Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
There it was: her stomach doing that damn flip shit again.
“I suppose that would be okay.”
“You suppose, huh?” He laughed lazily. “Okay, great.” He leaned in, kissed her cheek, then got up. “I’m about to take a shower. Finish eating, then join me. I’ll get the water warm for you…”
And with that, he disappeared behind the frosted bathroom door…
CHAPTER TWELVE
Flowers in the Attic and a Fist Necklace
“You’ve done well for yourself. I’m proud of you, Len.” Roman slapped his cousin Lennox on the back as he finished his tour of the remodeled fitness studio. Lennox and his wife, Nadia, had worked their butts off to get the place in tip-top shape. It was big, a state-of-the-art gym, and currently full of members.
“Thanks. I’ve put everything into this place.” Pride was written all across Lennox’s face. “Nadia is almost finished with law school, and we wanna start a family soon, so yeah, I have a lot to be thankful for.” Lennox said a few words to a guy who was working at the smoothie bar. Meanwhile, Roman checked out all of the trappings: an ice machine, sliced fresh fruit in containers inside a see-through refrigerator, and wicker bowls full of pineapples, apples, bananas, and more.
“You want somethin’ to drink? My favorite is the banana, avocado, spinach, and strawberry smoothie. You want one? Mixed berry is my second favorite.”
“Either is fine.” Roman crossed his arms, not feeling particularly picky about the matter. He’d come over on his lunch break and could use a snack to tide him over.
“Make him the B.A.S.S.” Less than a minute later, their small talk was interrupted by the employee handing Lennox the beverage to turn over to Roman. He tasted it.
“Mmm. This is good. Not bad at all.” He smacked his lips.
“Yeah, it’s incredible. Let’s step into my office.” Roman followed Lennox past a bunch of no neck bastards raising barbells over their sweaty heads to the tune of AC/DC’s, ‘Back in Black.’ Good song. When the office door closed, he could hear the music go up almost immediately. Lennox laughed as he slumped in his leather office chair. “Soon as the boss goes away, the boys will play.”
Roman sat across from him. “Feels good to be a boss, doesn’t it?”
“Feels fucking fantastic.” Lennox picked up an enormous blue plastic water bottle that was sitting on his desk and chugged it. “So, fill me in, man.”
Roman placed his smoothie on Lennox’s desk, slipped a gold cigar holder from the inside pocket of his black suit jacket, and pulled out two. Lighting them, he then handed one to his cousin. Lennox dug around in his trash, pulled out a partially crushed soda can, and set it on his desk to serve as an ashtray. Their communal smoke filled the room as each man puffed away like a dragon… Twin flames.
Roman got started and slowed once he arrived at the grand finale of the tale.
“…And that same day that he had those motherfuckers abduct us, bring us to his house and hand us those agreements is the same day that those sons of bitches were in my house, figuring out the combination to my safe. Do you know how skilled you have to be to get into my safe?”
“Well, I’m sure it’s a complicated combination and—”
“I have it set up so that it requires three codes just to get the first door open.” He held up three fingers, wanting this point to be perfectly clear. “Then there’s a second door in the safe that requires two codes that have to be entered within twelve seconds, or it reverts, starting over. If you push in the wrong code twice, it locks up for six hours. If you fuck it up again, it locks up for forty-eight hours. If you mess it up a third time, you’re shit out of luck. You can’t use magnets or any of these fancy gadgets that crooks use to bypass all of that. Grandpa must’ve got someone that spent their whole damn life perfecting this, because he was ready in advance for my ass.” He tsked mirthlessly as ‘Sandman,’ by Metallica played in the background.
“Okay, so what was in the book?”
They hooked gazes through the gray haze as the music thumped within his veins.
Roman leaned back in the chair, dabbed his cigar ashes in the crushed energy drink can sitting near his smoothie. He massaged his temples, and decided to go ahead and spill the complete pot of beans. “My plan for world domination…”
“Come on, Roman! I’m serious.”
“And so am I. It was my world that I was tryna get control of.” Lennox shot him a perplexed look. “I know how to count cards… I did it in a casino in Vegas.”
“Okay, that’s not surprisin’ since it’s you that we’re talking about, and counting cards is frowned upon, but not illegal.”