Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“You’re a dick,” I grunted and walked over to the bed I would be using tonight in the room we were sharing.
“I’m a dick? You’re the perv who has hidden cameras in his house, watching his hot ex-sister-in-law prance around anytime he wants.”
“That’s not what I was doing. I was checking on Sarah.”
King laughed. “Yeah, well, I didn’t see Sarah in that video. Must have been looking at the wrong one.”
Jerking back the covers, I climbed in bed, relieved that we would be sleeping on a mattress tonight instead of taking turns on a concrete floor underground room. There would be no screams and wails of torture coming from the room across from us and no shift we had to get up for and take over to cause those sounds. Mentally and physically, I was exhausted. That was the only reason I’d been weak. Why I had kept Oakley on the phone so long, just to watch her in the camera as she talked to me. My conscience had gotten the better of me though, and I’d told her about the security system.
King was right though. I’d been watching more often than I should—and at times when Sarah wasn’t around. The sight of Oakley had become hard to resist.
“Is she single?” King asked. “I haven’t seen Oak in years, but, damn, the woman just gets hotter with age.”
He was trying to bait me. King loved nothing more than to get a rise out of someone.
“She’s single. Too bad she’s out of your league,” I muttered, shoving my pillow into a lump under my head.
“Fuck, have you looked at me? Have you seen these abs? There isn’t a female alive who is out of my league. Even Oakley Watson. I’d make her real happy. Spread those legs and feast on her—”
“Shut up!” I growled, hating the image he was putting in my head. “Go the fuck to sleep, King.”
He laughed as his bed creaked from his weight. He’d gotten what he wanted. Me to react. To her. Damn him.
“She still does it for you, huh?” he said as he cut off the light.
Yeah. She did it for all straight men, it would seem. But they didn’t know her. They all saw her, and that was what they wanted. The face, body, smile, those fucking eyes. They didn’t care to get to know her. Dig deeper. Take the time to find out more about her. And as much as I wanted to believe that, over the years, she was a bitch, she had betrayed me, she was selfish and controlling, I was struggling to hold on to those beliefs. Every time I watched her with Sarah on those damn cameras, I saw someone who didn’t fit what I’d created her to be in my mind.
She was kind, fun, patient, loving, and giving. Sarah was always smiling. They laughed a lot. They made huge messes and baked more shit that any household needed. Every inch of my house was decorated for Christmas. It was ready to be in one of those cheesy-ass Hallmark movies. Lights twinkled everywhere, even in my kitchen. And let’s not forget that Belladonna adored her.
I reached in my pocket and pulled my phone out again. The living room camera lit up my screen, and Oakley was kneeling beside Sarah, trying to wake her up. The soft smile on her face and the way her eyes shone with sheer love for my daughter got to me in ways nothing else could. Sarah sat up and rubbed her face, then leaned in and wrapped her arms around Oakley’s neck.
Oakley buried her nose in Sarah’s hair and closed her eyes tightly, then pressed a kiss to the top of her head before whispering something to her and helping her stand up. That was what a mother was supposed to be like. Not once in Sarah’s life had I witnessed Sylvia display that kind of affection to our daughter. She didn’t bake endless treats with her, or decorate for the holidays, or dance around the kitchen, singing off-key to songs.
Sylvia had rarely made Sarah smile.
“Is she naked? If she’s naked, you gotta share that shit, man. It’s only fair. We’re friends.” King’s voice carried across the room.
I closed the app and placed my phone on the nightstand. “I was watching her get Sarah to bed.” I felt the need to explain myself.
“Sure you were,” he replied, then chuckled.
I didn’t argue with him. There was no reason for me to pretend like I still hated Oakley. Not after this week and what I had seen on my phone. Even when I had tried to catch her doing something or acting in a way that would renew my belief that she was a selfish bitch, I never did. Because she wasn’t. She was still the Oakley who had managed to get so deep under my skin when she was sixteen that I couldn’t see anything but her.