Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62497 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62497 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
I tap the chair next to me.
“Sit, Jessica.” She does, without any hesitation. If she hung around Pops as much as I think she did, she knows who the fuck I am.
“I haven’t said a word. I got the first warning. Please don’t send another.” Jessica’s fingernails dig into the flesh of her thighs. A new song starts to play for the next performer, but she never moves her nervous gaze from me.
“You aren’t twenty-one. How did you get a job here?” I ask.
“Fake ID,” she whispers. “No one knows who I am here.” I sit back and look around. There is not one person who is concerned that she’s sitting here talking to me. “Please, don’t hurt anyone else I love,” she begs.
“Why would you think I was here for that?”
“Because last time you killed my father.”
“What were you doing at Pops’s?”
She fidgets with her hands. “My friend was seeing him.”
“And…”
“She was underage. He tried to get me as well, but I had a boyfriend.” She wipes a tear from her eye savagely. “Pops killed her. She threatened to tell people he was fucking her. I heard it all. He sent you and your brothers to kill my father as a warning to me.”
“Why didn’t he send us to kill you?” I ask. Because let’s be real, she’s who he probably wanted to kill.
“We had pictures of him and the governor…” She trails off. And I already know which ones she’s talking about. I’ve seen them.
“He thought you had them?” I ask, and she nods.
“I gave them to that detective, though I hear you killed him too.” She shrugs. “So is that why you’re here? To kill me as well?”
“No,” I reply as I stand and make my way to the exit. I hear her heels clicking behind me as she follows.
“Does that really mean no, or do you plan to be sitting in my room when I finish so you can kill me?” Jessica tries to whisper her words, but I hear them anyway. Turning around to face her, I lean down.
“If I were you, the minute I’m out those doors, I would get my shit, sneak out the back door, and never look back. Don’t leave any trace of you anywhere.”
Her eyes widen, but she nods in understanding and acknowledges my words.
Plus, why would I waste my time here when I have a little raven back in my hotel room?
Nine
Mayve
I grab my things from my hotel room.
Why, I don’t fucking know.
I’m going to blame the alcohol. It’s the only logical explanation I can think of right now. Pulling my duffle bag up my shoulder, I leave my room and head down to the registration desk, where I hand over the key card. They smile and take it. When I turn to leave, I’m stopped by Vanessa. One hand is on her hip while she stares at me with pursed lips and a look of cockiness all over her face.
“No husband?” she asks, looking around. “How much did you have to pay him to say that?”
“Goodnight,” I tell her, not even bothering to answer her questions.
“Oh, you think you can run off.” She blocks my path. “Where is your so-called husband? Nowhere, right.”
What is it with people doing that to me?
Do they all think I’m a pushover?
Okay, maybe I am.
But I don’t want to be.
I think.
“Mayve.” A hand slides along my lower back and hugs me around the waist. I feel him slide up next to me, and her eyes narrow at him. “Let’s go to bed. I want to fuck.”
Did he just say that?
I hope he’s joking, because I do not plan to fuck him at all.
My eyesight is even blurrier than normal thanks to the other two glasses of alcohol I consumed in his room before I returned. It may have taken me a good hour to walk here, as I was confused on where I was going, but I eventually found it. My bag was still packed in the room, as I didn’t get changed for dinner when I arrived. So I grabbed it, and now here I stand, my head slightly spinning, hoping it’s from the alcohol and not his touch.
“Let’s go.” He pulls me with him as he strides away from Vanessa. I flinch as his hand digs into my waist.
“I hate lying,” I mumble, and he chuckles.
“Okay. Well, you won’t have to.” He takes my bag from me, not missing a step. “I’m in a good mood right now.”
“Good mood, my ass,” I mumble.
“I heard that.”
I bite my lip at his teasing tone. When we step outside, the Strip is loud, people hustling up and down it, drunks trying to walk back to the hotel. Ha! That was me not long ago.
“Did you get lost?” he asks.
Did I say that out loud too?