Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
We arrived downstairs again in time for Sebastian to walk through the door. He wore a black tux without a bow tie, and his white dress shirt sported gold buttons. He’d popped his shirt collar and styled his hair in a “bed head” sort of look, and it stuck up all over the place. His watch gleamed with a great many diamonds, and his shoes had a mirror shine. He looked like a trust-fund bad boy.
A little smile crossed his face as he looked me over. “Gorgeous, Jessie,” he said. “Absolutely gorgeous. They’ll get a shock when you let loose the hardass.”
“I am aiming for decorum, thank you very much,” I told him, and really hoped I could stick the landing.
“Okay, quickly now.” Mr. Tom shooed us toward the door. “We’re running behind schedule. Miss, you need to check over your vehicle. Sebastian thinks Mr. Porsche, as Nessa calls him, will inquire about it. It’s best you know what he’s talking about.”
The guys all stepped to the sides to allow me to exit first, a show of gentlemanly respect that nearly had me tearing up again. Austin followed at my back, naturally protecting my six, until we got near the driveway. Then he fell away. “Fuck off.”
“What?” I asked, turning in confusion.
He’d stopped, now slightly leaning forward with his mouth hanging open, staring at the car in the driveway.
“How?” he said, having momentarily forgotten me. “How in the hell did you get a hold of one of those, Mr. Tom?”
Sebastian stopped beside me with a smug grin. “Sorry to interrupt such a romantic moment, Jessie, but I’m not gonna lie—I’m enjoying his reaction.”
A gorgeous car waited in the driveway, the paint a sort of copper yellow with brown overtones, unlike any color I’d ever seen on a car. The opulent design spoke of high fashion and the convertible top screamed fun in summer! Walking a little closer, I saw the hood badge.
“Oh wow, is that a Bentley?” I widened my eyes, looking through the window at the interior.
Sebastian opened the door for me so that I could sit in the plush leather interior.
“It is a Bentley Bacalar, to be precise,” Sebastian said as Austin circled the car with his phone out, snapping photos. “Turbocharged six-liter engine, six-fifty horsepower, and six-sixty-four pound-feet of torque.”
“The miss doesn’t care about any of that,” Mr. Tom said. “Miss, it has a handmade interior and an ultra-luxury feel and drive.” He put his hands behind his back and nodded. “I know how you like to be pampered. I thought this brand of car was a perfect fit for you. It’s not as pretentious as a Rolls-Royce. I mentioned that to Sebastian, and he thought of this model.”
“Weren’t there only a handful of these produced?” Austin asked, his hands now on his hips as he looked in at me.
“Twelve total units were produced,” Sebastian replied. “This model makes the limited production runs of other cars look plentiful. It’s truly a collector’s edition.”
“They were all bought, though, right? How did you get one?” Austin asked, taking a picture of me inside and then turning around to get a selfie with me in the background. “Who in their right mind agreed to part with it?”
Sebastian spread out his arms. “I must confess, it wasn’t the owner’s idea.”
I stepped out and leveled Sebastian with a look. “Tell me you didn’t kill someone or threaten their life to get this car.”
He put his hand to his heart. “I didn’t, I swear. I knew you wouldn’t accept it if I had. In fact, when I showed up on his doorstep, the only mage in the magical world to have tracked him down, I promised I wouldn’t kill him. At least until he crossed me again, which I have no doubt will happen so I wasn’t too put out by my promise.”
I narrowed my eyes, and Sebastian put up his hands.
“He’s a mage too, Jessie,” he said. “He’s screwed over most everyone in the magical world. I let him off easy. In order to save his own miserable life, all he had to do was sell the car. Honestly, the guy’s scum. He used blackmail to get the car in the first place. It’s not like he deserved the thing. We’ll make much better use of it, especially when we take it to a mage function and show it off. They’ll know you found the mage that they never could.” He took out his phone. “Speaking of which, I need to make sure the trail we uncovered is re-hidden. Otherwise our leverage will be ruined.”
Austin caught my mystified look. “It’s how things are done in his world, Jess,” he said softly. “I’d ignore the details.”
“You’re just saying that because you want to hold this car over Kingsley’s head.”
“In large part, yes.”
His boyish smile melted my heart, and I shook my head. “We can’t very well drive a collector’s edition all over the place.”