Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Sunny lifted my thighs, his grip loose for the jets and bubbles to carry me. Turned out we would experience a new position. This was my first time having sex while floating.
He started pumping—hard, fast, and literally wet. I locked my elbows, pushing back on each thrust, driving him deeper. Moans, grunts, cries, and sloshing water became our soundtrack, and when I finally came, I brought him with me—the two of us tipping off the edge.
Sunny gathered me in his arms, my back to him as he nibbled on my ear, holding me as I came down.
“I’m really glad you crashed on my tent, Sole.”
“It was meant to be. On the worst day of your life, that’s when angels appear.”
“AH, BACK AGAIN SO SOON?”
I sashayed over the threshold, twirling on the welcome mat. Isla clapped.
“Gorgeous, darling. Satin bubble skirt dress with Peter Pan collar. Came out even better than I knew it would. Good thing too. I won’t have to throw you out this time.”
“I’ve come to fill your coffers, Isla. I told you this was the start of a long and beautiful relationship.”
She laughed. “What can I get you?”
“A few friends of mine need new coats, jackets, and sweaters for the winter,” I said, thinking of River’s crew. “Warmth and function over style.”
“Love, you know better. One need never be sacrificed for the other.”
I inclined my head. “True. It’s a big job, so I’ll take half your stock of faux leather, fleece, and wool.”
“Seems you were right. This is the start of a long, beautiful friendship.”
While Isla rang up the fabric, Sienna and I looked through her collection of buttons, snaps, zippers, and thread. She knew nothing about designing. Didn’t mean she couldn’t pick what she liked and reject what she didn’t.
Not enough for seventy-five jackets. Coates and Wexler are waiting outside. Our next stop is North Quay to pick up more from my usual places.
My phone went off in my purse.
“Hello?”
“Kenzie, it’s me. Where are you?”
“River?” I glanced at Isla and crossed the room, moving out of distance. “Did you find Grant?”
“I did. You were right that he was hiding out in Rockchapel, and correct that he didn’t change professions. Had my people ask around about a new loan shark and they came up with the name Amos Jefferson. I tracked him down myself. Jefferson is Grant.”
“Cute,” I said. “Changing it to another president’s name. I heard that disguises are useless because one way or another, we turn them into self-portraits.”
“Interesting thought with some truth behind it, but we’ll save the human behavior debate for later. Where are you?” Urgency laced the question. “You need to get to Banana Tree Café now. I’ve got a phone, but it’s ancient. No camera. You have to come out here and see for yourself.”
“Okay, I’ll call Sunny—”
“No. Just you.”
“Why? If this is about Grant, Sunny needs to know. He agreed to give you the diamonds, River, you can’t cut him out.”
“I hope you’re arguing with me on the way to the car. Sunny can’t know until there’s something to know. Only you can tell me if there is. Trust me, Kenzie.”
I hesitated for no more than a second. River lied and hid things from me all the time, but never after he included “trust me” in the sentence. He asked for trust when I could depend on it.
“All right, I’m on my way.” I hung up. “Isla, you have the card on file. Charge it and ship the orders, please. I have to go.”
“Bye, darling.”
“What’s up?” my sister asked.
“We have to get to Rockchapel. River has something I need to see.”
Coates and Wexler were ever-alert silent figures in the front seat. I climbed in, asking them to head to Banana Tree.
Leighbridge and Rockchapel were on opposite ends of Cinco City, and may as well have been on different planets. The designer stores, sports cars, stretching skyscrapers, and champagne problems were replaced by mom-and-pop corner stores, bars on the windows, packed buses, and whiskey problems.
I lived in North Quay my whole life, and that was the only borough I knew. Leighbridge was too rich for a middle-class girl like me. Harlow was too dangerous. Rockchapel lacked the interests of a girl who liked fashion, music, and picnics in the park. Waterford was where the older couples and retirees spent their nest egg.
In the short time since I moved in with Sunny, I accepted I knew even less about my city than I thought I did. The Merchants controlled the fates of almost everyone, and I thought of them as a children’s bogeyman story. A battle raged behind the scenes for the control of the criminal world, and the only battle I knew was with a self-entitled rich girl who couldn’t stand to be beaten.
“Can you do what it takes to be the monster that monsters are afraid of?”