Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Dinner seemed to be drawing to a close, and Beth was just starting to think that maybe they could put this one in the win column, when Niall suddenly spoke.
And because Niall had been so quiet for most of the evening, when he spoke, everybody paid attention.
“Gideon, my friend’s daughter has one of those free reading platform apps and according to my friend, she’s been following a graphic novel for teens. Quilla’s Quest? Right?”
Beth’s eyes tracked to Gideon’s face and he looked so pale and shaken she could only conclude that his brother had hit on a very, very sensitive nerve.
All eyes were on the two men now. Kenny looked tense.
“What about it, Niall?” Gideon asked, his voice uncharacteristically curt and hoarse.
“They’re your illustrations, right? On a free reading platform? In a story for kids?”
“It’s a pet project. I’ve been partnering with a part-time writer. Her work is amazing. I offered to do the images.”
The words were delivered in an even, unconcerned tone, but Beth had the impression that this project was immensely personal to Gideon and that he wasn’t comfortable having it up for discussion.
“My friend sent me screen shots.”
Niall held up his phone, but the image was too small for anyone to really see. The Old Man clicked his fingers impatiently, and—obviously used to being treated like a well-trained pet—Niall handed his phone over immediately.
Gideon sat rigidly, his fingers digging into Beth’s thigh while his father glowered down at the phone screen.
“This is what you’ve been doing with your time? Fiddly, pretty little pictures for children?”
“That’s my business,” Gideon said stiffly, and his father scoffed.
“Well, you’re using the name I gave you to conduct this business of yours, Gideon. So I’d think you’d be a little more careful about what the fuck you put on the internet for the world to see.”
“I’m proud of my work on that novel, we have over a million followers and—”
“A million followers on a free reading app translates to what in real life exactly?” Nox inserted smoothly.
Beth wished she could slam them with facts and figures about how millions of followers on free reading apps translated to real life sales eventually, but those figures simply did not exist, because many of those readers rarely bought the work once it was published. They just moved on to the next thing. But successful careers had been launched from similar apps, and she opened her mouth to say so. Gideon’s hand tightened on her thigh and when she looked up into his taut face, he shook his head, the movement barely perceptible.
“It doesn’t matter,” Gideon said to the gathering at large with a shrug. “We’re here to celebrate Kenny’s engagement, no reason to discuss this right now.”
Nox, Niall and The Old Man, all glanced at Kenny, and it was testimony to how much they all loved her that they backed off, and changed the subject.
But Beth knew they were far from done, they would simply move their battle away from prying eyes.
“Tell me about the graphic novel,” Beth invited once they were safely back in their room after dinner. Gideon wrenched off his tie and tossed it to the corner of the room. His movements taut with restrained violence.
“It’s nothing. Just a stupid thing that my brothers will forever use against me now,” he said furiously.
“Nope. I’m not accepting that. You don’t think it’s stupid. You obviously care deeply about it.”
“And you’re a fucking know-it-all busybody,” he lashed out.
Beth had seen him angry before—mostly at her—but this was a level of rage she would not have known him capable of. It was kind of hot but, because he was genuinely distressed, she pushed her hormones aside and focused on calming him down.
“Yes, that’s already been established,” she said patiently. “So tell me about this novel.”
The wind left his sails and he collapsed more than sat onto the edge of the bed.
“We’ve been working on it for about a year. At first, we uploaded a couple of chapters and then we both got side tracked by life and we kind of forgot about it. When Calla—the writer—checked on it a couple of months later, it had blown up. We had a hundred thousand followers, over a million reads and a shitload of people demanding to know when the next chapters were coming. We’ve managed to do a couple of new chapters every second week since then and, the last I checked, we had one point three million followers and five million reads. And I know those figures mean nothing in real life, but… it’s something y’know? A bit of validation in a world where I usually receive none.”
“It’s not just something, Gideon, it’s pretty awesome.”
“I, uhm…” Gideon wanted to tell Beth his news. Even though nothing was official yet, right now he wanted her to know that maybe he could succeed at this after all. “A couple of weeks ago, we were approached by a massive publisher. They want to publish Quilla’s Quest. And more than that, they want to hire me—full time—as a concept artist. They want me to work with some of their most popular authors.”