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)
“And they’re different?”
“Very.”
For some reason, Aurelia looks at me. Maybe she thinks I’m less jaded than Thorin because she asks, “What do you think, Khalil? Do you agree with Thorin that nice guys don’t exist?”
I don’t respond right away.
I’m stuck thinking about my own dad, who I haven’t seen or spoken to in nine years other than the occasional letter so that he doesn’t think I’m dead—sans return address, of course.
My dad is a religious man, a family man, and a workaholic. He’s quick to smile, works every day at the construction company he built from nothing, pays his taxes and tithes on time, takes care of my mom, took care of me, and is a respected member of the community.
Does that mean he doesn’t have skeletons in his closet?
I can’t bring myself to say no and believe it.
Before Zeke disappeared, before the three of us ran to this corner of nowhere, before Aurelia, I never saw myself doing any of the things I’ve done. There’s still a chance we’ll leave this mountain one day. I could get married, have kids, start a desk job at some dead-end job, and be on a first-name basis with my neighbors. And no one, except my brothers, will ever know the atrocities we committed before that.
I once thought I was a nice guy—a normal guy.
Ripping the last molar out of Jonah’s mouth, I toss his head onto the pile and watch it roll, feeling nothing but a bone-deep satisfaction that I’d kept my woman safe.
Apparently not.
“I think if there are, they won’t stay that way for long.”
“Hmmm. I’m afraid to ask. Seth?”
My gaze travels to him in time to see him shudder. “I’ve never met a nice guy.”
“What about me?” Aurelia asks. “Do you think I’m nice?”
“I think you’re perfect.”
Aurelia glowers at his nearly skillful evasion. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
Seth steps down from the log where he had been twirling Sam’s head on his finger like a basketball. “Is that what you want, Sunshine? To be a good girl?”
She doesn’t even have to think about it. “No. God, no. Tried that. Hated it.”
“Ah. You want to be bad.”
Aurelia bites into her lip and gives the smallest nod.
Seth crouches in front of her where she sits crossed-legged on the blanket he laid out for her as if we’re at a picnic. “I picked flowers for you, you know.”
“Really?” Her brown eyes brighten. “Where are they?”
“They died.”
“Oh.” Aurelia looks faintly amused as she stares back at Seth. “Well, it’s the thought that counts, I guess.”
“This is better.” Seth holds out the head he’s still holding.
Aurelia’s brows shoot up. “You’re giving me a severed head?”
“I was thinking that once all the skin falls off, we can turn it into a vase. To hold all the flowers I promise to pick for you again.”
Thorin and I make eye contact when Aurelia’s gaze softens, and she nervously takes the head from him. “Seth…I love it.”
Jesus, fuck, she’s just as crazy as him.
“Aurelia, you can’t keep the head,” I tell her.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s evidence?”
“But, Khalil—”
“I said no, baby.”
Seth leans over and whispers something to her that I can’t hear, and Aurelia giggles. When her eyes find mine before flicking away when she sees me watching, I know those bitches are talking about me.
I’m still staring at her when Aurelia hands the head back to Seth and stands. I don’t look away as she walks over to me and places her hand on my right shoulder.
My hands are covered in blood, so I don’t touch her, but God, I want to.
Instead, I hold very still and let her do what she wants to me. Aurelia moves to stand behind me, and then her other hand finds my left shoulder and starts massaging.
“You’re tense, Khalil. Did I do something?”
“No.”
“Can I do something?”
Fuck it.
Reaching behind me, I pull Aurelia back around to my front, where I can see her. “You can start by telling me what the hell happened on that ice. What changed, Aurelia?”
Thorin pauses from loading the body parts into the steel vat that we plan to turn into a pressurized cooker, using lye to dissolve the bodies. It won’t be pretty. There’s any number of things that could cause the sheriff to suspect foul play, but there’s nothing to link us back to the drifters, so it won’t matter.
But if the cops find even one hair of Aurelia’s, we’re fucked.
“What do you mean?”
Thorin, not as willing to be coy, answers. “Aurelia and I made a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“I agreed to stay and be yours on the condition that I’m no longer a prisoner.”
“Okay…”
“That means the tracker comes off, and the punishments stop.”
“How do we know you won’t run?”
“You don’t. You just have to trust me.”
“Trust you…”
“Like I’m trusting you not to make me regret it.”
“And if we say yes?” Holding her hips, I lean forward and kiss her belly. “That means your ours, Goldilocks—no bullshit, no tricks, and no take backs. You’re in this one hundred percent until the day you die and every day after because just try to stop us from following you. All of you, Goldilocks. We want everything.”