Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 64640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
The room is somewhat dark. Two waiters move through the crowd, and even they are people who are just getting started in this world.
They want to be like us.
They want our secrets.
They want to be me.
Someone clinks a glass, and the twenty or so people who are here move toward the table. I spot my brothers at the head of the table where I usually sit with them, but tonight I sit to the side next to Alaska. When my brothers see her, Kyson scowls, and Kenzo gives her a head nod.
“You brought a date?” Mario asks. He’s known for killing prostitutes—hired by the men who fucked them.
He’s a dick as well.
“So unlike you.” He turns to Alaska and offers his hand. She doesn’t take it, instead sitting down in the seat I pulled out for her—right next to Kyson, with me on her other side. He grumbles something under his breath, and it makes her laugh.
I love that fucking sound.
Almost as much as I love her.
THIRTY-TWO
Alaska
Zuko is tense tonight.
He’s always got an edgy feel about him, but not like this.
It’s like he doesn’t want to be here.
“We don’t bring dates,” Kyson grumbles.
“I could be your date too, if you want.” I wink at him.
“Like hell. You are a crazy bitch.” He shakes his head.
“Your ability to antagonize Kyson is my favorite of your traits, Alaska,” Kenzo interjects.
Food is placed down at the center of the long table for us to serve ourselves. Once the waiters are gone, the chatter around the table resumes.
“So it’s not my good looks? Or the way I make your brother stalk me without my permission?” I ask Kenzo with my head tilted to the side innocently.
Everyone has some type of mask on, but even with that, I feel a few eyes on me.
“Zuko.”
I turn back to the table to search for the person who called Zuko’s name. Zuko is facing the end of the table where a few men sit talking to each other in hushed tones.
“Yes?”
“Is she an offering?” one asks, nodding at me.
Zuko straightens next to me. “Excuse me?” he growls, a threat evident in his tone.
“Why else would you bring her here dressed like that? To not only tease but to give as well?”
“She is my date. Just as you are all welcome to bring one.”
“Pops is the only one stupid enough to bring a date,” one of the men says.
The room falls deadly silent.
“Yeah, Pops. Do you tell Zuko here what we do with your dates?” someone else adds.
My eyes fly up to the lady with Pops. She isn’t the same one from the boys’ birthday party. She looks down to her lap and says nothing. I glance over at Pops to see him watching Zuko.
“What do you do with them?” Zuko asks.
“They do what any of the men want,” Pops answers.
“You pay them?” Zuko questions.
Pops ghosts the back of his hand over her chest, and she visibly flinches.
“No, they do it for protection. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” He squeezes her shoulder.
“Seems she doesn’t want you touching her,” I can’t help blurting out.
If you dropped a pin right now, you would hear it.
That’s how silent the room is.
I glance back at the woman to see her staring at me with her eyes wide. I turn to Pops and see contempt written all over his face.
“I’d watch your words, whore, or you will end up just like her… Needing my protection.”
Zuko goes to stand, but I quickly place my hand on his thigh, halting him. Pops notices, and it seems to make him smile.
“I want that whore. I bet I can teach her a thing or two. One being how to speak to a man,” a balding asshole halfway down the table says as he leers at me.
Someone slams their fist on the table, and we all turn to see Kyson fuming. “Shut the fuck up, all of you. I want to eat already,” he bellows.
A few laugh at his outburst, and I let go of Zuko’s thigh and pick up my fork. I hear the other men still talking about me and how they plan to fuck me.
Zuko is as still as a statue.
When he stands, a few quiet, but they go back to talking as he steps behind his brothers and stands between them. He leans down to speak, and when I peek up, I see Pops glaring at me.
“So, what do you charge?” the man who was sitting on the other side of Zuko asks me. “I can afford it. You seem like expensive pussy.”
“You kill prostitutes,” Kyson mumbles, and I straighten at his words.
“So? She seems like the expensive type, and I only kill the trashy ones…” he pauses before he adds with a sinister smile, “sometimes.” He pulls away as someone else says something I don’t quite hear, but Zuko seems to have. He moves in a flash, pulling the mask from his face and stalking toward the men at the end of the table. I push my seat back and stop him.