Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
“Then, no. I’m not afraid of you. I realize that no matter what I do or say, you’ll always believe I’m deceiving you.”
“Can you blame me? I mean, I’m not a great catch, Hope. I’m surly on the best of days. Mean and hateful on the worst. I’m also thirty years your senior. Not a great catch for a woman like you.”
“A woman like me? Homeless? Penniless? Friendless? No, Warlock. To me you represent strength, safety, and stability. A man my own age could never give me that. At least, none of the ones I’ve met could. I knew you had a son much older than me and that you were probably set in your ways and wouldn’t appreciate someone being thrust into your life. At first, I agreed to it because Mrs. Wagner asked me. I’d do anything for her, and she wanted me in your life. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted our marriage to be real. I wanted someone of my own to… I don’t know. Care about what happened to me. I wanted someone to miss me if something happened to me. To leave my mark on someone’s life. When I saw you --” Her voice hitched, as if she were trying to fight off tears again. Sure enough, one overflowed and tracked from each eye. She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Just let me know what I need to do when it comes time for the paperwork.”
She brushed past me and went back to the bedroom. She had her hand on the door, getting ready to leave. I knew I should let her go, but before I even knew I was going to do it, I barked out the word, “Stop!” Hope froze. “Don’t leave yet. You still haven’t answered my question. Do you want out of this marriage, Hope?”
“There’s no right answer to that question,” she said softly. “I think the better question would be do you want out? And I believe we both know the answer to that.” She left the room, closing the door behind her.
* * *
Hope
“A little higher. To the left.”
Jezebel guided me as I hung ornaments on the massive Christmas tree in the great room. It was the third time in as many days we’d gone through this same routine. On a different tree. In the same spot. Apparently, there was a mysterious Christmas bandit who made it his personal mission to ruin Christmas for everyone. The children were having an absolute ball with it. I couldn’t say I wasn’t having a great time, but I didn’t feel like I should be there.
“Hope? Have you seen Warlock?” Esther smiled as she approached me, Shotgun at her side with his arm around her shoulders. All the couples in Black Reign seemed so happy it made my heart hurt. I wanted that for myself. I’d thought maybe Warlock was starting to see me differently after our talk, but in the end, I’d realized he wasn’t looking for a reason to keep me. He was making me see how hopeless it was for me to pretend there was.
“I haven’t seen him in a couple of days.” I looked from Esther to Shotgun. “Do I need to go back to Indiana to receive the annulment paperwork?” I’d been dreading that news. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to Indiana alone.
Shotgun gave me a level look. “No, honey. Warlock hasn’t given me the go-ahead to file it yet. I was under the impression he wanted to discuss the situation with you.”
“We did. A week or so ago.”
“I see. Well. I’ll shoot him a text. Or have El Diablo do it.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. Warlock keeps to himself most of the time. It’s not unusual for him to disappear for a few days at a time.” Shotgun smiled at me. Esther gave her husband a worried look. Yeah. This wasn’t awkward at all.
I turned to hang the ornament in my hand on the tree. Then I stepped back to look at it. “I think it looks better today than it did yesterday.” I smiled at Jezebel. “The children made such beautiful ornaments.”
“They certainly did.” Jezebel stepped close, putting her arm around me.
“I don’t know how you guys do it. We’ve been at this all morning and you’re still going strong.”
“Christmas is the best!” El Diablo and Jezebel’s daughter, Dawn, threw her arms around her mother. The young teen was the darling of the club. From what I’d learned, the couple had adopted the girl after the first such Christmas party, organized by Jezebel. I found the club’s tradition so unique and charming I wanted to be part of it. But the reminder that Warlock wasn’t with me was enough to dampen my mood. After all, he was the only real tie I had to the people in Black Reign