Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“There you are.” Than’s friendly tone was a massive relief.
Turning, I saw him walking up from the left side of the house. The orange glow of the cigarette in his mouth surprised me. He took a long pull from it, then walked over and put it out in an ashtray.
“I was thinking I might have to come get you.”
I looked from the ashtray back to Than. “You smoke?”
He looked sheepish as he shrugged. “Takes the edge off.”
“I’ve never seen you smoke,” I said.
His gaze dropped to my stomach. “We all smoke something, little momma. But in the house, Bane banned it the day you moved in. Everyone gets why.”
Something else about Bane I hadn’t known. He smelled like smoke, but it was more of an oak scent. Not nicotine.
“Bane smokes too?”
He nodded. “Yep, but his high-maintenance ass smokes cigars. He’s never been one to enjoy a Camel.”
Oh, that explained the smell. I hadn’t pictured Bane smoking a cigar.
“You want something to drink? Shirley Temple?” he asked with a teasing grin.
I laughed. “That actually sounds good.”
“Then, let’s get you one,” he told me, then touched the middle of my back as he led me down the steps on the patio until we were on the split brick path that led to the pool area. “We hire a bartender for nights like tonight.”
My gaze slowly made its way over the people. I recognized Oz, who was sitting on a chair with a drink in his hand, talking to a guy I didn’t know. A topless female, with blonde hair in one long braid lying over her left shoulder, walked over to him, and he moved his drink as she sat down on his right leg. Quickly, I shifted my eyes elsewhere.
An older man with dark blond hair, which was long enough that he had it pulled back in a messy almost-bun slash ponytail, tanned skin, a short beard, and more tattoos on his arms than Bane was watching me. He said something, but his eyes stayed locked on me. Feeling self-conscious, I flicked my gaze to see who was beside him. It was a younger guy with blond hair, cut in a surfer-boy style that looked unbrushed yet fell perfectly into place, all at the same time. He met my gaze, then looked at Than before turning his attention back to the man beside him.
“That’s Luther Levine. He’s Linc’s second.” He paused. “I guess the best way to describe his duties is, he’s the head enforcer. If it’s a dangerous job, then it’s Luther and Bane who go in first. The rest are just backup.”
He had to be talking about the older guy. I didn’t think they’d send the surfer boy into a dangerous situation. Bane—I could understand that completely.
“And the one beside him—who keeps looking this way and trying not to be curious, although he so fucking is—is Gathe Bowen. Crosby, Gathe, me, and, uh …” He paused.
I glanced up at him, curious as to what he was going to say before he changed his mind.
The smile he gave me looked like he was apologetic or pained. I couldn’t tell which.
“And Saylor,” he added. “We are all around the same age. Growing up in this life together, we were close.”
Were. Past tense. As in not anymore. Did that mean because Crosby was dead or because of me?
Than stopped at the bar that was lit up with neon lights. I listened to him order as I looked around the rest of the pool. The moment my eyes found Bane, I tensed. He was grinning. As in he had an actual smile on his face as he looked at the blonde on his left while the brunette on his right pressed her naked breasts against his arm and kissed his shoulder. Two. He had two girls.
“Here you go,” Than said, and I turned my focus back to him as he held out my drink to me. “I had him add extra cherries. If you don’t like them, I do.”
I gave him a tight smile, which was difficult. “Thanks,” I replied with the image of Bane and two topless women draped on either side of him burned into my brain.
It wasn’t that I cared. I was just surprised. That was all. He’d been with the office manager at the stables, and now, these two. He sure got around.
Okay, fine. For some odd reason, it bothered me. My chest felt funny and tight. It was just because I was being reminded that Crosby had lived this life too. That, while I thought he loved me, he was living in this world. He probably had topless women pressed against his arms …
No, wait. He’d had a fiancée. Saylor would have been here.
“Not to your liking? Too much grenadine?” Than asked me.
I lifted my eyes from my drink to his concerned expression. I hadn’t even tasted it. “No, it’s fine.” Or I was sure it would be.