Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I want to believe him.
I want to think that what he says is the truth, but I don't know. Maybe we don’t need to have all the answers right now. “Sergio, can we change the subject?"
He nods and releases me, putting his hands into the pockets of his sweats. “Of course. I wanted to see how you are. I’ve got a big job to do today and it's going to take me out of here. I can't stay for long." He gives me a slow smile, leans in closer, and rubs his thumb along the apple of my cheek. "But tonight, Eden. Tonight, we play."
He kisses my cheek and leaves me with a pounding heart and a craving for a lot more.
I usually like the work that I do but today I don't because all I can think about is this. Playing.
I try to stay focused. There's a lot of talk about Mario doing better, and I wish I could see him. But I even overhear someone saying that Sergio saved his life. What is that about?
I wonder why Sergio thinks he isn’t a good man. I've never known anybody better. I try to tell myself that I don't really know him at all and that there are things about him that are going to scare me. It’s hard to believe any of the rumors I've heard flying around the club, though. Maybe I don't want to know.
No. I've spent my life believing lies. The last thing I want to do is tell myself another one.
But I love the way I feel with him. I know it can be scary and dangerous and the people in the club obey him as if they are afraid… but theirs is a different kind of fear.
I've been around a man everyone touted as “good.” As the best there was. A leader of the community, a veritable pillar. My parents burst their bubbles when my engagement to Seth was announced.
But now I know that all of that was just… misleading. False. We have very different definitions of what it means to be “good.”
I put myself to work in the kitchen. That I know.
"Oh my God. Eden. No. Are you even serious? Ahhhhh!"
I look up in surprise to see my friend Quinn. The potato peeler in my hand clatters to the countertop, and I gasp. "Quinn!"
"Oh my God, they told me you were here, but I didn't wanna believe it."
"Why?" I say with a laugh.
She gives me a funny look. "Because this is a sex club, babe. You are Amish. I don't want you to be defiled. Like, there’s… how do I say it… a shortage of good people in the world and you are one of them. And we need to keep those people safe." She says this as if it's simple, as if she doesn't rock my entire world calling me good.
"Well, just like Goldilocks… I found a bed to sleep in and the rest is history."
She throws back her beautiful head and laughs, shaking her hair so that it falls around her shoulders. "We need to talk, honey, and now that we're here nobody else is going to hear us, right?" She leans close and says in a loud whisper, "Sergio Montavio sent for me to see you. Have you met him?"
Met him? Uh. You could say that.
I laugh. How do I tell her I'm half in love with him?
“I have. He's… uh, my boss."
"Your boss," she repeats, as if she can't believe what I'm saying. Wait until she finds the rest out. "Okay, so when do you get off of work? Because I need to talk with you."
I smile at her. “I just started." I look at the time. "Maybe you can grab a potato peeler and help me?”
Quinn hops up on a stool, grabs a potato, and then awkwardly tries to stroke a potato peeler against it. "Okay, so my mom's version of cooking was microwaving fries. Let's just say I'm not super good at this and maybe you can help me."
I look at Quinn and I look at the potato in her hand and I try to think of some delicate way to tell her that she has no idea what she's doing.
"So can I show you how to use this?"
"Maybe if you have like a regular potato peeler instead of this industrial thing." I don't have the heart to tell her that it is the regular potato peeler, and the industrial one is gathering dust under the sink. I like to do things by hand.
I show her how to hold the potato. I show her how to curl her fingers away so that she doesn't slice one while she's peeling. I show her until the peels are curling and tendrils fall into a bowl. "Good job, Quinn. I think I should ask them to hire you."