Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
When Thorin and Khalil rescued Zeke from Isaac’s cult, and I got to experience life outside of constant torture and endless pain, I compiled a list of my favorite things and everything that I can’t live without, even if the world ended tomorrow—Meat Lovers pizza, rap music, frappé, cute kittens, fantasy novels, Christmas, and cotton candy.
Lame, I know.
But waking up with Sunshine in my arms?
Top of the fucking list.
She rolled away from Khalil and back to me at some point, and the weight of her warm body pressed against mine was better than any soft pillow or warm blanket. I drift off again to the smell of her golden curls in my nose, and I’m not sure how long I’m asleep before I feel her pulling away again. It’s probably Thorin or Khalil, and I’m too tired to fight them for her, so I let her go and fall asleep again.
“Where are you going?” I hear Khalil ask the next time I’m jarred awake.
“Nature calls,” Aurelia answers.
Hearing the rustle of the sleeping bag, I peek my eyes open to see Aurelia slipping on my shirt that stops just under her butt. Khalil follows her out of the tent, and Aurelia doesn’t argue like she did when I tried to escort her yesterday. She’s either still exhausted or knows there’s no point after her run-in with the drifters.
“Ooh! Ooh! It’s cold! It’s cold!” she squeals as soon as her bare feet touch the frozen ground. I can see her tits bouncing from her mostly-naked ass, hopping around outside the tent.
Thorin jerks awake from all the noise she’s making and sits up to snatch the crossbow resting against the tent wall next to him. “What is it? What’s happened?”
“Nothing.” Sitting up, I crack my back from sleeping on the uncomfortable ground and whisper, “Just Aurelia being dramatic.”
Overhearing, she yells, “Shut up, Seth!”
Khalil lifts and carries Sunshine over to the fire, where I left her clothes out to dry. He sets her on the log, and she folds her legs against her chest while she watches Khalil shake out her boots.
Thorin stands, and I can see that his cock is hard when he walks out of the tent with the crossbow. The moment his bare foot touches the ground, he swears viciously.
“See?” Sunshine shouts.
Rolling my eyes, I’m tempted to go back to sleep, but I don’t want to without Sunshine. And since no one else seems to care how fucking early it is, I get up and leave the tent too.
My gaze unwillingly travels to the blue van with the cage and dead bodies piled inside, but I look away just as quickly and focus on Aurelia. She’s already watching me and holds out her hand with a small smile.
I pretend my stomach isn’t doing somersaults as I take it, and the trembling in my hands immediately stops as I let her pull me to her. Sitting on the log next to her, I lean over, and she lets me kiss her good morning.
Aurelia even slips me her tongue and doesn’t bitch about morning breath this time.
It once again reminds me that something huge happened on that lake, and I’m not sure how much longer I can wait patiently until Thorin and Aurelia clue Khalil and me in.
Once Khalil’s done checking to make sure her clothes are dried completely, he helps her into her clothes, and then they walk toward the trees, where they disappear from sight.
Thorin finishes getting dressed and stalks after them to relieve himself, too.
I stare at the flickering fire and ignore my bladder as I count the seconds until Sunshine returns.
I make it to five before I say fuck it and follow them.
Aurelia and Khalil are only a few steps ahead of us. When she turns her head to see Thorin and me following, she says wryly, “Wow. An armed escort just to tinkle. I must be the luckiest bitch in the world.”
“You should be used to it,” Thorin returns. “Didn’t you have bodyguards?”
“Yes…but they went away when I told them to.”
Thorin hums but doesn’t respond any more than that. He just tosses his arm over her shoulder when he catches up and whispers something in her ear before kissing her forehead.
Whatever it is makes her blush hard as fuck.
Aurelia finds a suitable bush for her needs after five fucking minutes of searching and then makes us turn around and cover our ears while she goes.
We return to camp after we’ve all gone, and Thorin whips up some instant coffee once we’re all around the fire again. As usual, we all sip quietly and pretend it’s good.
Well, all of us except for one.
“This has to be the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted,” Aurelia remarks after taking a single sip.
“Yeah, it tastes like sand, but it warms you up.”
“So, any reason we’re hanging around instead of going home? It’s bad enough we spent the night where a mass murder occurred. Don’t you think we’re pressing our luck?”