Page 45 of Crimson Tears

We pull up to the drive-through, and I order mint chocolate chip before asking Boris what he would like.

“Pistachio, please.”

I wrinkle my nose as I order for him.

“What’s with the face?” he asks me.

“Why would you want your ice cream to taste like nuts?” I ask, constantly perplexed as to how this is even an ice cream flavor. It’s supposed to be a sweet dessert, not nutty.

He chuckles. “Why do you like the taste of chocolate and toothpaste?”

What the fuck did he just say?

I slam on the brakes right before we get to the window to pay.

“You did not just insult mint chocolate chip ice cream. It istheelite flavor. Unlike yournutflavor.”

“I’m not sure what your nuts taste like, Cillian, but Nessa loves mine.Andshe loves pistachio ice cream.”

I cover my ears as I pull up the final few feet, refusing to hear this utter nonsense, there is no way that’s true.

She has to be faking it. She HAS TO!

No one likes to expect something sweet and get a weird tree nut flavor instead. No one.

Boris leans over me, ignoring my antics and handing the sweet lady at the counter his card. I think I’m in shock right now.

By the time she hands us our milkshakes, I have recovered enough to thank her, but I’m still struggling to believe Nessa likes pistachio ice cream.

I thought she was a woman of great taste.

“Thanks for the ice cream,” I say once we’re back on our way. I decide to go the speed limit this time, as well as take the long way around. “You still owe me four hundred and eighty-nine dollars though.”

If he thinks I’m letting him off the hook for my little bet, he better think again.

“What if I gave you twenty million?”

I nearly swerve the car off the road.

“What the fuck?” I say once I’ve gotten back in my lane.

“Twenty million and you leave tonight.”

Chapter 14

“Twenty million and you leave tonight.”

The car goes deadly silent. Part of me hopes he takes the deal. However, a bigger part of me hopes he turns out to be the man that I think he is.

Cillian signals to take the next exit, without a word or even a breath. He pulls over onto the side of the dark road. For a minute, his car idles there as he stares out the front window with two hands on the wheel.

“Twenty million?” he questions, and my stomach sinks. “How would you get me the money?”

The part of me that hoped he would take it and run regrets everything I just offered. But if it is this easy to get him to leave her, then he is not who I thought he was. And he definitely is not the man Nessa thinks he is.

“I could have the funds wired to you within a few days. Half now, half when I know you are well and gone.”

He runs his hands through his hair and then turns to face me with an expression I have not yet seen from him. Our eyes lock for longer than any normal human interaction, but I try to level him with my seriousness.

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