Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
I’m not really sure what happened after that. I vaguely remember hearing Carnage asking if we were done before we left. The next thing I really registered was Carnage laying me down on our bed and pulling me into his arms, comforting me. Telling me how it was all done. It was over. The boys were mine and his. He’d never leave us alone. We’d always have someone protecting us.
I believed him.
Chapter Seven
Calliope
“I can’t believe you guys bought a late show at the movie theater.” The ol’ ladies of the club -- all ten of them -- had paid the local theater for a late-night party for the newest blockbuster the night before it was to have an early showing. They’d all invited a few friends outside the club, and I was invited, too. Super-sized girls’ night out. Angel seemed to be the organizer of the party.
“We don’t do it often, but we’ve got a good relationship with a few business owners in the community, and we pay them well for stuff like this.” She grinned, looking pleased with herself.
“This is so cool! We’ll be the first ones to see this!”
“Yep. But it’s probably outside whatever contract they have with the movie studios to show the movie any earlier than strictly specified, so you can’t say anything or they won’t let us do it again.”
“Completely understandable.” I grinned. “You guys are so cool.”
Angel hugged me. “Of course, we are.”
The only men in the area were men who worked for the cinema. They were all strictly professional, most of them being quite young. With all the stunning women in the Bones party, I was surprised those women didn’t get hit on, but, though everyone was friendly, no one crossed that line.
Two guys stuck out. One was the manager. I knew this from pictures of the staff on the wall I’d looked at while we waited for the last show to end before we were escorted to our theater.
The second was the only one who seemed to be older than the rest. Older being out of his late teens or early twenties. I put his age at somewhere between thirty-five and forty. It was hard to tell. He looked like he’d had a hard life but wasn’t as old as he appeared. Drugs? Alcohol? Wasn’t my business. But something about him seemed… off. More than once I caught him staring at me. I wasn’t a coward, but I was in a strange town with people I barely knew, so I decided it was prudent to stick close to the people I did know. And this was the first time I’d been outside the Bones compound without Carnage at my side.
“Rain?” I sidled up to a dark-haired woman. She was married to Arkham and a fierce fighter in her own right. She was short and petite but had a hard look in her eyes sometimes.
She gave me a warm smile. “You want to sit with me?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.” I returned her smile, and she looped her arm through mine. “Just a quick question. Do you know that guy standing next to the exit? He’s been staring at me, and it’s a little unnerving.”
She glanced in the direction I indicated but had a confused look on her face. “What guy?”
I looked and he was gone. “I -- I’m not… he was there just a minute ago.”
She shrugged but frowned as she glanced around us. The woman was incredibly aware of her surroundings most times. “I don’t see anyone here I don’t recognize, but that’s not to say I didn’t miss someone.” By the way she continued to look even when her first impression had been that all was clear, I could tell she was taking me seriously. Which made me feel infinitely better. “I’ll text Arkham, just in case. He and the boys always patrol the area on girls’ night out, anyway.” She shook her head and frowned as she shot off a text. “I’d love to say they did it just to annoy us, but I know it’s because they’re all so overprotective it’s ridiculous.”
It wasn’t long before Arkham and Torpedo, the vice president, appeared at the entrance to our theater, Torpedo speaking into a microphone at his wrist. Both men scanned the area before nodding to Rain and me. Then they backed out.
“Guess it was just my imagination,” I gave a half-hearted laugh and ducked my head.
“Hey,” Rain said, grabbing my hand and squeezing. “If there’s one thing I learned before I came to Bones, it’s to trust your gut. Nothing’s unimportant if it makes you uncomfortable.” She retained possession of my hand and marched to the top of the steps in the stadium seating at the back of the theater and put us in the middle of the back row. We could see everything fine with no chance of someone sneaking up behind us.