Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“I’m sure you’ll have everything you’ve earned,” he says, just as there’s a knock on the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I have another appointment.”
I spin around and head for the door, opening it to find a girl who looks to be the same age as me. She looks frightened and completely out of place. She reminds me of how I probably looked when I came in here looking for financial salvation. Sometimes I wish I never stepped foot in this place, because at least my life wouldn’t be the chaos that it is now.
“Is…is this Lucian’s office?” she asks. I step off to the side and allow her to enter the lion’s den before leaving her alone with the lion. As much as I want to potentially save her from what she’s getting herself into, I have my own issues to attend to.
I exit the club feeling a little defeated and frustrated. Now what? I still have no money, which means I’m stuck here until it hits. It’ll suck to leave Tristan and Talon behind once again, but it’s probably for the best. They don’t need me in their lives making things more complicated for them, just as I don’t need them making things harder for me. The sooner I can move on with my life, the better.
The bus is closing its doors by the time I round the corner. “Wait!” I shout, knowing it’s in vain because the driver can’t hear me. I chase after it, hoping a passenger will alert the driver to stop, but no one does. All I can do is helplessly watch the bus drive further away. I groan out loud when I check the bus schedule and see the bus I just missed is the last one of the day.
“I swear the universe hates me,” I mumble.
For a split second, I consider calling Talon to come get me, but then he’d know that I lied about work. Instead, I just continue on to start the long trek to home. The sun beats down on my back and sweat beads up on my skin.
“Had I been paid, I’d have a car by now,” I mumble bitterly.
The longer I walk, the more I want to call Talon. I decide to make sure I’m far enough away from the club before I call so that he doesn’t know I just came from there.
“Hey!” someone calls out.
I turn to my left to see a car slowing down next to me, groaning inwardly when I see Tristan, of all people, staring back at me.
“Are you following me?” I ask accusingly.
“Get in,” he simply says with a grin.
I look around as I hesitate for a moment. He’s the last person I want to be alone in a car with right now. And the fact that he found me makes me wonder if he’s been following me. There’s no way he’s just coincidentally ended up in the same area of town as I’m in when I told them I was going to work.
After fighting with myself, I finally get into the passenger seat and pray I don’t regret this decision.
TRISTAN
The ride is silent for the most part. I don’t care to ask her where she’s coming from or the fact that she lied about going to work. I wouldn’t be surprised if she went to Purgatory for whatever reason, which threatens to make jealousy flare to life. What if she’s trying to make another deal with Lucian to sleep with someone else? Possession grows in my chest, which is foreign. She doesn’t belong to me, but it feels like it. Just the thought of someone else touching her is like a flame that lights the dangerous beast within me.
She sits as far as she can away from me, practically hanging onto the door as if she’s prepared to jump out at the next red light. I grin over at her.
“What? You think I’m going to bite you or something?” I ask after a while. “I’m actually kind of offended.”
She cuts her eyes at me and frowns. “I don’t know what you’re going to do. You’ve been nothing but a loose cannon since I met you.”
“You would be too if you had important things and people to protect.”
She scoffs softly and moves her gaze back to the window. “You never answered my question,” she says after a while.
“Which was?”
“Are you following me?” She raises an eyebrow as she waits for my answer.
My laugh fills the car, which only makes her frown deeper. “Are you so arrogant to think I don’t have better things to do than to follow you around?” I chuckle some more. “I’ve already fucked you; I don’t need to follow you around. I know where to find you when I want you.”
She scowls at me. “Do you have to be such an asshole?”