The Nice Girl Gets Even novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Water Street

"Yes, sir," Emmett said.

That was all.

He took my hand, and we went down the porch steps together.

Two hundred people watched us walk to a truck that smelled like bait.

He drove straight to Royal Street.

It was ten at night, and the cotton exchange was dark except for the guard's desk.

The guard looked at Emmett, and then at his phone.

"Mr. Merrill," he said. "I got a text from your daddy."

"I bet you did."

"Says you get one hour, sir. I'm real sorry."

"It's not your fault," Emmett said. "How's your boy's ankle?"

"Healing up. Thank you for asking."

We rode the elevator up past the oil paintings of dead Merrills.

His office looked exactly like it had the night I sat on his desk.

The model tugboat. The window over the river.

He put his diplomas in a copy-paper box, face down.

He picked up the tugboat and stood there holding it.

"My grandfather built this," he said. "He's the one glaring at you in the gold frame."

"He looked like he'd have built a tugboat."

"He built it for my father. My father put it in a closet." He set it in the box, very carefully. "I took it out when I was nine."

← Chapter 13 · All chapters · Chapter 15 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend