Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
“I like Anne,” she said, drawing his attention to her.
She was staring at one of the pictures Anne kept with her. It was one of his brother and himself, along with his other brother.
“Who is that?” she asked, pointing at the guy in the middle.
“He’s one of my older brothers. He’s been dead a few years.”
He didn’t speak his name as it was a wasted effort as far as he was concerned.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be. He was a fucking asshole that would have easily shot you in the back. He wasn’t a good man.”
“Wow.” She tucked some hair behind her ear. “Do you think people ever really live normal lives?”
“Yeah, but I bet they’re boring.”
He cut the sandwich in half and offered her one. She took it as he bit into his half, watching her.
Her cheeks were on fire, and he noticed she kept turning her body away from him.
“Look at me,” he said. She did as he asked, and her cheeks were a beautiful shade of red. “I like looking at you.” He stared down the length of her body, admiring her rounded hips and stomach. Her thighs were nice and juicy as well.
He liked that she was all his.
Finishing off his sandwich, he waited for her. “Another?”
“Yes, please.”
“You don’t talk a lot, do you?” he asked.
She chuckled. “I thought men didn’t like to hear women talk.”
“I guess some guys don’t. I want you to talk to me. Tell me about your day.”
“I’ve not got a lot to tell, to be honest. I’m either in the garden or the library. My studies are going slowly. I forgot how hard it was to learn. Hope is an amazing tutor though. She seems to know everything.”
He smiled. “My brother would like any compliment about his woman.”
This brought a smile to her, and he liked staring at her.
“She’s really nice.”
“I know. It’s one of the many things that my brother adores about her. What about you? What do you hope to be?” he asked, curious about her.
“What do you mean? Like when I grow up?”
“Pretty much.”
“I don’t really know. I always kind of thought I’d get a job, work my way up, have a stable apartment or something like that.”
“A man? Kids?”
She scrunched up her nose. “Not really. The only real example of a male figure was my dad, and he sucked at it big time. I didn’t want that kind of life for myself. I didn’t really think much else after that, I’m afraid. I know, I’m such a bore.”
This made him smile. “You’re not a bore.”
“I don’t know. When you’re worried about men coming to beat you up because your father couldn’t pay or to run you down it takes something out of life.” She pointed at her scar, and it made him want to kill the fuckers.
“What happened about that?”
“About what?”
“The people who did your scar?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Not a lot. One moment I was in the hospital, and then Dad came to pick me up, and we were suddenly moving. I don’t know. It hurt like hell.”
“I bet.”
He cut their next sandwich in half and offered her one half while taking the other for himself.
“Did you always want to be part of this world? Being a crime lord, drug lord, I don’t know.”
“I’m a Carson. I’m an everything kind of guy. I’m my brother’s right-hand man, and I make sure I get the job done.”
“But growing up? Did you want to do anything else?”
He stared at her for the longest time. “I never wanted to do anything else because it was never an option for me. It was always this life. Our father made sure that we were trained at a young age.” They’d all been beaten and forced to learn how to hold and shoot a gun, handle a knife, and to kill someone.
“There’s something there though,” she said. “You wanted to do something.”
“I do what I want to do.”
She frowned.
“I like to spend some time every single year where I get away from it all. No cell phones, no luxury, I just hike, take in the sights, and get back to nature.”
“Really?”
“Yep. It’s what I do every single year around October. It’s just a little colder, which means I don’t bump into people.”
“That sounds … amazing.”
“You think so?” he asked, shocked.
“Well, yeah. I can’t for a second imagine that. I bet it’s so relaxing.”
“It is. No one around you for miles. A few years ago, I visited a lake, and I can’t even remember which one. I tend to just start walking. I was so quiet, just sitting, looking around me, and I watched a family of deer come to the lake and drink the water. It was so cold, and they were so beautiful, you know.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, it was amazing. Moments like that make me realize how small we are in the real world. No one can ever take that away from us. Then of course I get home. Back to reality where I have to kill people and shit.”