we’ve been waltzing around the elephant in the room.”

“Yeah,” Nick said, suddenly very interested in the toe of his sneaker. “I mean, if you can forgive me for calling you a bitch and all that other stuff I said, then, yeah, we’re okay.”

“I’ll forgive you for that if you forgive me for thinking you broke into my apartment.”

He looked up and laughed. “I don’t know, Aud. That was pretty fucked up.”

“Leave me alone,” I protested, pinching him. “I was really scared.”

“I know,” he said, catching my hands and looking at me seriously. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I got caught up in my own bullshit jealousy. But you can count on me from now on, I promise.”

“Thanks, Nicky,” I said, stretching up on my tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “I missed you.”