Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Our legs slide against each other and we both let the day, and recent conflict, drift away.
“This is nice.”
Nova nods, smiling. “A temple to bubbles.”
I want to leave the negativity behind, but I have trouble doing that until I say things out loud. “I’m sorry about the conversation. It was inappropriate. I’m here for you. And Veda, of course. I’m not going back until I spend some time with her.”
Nova stares at me for a moment, saying nothing.
“What? What are you thinking about?”
“I have so many more inappropriate things to say.”
“Now?”
She shakes her head. “No. Not now.” Then she closes her eyes and leans her head back.
“I’d like to say more appropriate things then.”
One eyeball appears. “Would you?”
“Yep.”
“Are you waiting for permission?”
“Yes.”
She giggles. “Granted.”
“I love you. I know you think you know that, but I need to say it. Because you’ve only ever had half the story.” I put up a hand before she can speak, because I know what she’s going to say. “I know. It’s my fault. I’m a vault. That’s why I’m telling you this. I love you, Nova. I’m not going anywhere.”
She sits up, kinda swims over to me, then positions herself between my legs, her back resting against my chest. “I know. I think I will say something more appropriate as well. I love you back, Locke. And this love is the most unexpected thing in my life. Loving you, or realizing that I love you, took me by surprise. And without saying anything else, about anyone else, I will say this.” She turns her body to side-eye me. “I’m not going anywhere, either. And that’s why, this time, we will work this out.”
I wrap my arms around her and we pray at the feet of bathtubs until the water goes cold. And then we get out, dry each other off, and slip into her brand-new bed.
I have always called him Mercer. Hell, even his governess called him Mercer. He grew out of that kind of hovering attention when he was nine and I was there for that. This is how long we’ve been friends.
Our mansions were next door to each other, but they were not close. His family estate is seventy-five acres and mine is two hundred and fifty. So it was a walk to get next door. There was a field, a bridge over a river, and woods.
Typically, we met in the woods. There was a fort out there. And when I say fort, I mean an actual fucking two-hundred-year-old fort or whatever. Most of it was crumbling, but there were several cabins still standing. This is where all the neighborhood kids hung out and it was on my estate. The girls would show up on ponies, then later horses. The boys on dirt bikes or ATV’s.
It was like The Little fucking Rascals: Billionaire Edition.
Everyone went by surnames so this was not what set Mercer apart. He’s just different. And again, we were all different. But him more so.
We all knew about the island. Our parents were Institutionalists. And we all knew we’d end up there at some point, working on some project or another. But almost no one on the inside like us stays for long.
It’s not intriguing to us the way it is for the recruits. And it’s confining.
That’s the one thing we always lamented about when we were young. How we complained about our future limitations on the island back then. A whole freaking year of our lives. And once you’re there, you’re there for the duration. There are no trips to the mainland. They don’t put the same restrictions on the recruits. It’s a red flag for most outside people. But for us, it was just the rule.
One year.
That was our mantra.
One year.
Then we were free to do whatever we wanted.
Even though all the kids from the fort were about the same age, Mercer was the only one I ever saw on the island. He went early, and he was never leaving.
I went to visit him once. I’m smart. Smarter than most. But I’m no prodigy the way he is. So it took me five years to get the PhD and it only took him four. No visitors the first year. But when he didn’t show up at the marina on the mainland the day after he was set free, I went out there and found him.
“I’m staying.” He said it just like that. And up until that point, it really hadn’t even occurred to me that this was an option. Of course, I knew it was an option, it just felt like something no one did.
Until Mercer.
Then everything changed. Not between us. We’re never going to change. But my outlook changed. My perspective on the future changed. And when he told me about his project, I was equally enthralled.