Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Yet the mourning returned, a load that had been put down for a moment—and was now twice as heavy for the brief respite.
“Where are you going to go?” he heard himself ask.
“I don’t know. I just know . . . not here. I think I’m looking for a fresh start.”
“Fair enough.” What the hell was he saying? “I mean, good for you. Yeah, that’s really healthy. Ah, anyway, I think I’ll head over and chat to Mayhem—”
Callum looked up. Finally. “Will you come back here? This feels . . . rushed. It’s not how I want to leave things between us. I did it wrong once already.”
“I know. I was there.” Glancing at the cold hearth, Apex found himself blinking quickly to clear his vision. “But, yeah, sure. I’ll be back.”
Callum got up, but it wasn’t for some kind of hug. He went over to lie down on his bed. As he stared up at the ceiling, Apex sensed the departure had already happened, even though they were still technically in the same room.
As he hesitated, he learned a truth about himself that he could have done without: This awkwardness was proving that everything he’d said to the wolf had been right, yet there was another layer to it all.
He was waiting to see if Callum was going to change his mind.
Not about leaving the estate, but about needing Apex to stay, right now.
Mayhem didn’t matter. The job didn’t count. The big house could have been on fire and he would still be standing here, waiting to be called into service.
The reality was . . . there was still nothing he wouldn’t do for the wolven. Even if letting Callum go remained the way this was all going to end.
Fresh start, indeed.
“I won’t be long,” he muttered as he headed for the door.
He got some kind of indistinct response, and there was no reason to ask for a repeat of it as it had just been a sound, made in the back of the throat. A dismissal.
Apex closed the door quietly behind himself and descended the stairs. Halfway to the big house, he glanced back at the garage. Callum had gotten up and turned the lights all the way off, the windows dark as the night.
Goddamn, this was like being back at that bedside, in the prison, reading tea leaves for improvement, and ultimately being disappointed—
The door of the big house opened, and Mayhem leaned out. “You coming or going?”
Wasn’t that the question of the hour.
Apex got his walk on, and as he came up to the other male, he didn’t want to think about things he couldn’t control anymore.
He didn’t want to think about anything.
“You done?” Even though one of the guy’s texts had already said that. “We good?”
“You’re all set. But I figured you’d want to try things out first.”
Closing the door as he entered, Apex wasn’t surprised to find Mahrci with her LV duffle right next to Mayhem’s black nylon bag from Dick’s. Cabela’s. Wherever.
Beauty and the Generic.
Except as the two looked at each other and their eyes lingered, Apex didn’t have the heart to be cynical about their future. Who was he to doom-and-gloom on their parade?
“So you’re leaving, too,” he said to the female.
In reply, he got a nod and some conversation he didn’t bother tracking. While all kinds of syllables were thrown around, he stared at the pair. Like the luggage, they were standing side by side, and the ease between them was obvious. No shadows thrown by dark emotions. No past clawing its way into the present and fucking things up. Just two people who were attracted to each other and ready to see where it all goes—
“You’re lucky,” he heard himself say.
That stopped both of them.
Which was his clue to step in and offer his hand for a shake. “Thanks, Mayhem.”
The male glanced at what was clearly his female. Then he shook what was offered. “Um, okay. So how about we go through the program before I go?”
“Nah, it’s okay. I know how to reach you if something doesn’t work.”
Mayhem’s brows popped. “Um, yeah, you can always call me. But are you sure? I mean, everything is functioning—”
“I trust you. ”
“I tested and retested the feeds—”
“I know you did.” Turning, he put his palm out to Mahrci. “Something tells me I’m not going to see you again.”
The female ducked her eyes. “You never know.”
“Yeah, I do. What do you want me to tell your father?”
“Nothing. That’s my problem, not yours.”
Finally, someone who got it, he thought.
“I always did like you.”
Just as the female went to take his hand in her own, he saw the bite mark on the inside of her wrist. Well, things had progressed, hadn’t they. And he was willing to bet that it wasn’t the only vein on her that had been taken—although with her wearing that turtleneck, he couldn’t tell.