Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I handed him a spoon.
“Wow.” He moaned around his bite. “Tastes even better. Incredible. You did all that with some butter, spinach, and a box of pasta that’s been in there for a year.”
“Easy too, right? To quote an eccentric man, cooking is the only time in your life you can do everything right and it turns out exactly the way you expect. No surprises,” I repeated. “Wasn’t until he said that, I realized it’s what I love about cooking. Follow a few instructions on a screen, and you’ve got something delicious in half an hour. If only life came with a recipe book.”
“You wouldn’t say the unpredictability gives it meaning?”
“What do you mean?”
Folding his arms, he leaned against the island. “We all think we want our lives to go according to this set plan, but it wasn’t until the life I knew blew up, that I took a real look at where I was headed. Did I want it or was it what I thought I should want? You can also follow every step in a recipe... and hate what you end up with.”
“Hmm. I thought I was the one being depressing today.”
He flashed me the tiniest grin. “What I mean is, it’s fortunate that we don’t always get what we hope, because most of us hope too small. Your future has shrunk in your eyes, Luna. You don’t think you deserve to be happy, so you’re not dreaming of a future where you are. This hasn’t been said before, but whatever it is you have planned for your future right now, I hope you don’t get it.”
If there was something to say in response to that, I didn’t know it. Mostly because I couldn’t deny a word. My current goal was to move ahead with a wedding to a man who hates me, so I could stay in a university I hated even more and avenge my sister. There was nothing but a black hole at the end of that goal.
I didn’t know what would happen after I made all of Winter’s killers pay. On my best day, I couldn’t even summon the energy to care.
Breaking his gaze, I reached for my bowl but Adonis got there first. He picked both ours up and carried it into the living room. Pausing, I pushed away what he said and reclaimed the content mood we settled into while cooking.
I followed him out and snuggled on his couch, holding back a moan of my own as his cushions snuggled me back.
Don’t get me wrong, Wilson Manor was beautiful inside and out. But so many pieces of furniture were chosen by how they’d look in a showroom, instead of comfort or function. Adonis’s home by the beach was the opposite in every way.
I loved it.
Wonder if Victor would move into a place like this after we’re married.
He won’t, but he’ll happily pack my bags and send me off to a place like this alone, another voice said. At this rate, we’ll have separate honeymoons, homes, and bank accounts to go with the separate lives.
“Adonis, can I ask you something?”
He paused dipping his spoon in the bowl. “I feel like I should say no.”
“Why?”
“People don’t ask for permission to voice a harmless question.”
My grip tightened on my bowl. “It’s not harmless, but it’s not inappropriate either. I need help to figure out how I got here, and at every step I hit a dead end. Please,” I said, dropping my gaze. “It’s for Winter.”
He didn’t hesitate. “Ask me.”
“Have...?” I sucked in a breath and released it slow. My stolen afternoon reprieve was over. I couldn’t be the girl eating creamy pasta with sand between my toes for long. “Have you ever heard of T.O.D. Club? Truth or dare?”
His face changed.
“Someone told me the reason the bullying against Winter got so out of control is because that club was egging on her tormentors. Giving—” I forced the rest out. “Prizes to the guys who hurt her worse.”
“Fucking hell.” He dropped back, scrubbing his face. “What the fuck is wrong with people?”
“I’ll ask myself that for a long time.” I stared into my bowl, remembering the first time I made creamy spinach macaroni for Winter. “I want to find this club, Adonis. All the members who participated in killing my sister. But I don’t know where to start. I haven’t heard a whisper about it on campus.”
“You shouldn’t have heard a whisper,” he said, blowing out a breath. “T.O.D. Club is supposed to be dead.”
My spine straightened. “Dead?”
“Long dead,” he stressed. “It started back in the seventies when my father went to Regalia University. He told me about it— No, he warned me before I joined his old frat as a legacy. He said if this generation hadn’t learned better and was still pulling the same shit, get out of there. He didn’t raise a son to disrespect women that way.”