He Chose His Ex, So I Chose My Empire novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Ten Keys
He didn't answer for a long time.
The bridge lights went on moving across the ceiling.
"I've got a speech," he said finally. "I wrote it on the walk from Imogen's. It's very good."
"I'm sure it is."
"I'm not going to give it to you."
I waited.
"Because a speech is me deciding what you'll hear," he said. "You've had enough of that from me. Ask me again in a month. If I've done it, you won't need the speech."
I lay back down on his chest.
It was the best answer he'd ever given me.
I didn't tell him so.
...
First Key handed out its first ten keys on a Thursday, on the bare second floor in Dogpatch.
Jo had hung paper bunting across the brick.
The space heater had been joined by two more, and for once the floor was almost warm.
There were ten young people sitting on the church-sale chairs.
Eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old.
Ten mentors stood along the windows, the retired judge among them in a cardigan.
The housing director sat in the front row with her reading glasses on their chain.
Hugh was at the back, by the freight elevator, holding a paper cup of coffee.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of He Chose His Ex, So I Chose My Empire are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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