The First Rule: A Standalone Second Chance Romance by Nicole S. Goodin

Author:Nicole S. Goodin [Goodin, Nicole S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-06T16:00:00+00:00

“I need to pee,” Steph states, as she always does, before sliding her chair out and getting up from the table.

I’ve been filling them in on my dinner with Rebel and what a disaster it was. I almost feel bad about saying anything now as both of my best friends have jumped straight on the bandwagon. I’ve unintentionally set up an ‘I hate Rebel club’. That’s not even what I want, or how I feel. I don’t hate her, I fear her. She worries me, I don’t know what happens if her and I can’t find a way to get along. I don’t know how we both fit in Ryan’s life without being in each other’s too.

It’s a mess, one that’s probably not being helped by Steph repeatedly ranting about Rebel sounding like ‘a bitch’ or ‘a pain in the arse’, and getting me all riled up, but still, I knew that’s how she’d be – she’s loyal to a fault and has quite the temper. I once saw her drag a chick out of a bar by her hair for saying something rude about the dress a friend of ours was wearing. Rebel and Steph would probably butt heads something chronic. At least Freya has slightly more chill and the capacity to be more diplomatic.

The ring of my cell phone startles me; I hardly ever get calls anymore. Ryan sometimes rings me on his way home from work, but he’s in a meeting with his staff right now, so I’m confident it won’t be him. I’m here with Steph and Freya, so it’s not either of them…. Work only ever emails… there’s not a lot of other options left; my circle is small.

I pull it from my bag and look at the screen, but it’s a blocked number. I don’t typically pick those up – my tolerance for scammers is pretty low – but it could be the doctor’s office or something to do with my next check-up, so I answer.

“Hello?”

“Darcy,” the voice on the end of the phone says, the tone familiar, but wrong. Somehow wrong.

“Ah... yes?” I reply, confused. It sounds just like Ryan, but I’m not sure. “Who’s this?”

The penny drops a fraction of a second before he says the words. “This is Jacob.”

My heart starts thumping against my rib cage and my palms sweat instantly.

I have no idea why Jacob would be calling me, but I know one thing – it’s not going to be about anything good.

“Jacob?” I reply, my voice barely above a whisper. “Why are you calling me?”

Freya’s hand lands on top of mine and I look up, wide-eyed, to meet her stare.

She doesn’t even have to speak, I can tell by the expression on her face that she’s worried... and pissed off.

“Can’t a man call the woman he loves?”

The sound of the word ‘love’ coming from him makes my stomach roll. Jacob doesn’t love anybody but himself. Probably never has, probably never will.

I don’t know what to reply to him, I’m

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.