Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 114936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“Hey!” I grip the edge of the sheet and watch as Keaton makes his way toward me, his chest glistening with sweat. “Gym?”
He leans down and grabs me on the ass cheek through the sheet and I wince from the bruising, but smile up at him as I kiss him on the lips. “Yeah.”
“What, I didn’t fuck it all out of you last night?” I bat my lashes up at him innocently as he pours coffee into a mug and drops a scoop of protein powder and milk into it.
“No, you did… but they came back this morning.” His eyes darken from looking at me behind his mug, and I hold down my smirk. I wonder if he’s ever going to admit to me what he does.
Probably not.
I often wonder if I would tolerate it if it was from another man, say a civilian, not in Kiznitch.
The answer is always no.
Always never.
I wish I could say why I accept it from Keaton but I wouldn’t from other men. It probably has a lot to do with it’s just a Keaton thing, but I’d be lying. It’s a Kiznitch thing.
I place my OJ onto the counter again and reach behind his neck, wrapping my arms around him and leaning up on my tippy toes. “Can you stop being such an asshole to Jordan and Chris, please?” Distraction is the Band-Aid to pain.
He chuckles, but it’s not deep enough to warrant anything further. His rigid jaw tenses slightly before he rests his forehead on mine. “Yeah, sure thing. Since I now understand how much they do want to keep you safe.”
“They do that for me on a daily, Keaton.”
“Yeah.” Keaton turns and empties his coffee down the sink. “I am well aware of what your side boys do, Cartier.”
“Oh really?” I ask, half-joking. “And how do you know?”
He turns back to me and looks me dead in the eye. “Because I fucked Delila enough times to meet hers.”
“What?” I pull back from him, but he grabs me by the chin with his finger and thumb.
“Don’t do that, Cartier. You know I’ve fucked people.”
“Yeah…” My shoulders deflate. “But I wasn’t expecting you to say her.”
He shrugs, grabbing me behind the thighs and lifting me onto the counter. He spreads them wide and flicks the sheet off my body. “It was her only when it wasn’t Draya.”
“What?”
I haven’t thought much about what Keaton said last night, but the ‘him losing me’ thing has been playing on repeat in my head. I figure it’s just Keaton being Keaton, but as we wait for the rest of The Brothers in the smaller private jet, I can’t help but replay the words over and over like a shitty song that’s too catchy to forget. Turning to face him, I remove an AirPod and search his side profile. The sharp line of his jaw and deep indents of his cheekbones. He has the perfect pointed nose too, and soft lips that curl around the edges. His dark hair only slightly falls over his forehead, touching his olive skin.
“Why did you keep saying that you were going to lose me last night?”
His eyes open lazily and he turns his head toward me, looking between my eyes and my mouth. It pains me when he does that because it’s as though he’s trying to think of what not to say when he knows he can tell me anything and it won’t change how I feel about him.
“Because it’s inevitable, Tigger.”
I shake my head slowly, brushing my lips against his just enough to catch the breath that he breathes out. “No, it’s not, because you could tell me that you do the worst thing in the world and I’d still love you.”
His lips widen slightly as a hiss leaves him. “Don’t say that shit to me, Cartier.” He turns away from me, hiking his foot up onto the table in front of us.
“Why?” I don’t mean it to come out as loud as it does.
“Because you don’t know the half of what I do.”
“I’m pretty sure I do, Keaton…” I deadpan, reaching for the safety card on the table.
“Pretty sure you don’t, Cartier…” he mimics my tone, and I feel anger bubbling through me.
I open my mouth. “What? That you fucking kill people?”
His eyes shoot around the plane before landing back on me. “Shut the fuck up, Cartier. You and your big fucking mouth.”
I widen my eyes at him. “Well, it’s true.”
“Yeah, I’ve never hidden from you what I do for Kiznitch. If the recruits don’t comply, their family gets wiped out. Period. So what?”
I wait for a few seconds, memorizing the way his lashes fan out over his cheeks every time he blinks. The way his muscles on his face are relaxed and his shoulders are slightly hunched over. Flicking my tongue over the curve of my tooth, I nod. “Right, well, that and the fact that you kill for pleasure, therapy, and fun too…”