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“Sorry, yes. I know, Ella.”“Daddy was wrong. He should have known you better.”“Well, he’s dead now. So it doesn’t matter.”Did nothing matter? Could a person do anything they wanted becausewe were all going to die one day anyway? Did all the scoreboards reset tozero? Was the plan to outlive everyone else’s grudges and resentments anddrop dead with your own, alone but clean?“I have to go,” I said, taking out my phone to call a car, which I didbefore seeing Logan’s texts.—Are you all right?——Where are you?—He’d texted a few minutes after I’d left, then again.—You’re not here——I’m fine. Go to bed——I need to know where you are——I’m going home—“You’re perfectly welcome to stay,” Bianca said, coming up next to me.“No. I need to be… hell is other people, right?” I pocketed the phone,unable to look at her.“You look upset. Will Logan be there when you get home?”Yes, and that was a problem.“Of course I’m…” I took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. Thank you fortelling me. I know it looks like I’m running off mad, but I’m grateful forwhat you did and… I don’t know. I have to figure out what it means.”“Maybe it doesn’t mean anything.”“It has to mean something.” I rubbed my temples to erase the impendingheadache. “It can’t all be empty.”“It’s not all empty.” She rubbed my arm. “But you have to fill the rightthings.”My phone chimed. The car was pulling up the block. Bianca wentoutside and waited with me on the sidewalk.“Did Daddy forgive you?” I asked as the Prius stopped at the curb. “Forthe thing you didn’t do?”“Who can say?”No one could say whether or not he could hold a grudge against awoman he’d professed to love, letting it eat at him for years, or if he’d let itgo. He didn’t talk about what was in his heart.
“I get it.” I hugged her. “Still sorry.”“Get home safe, and come by some time. Bring your husband.” Shewinked.I waved and got into the car. The driver turned down his radio.“Good evening, miss,” he said. “Still going to Hancock Park?”“Actually, I need to go to Highland.”Cradling her poodle, my stepmother went into the house I grew up inand closed the door.OceanofPDF.com
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CROWNE OF LIESCD REISSOceanofPDF.co
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CONTENTSPart IChapter 1Chapter 2Cha
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OceanofPDF.comPART I
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Dad came in and shut the sliding wo
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“Mind your business, twerp,” By
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Thank God. Thank fucking God.“Tha
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She tapped the edge of her wine gla
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the bride. Boom. You’ll make a hu
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“But it won’t be perfect.” I
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“You look tired.” She lifted he
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“It was. Were you late for work?
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“No, no.” Tap tap on the keyboa
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4L O G A N“I think we should win,
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“No drug arrests.”“Right.”
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The white wall had a single, seven-
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5E L L ALeaving Logan in the workin
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“Why?”“Sugar?” I called.“
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“Right. So, where do we start on
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“Imagine if you married me.” He
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“That’s not enough?”“No. It
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6L O G A NOne minute, I had her. Th
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“You’re saying you have a histo
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“Dad.”He looked at his watch be
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I waited for my father to congratul
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I put down the container. My Blind
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“Fine,” I said, pacing the leng
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Jean-Claude came out of the closet
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Logan sat in the chair across from
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“Haven’t tested it without a co
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She jerked her mouth away, but I he
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“I’m not spending the next five
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Was I?I wasn’t made of stone. I w
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1 0E L L AI was married.Not just ma
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Non. Again. Non. Again. Non. Again.
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With the speed of a criminal unencu
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—I’m sending Loranda to getyou.
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She was not to smile at Caleb Hawki
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We walked up to the rooftop togethe
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She held out her right hand and the
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1 2E L L AMy quickened heartbeat st
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“Eyes on the prize.” He spun me
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I gasped. “No feelings. It means
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“Here.” Reaching toward my pant
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OceanofPDF.com
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The bathroom door opened, and Ella
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“That thumb taste good?” she as
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I took my wife’s hand and pulled
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1 4E L L AIn the suite’s living r
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“Good morning.” He hit the ente
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in the fence from my window, so I g
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When I felt him get under the cover
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me, the harder I sucked. If I wasn
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They existed as a soreness where I
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“Olivia says she knows your new w
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“Don’t you dare,” she objecte
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“How long will it take?”“As l
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1 6E L L AAs I changed into jeans a
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“Nah,” he said. “I’ve done
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Colton pointed his fork at each of
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“I’ll cream you after lunch,”
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to journals under a pen name. I did
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outstretched for his wife as if she
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about who ran Crowne. He was concer
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One year, separate rooms. Functiona
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commercial space, so I’m not allo
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As if I was being honest with mysel
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Logan’s face was tense, waiting f
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PART IISIX MONTHS LATEROceanofPDF.c
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outside our marriage, I could barel
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that time of day added a level of c
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I checked the stock ticker.Maybe it
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Malibu was a wreck of traffic at lu
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without the sex. She asked for noth
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“I can’t be the only one mainta
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2 1E L L A“Talk to me,” Logan h
Page 152 and 153: “But… I thought the Collective
Page 154 and 155: Alone with the Big Blank, I pried o
Page 156 and 157: “I want you to want to go. If you
Page 158 and 159: Or I was imagining it.It was possib
Page 160 and 161: He hadn’t shaved before we went o
Page 162 and 163: how to get there, but he looked com
Page 164 and 165: I pressed the tape to alert the dri
Page 166 and 167: He opened his lips to answer. To ag
Page 168 and 169: “Yes, what?”“Touch me.”He p
Page 170 and 171: “Fuck me. Please.”“Are you be
Page 172 and 173: 2 4L O G A NWhen our sticky bodies
Page 174 and 175: I didn’t want to hurt her, but I
Page 176 and 177: “No, you’re not.”“Wanna try
Page 178 and 179: A dress form in my size sat in the
Page 180 and 181: The door closed behind me as he cal
Page 182 and 183: “So,” Logan said, staring at me
Page 184 and 185: 2 6L O G A NElla and I had things t
Page 186 and 187: “Sure.” She put in two more pie
Page 188 and 189: shredded and fringed with the loose
Page 190 and 191: 2 7E L L AShredding my father’s d
Page 192 and 193: the night. They took down streetlig
Page 194 and 195: “I thought you were being modest.
Page 196 and 197: “Of course you did,” she called
Page 198 and 199: say I was a little disappointed wit
Page 200 and 201: “Can I stay here?”“Of course.
Page 204 and 205: 2 8L O G A N—I’m going home—N
Page 206 and 207: I hoped she’d tell me more so I c
Page 208 and 209: “That was the reason you got into
Page 210 and 211: With a knowing smile, she swung the
Page 212 and 213: “You’re in luck.” I craned my
Page 214 and 215: want that?”“Do it. Take me.”I
Page 216 and 217: “Say something!” I cried.“Com
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Page 220 and 221: refrigerator. Then Colton had come
Page 222 and 223: “You mean, a little different? Or
Page 224 and 225: The anniversary party wasn’t a te
Page 226 and 227: “I have no idea,” Ella said.“
Page 228 and 229: wrong of me to work so hard to not
Page 230 and 231: look my family in the face. Nothing
Page 232 and 233: where the soil is rich. And sometim
Page 234 and 235: I didn’t want to be this way, and
Page 236 and 237: Shit.I had the desire to reach out
Page 238 and 239: 3 3E L L ALogan and I were on oppos
Page 240 and 241: grabbed a glass Liddy had filled.
Page 242 and 243: I lifted my glass and picked up a l
Page 244 and 245: “No, but it’s what we both need
Page 246 and 247: “I’m leaving too.”He looked a
Page 248 and 249: My father hadn’t cleared the mias
Page 250 and 251: I looked at my watch. My meeting wi
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“Can you meet him in the middle?
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“Me neither,” his lawyer grumbl
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“I’m trouble, you know.” I gr
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into the elevator with her arms wid
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E P I L O G U E T W OE L L AFrogtow
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“Yes,” Logan said, taking my ha
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“Let’s talk about Dante,” Col
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Or maybe you’re curious about Byr
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A L S O F R E E I N K I N D L E U N
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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T SBefore
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