Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
I sat down and looked at him. “You live in a mansion. Have a dozen vehicles in your underground garage. There’s a movie theater in your house. You’re high-profile, expensive. You might ride horses, but you are not a country boy.”
He tilted his head and shook it with an amused look on his face. “You don’t know that much about King, do you?”
What was that supposed to mean? I frowned at him, suddenly wondering what it was I didn’t know. I thought I knew him.
Sebastian rubbed his jaw for a minute, and I could see the indecision on his face. He was struggling with telling me things. But this was about King, and since I was having sex with him regularly and I’d fallen in love with him secretly, I kinda thought I should know the man.
“King has his own house. You know that, right?”
I nodded. Although I hadn’t been aware it was a house. I had imagined more of an apartment.
Sebastian let out a groan. “Listen, this isn’t my shit to share. But I will tell you that King grew up just like I did. Same kind of life. We are the same. More so than Wells or Wilder even.” He paused a moment, then grabbed the door like he was going to close it. “But for the record, King has a fucking Jaguar.”
I sat there, letting that sink in and trying to imagine it as Sebastian walked around the front of the truck. King had a house and a Jaguar? Really?
Once Sebastian got in the truck, I looked over at him. “How old is King?” I asked. Something else I realized I didn’t know. It hadn’t been important. I was so wrapped up in everything else that I didn’t take the time to really get to know him. Past what I’d already known.
“Thirty-five,” he replied.
“And you?” I asked.
He grinned. “Not that damn old,” he drawled, then added, “Twenty-eight.”
I’d known King was older than me, but I hadn’t realized he was eleven years older. Not that it mattered. What else did I not know?
“Where’s his house?”
Sebastian glanced at me, then back at the road. “About five miles from here. It’s on Salazar property. His father’s house is there, along with their stables.”
More stables?
We were already at Maeme’s, and Sebastian put the truck in park and turned back to me. “Any more questions before I take you inside?”
I realized I suddenly had several, but asking him instead of King felt like I was doing something wrong. These are things I should have asked King about. I bit my bottom lip to keep from blurting out another question and shook my head.
Sebastian chuckled. “You’re full of questions, but I respect the fact that you’re gonna wait and ask King the rest.”
I reached for the door handle and opened it. If I was going to wait, I had to get out of the truck.
“You’re handling the engagement well. I thought it would bother you more.”
I paused then and replayed what he’d just said in my head.
Engagement? What engagement? Whose engagement?
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath when I finally glanced back at him.
The way his brows were drawn together didn’t ease the slowly rising anxiety in my chest. Something wasn’t okay. I just didn’t want to reach out and grab the truth just yet.
“Look, I thought he’d told you. When he left Scotlin at his house and came here last night, I thought he was coming to tell you.”
Scotlin had stayed at his house? The house I hadn’t even known existed? A sick dread began to pool in my stomach.
“What … what do you mean?” I choked out as my hand tightened its grip on the door.
“It’s just a job.”
“What is just a job?” I demanded this time.
“The engagement. One of us had to do it, and King was the only one that made sense. With his and Scotlin’s history, it was believable.”
I just sat there, staring straight ahead. Out into the yard that was lit with little lights buried in the ground. Was I understanding him correctly? Was he telling me that King was engaged to Scotlin? For a job? What kind of job was that?
“I’m gonna be his damn punching bag for this,” Sebastian muttered.
“I … I need to go inside,” I managed to say and grabbed my bag before getting down out of the truck.
I had to get away from him, from everyone, and think this through. Take a moment. Revaluate everything I thought I had known. Again.
“Rumor,” Sebastian called out. “Wait!”
I did not wait. I kept walking. I had to get to that door. Get to the blue room and close myself away.
“Rumor, please,” he added.
I heard him jog up behind me.
I shook my head. “I got enough information for one night.”
“I thought you knew. I’m sorry. This isn’t something he wants to do. He has to. It’s to keep her safe. There is shit going down, and she has a stalker. That’s why he’s having to stay the night at his house with her now.”