Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Clear,” Danny called from the doorway to the house.
Ambrose and Chance thrust their doors open and climbed out of the car. I sat for a moment, wondering if I should just stay where I was. I didn’t want to go into some strange house with them. I didn’t want to be dealing with any of the shit we’d been slogging through since the day Zeke approached Charlie at an outdoor café and our lives were upended.
We’d been saving for years to take the year-long trip through Europe. We’d never had enough money when we were kids to take any kind of vacation, and we’d promised each other in middle school that someday we’d leave it all behind and see everything that we wanted to. Architecture and artwork and parks and gardens and restaurants and shopping centers and canals and beaches—the world was our oyster, and we’d finally had to opportunity to reach for it all. Then everything had imploded.
“Come on,” Ambrose ordered, throwing open my door.
“Where are we?” I demanded as I followed him into the house, clutching my bag. What the hell had they done with my baseball bat?
“A friend’s place,” he replied easily.
“A friend. Right,” I shot back sarcastically. “A friend who just gives you the remote to his garage door”—I looked around the house—“and isn’t even here.”
“Where is Charlie?” Chance barked, glaring at me.
“Fuck you,” I enunciated slowly.
Chance looked at Ambrose like he would help. When Ambrose said nothing, Chance’s glare moved back to me.
“We’re not fucking around here,” he snapped. “We need to get your brother somewhere safe yesterday.”
“Forgive me for not putting a lot of stock in your promises of protection,” I scoffed, waving him off like an annoying fly. “Considering your brother is the entire reason I’m not sunbathing topless in France right now.”
“Don’t you—” Chance began to round the kitchen island separating us, but stopped instantly when Ambrose lifted his hand.
“Enough,” he said quietly. He looked at me. “How about you go pick a bedroom. The primary at the end of the hall has a connected bathroom.”
“Fine,” I replied, moving in that direction.
“We don’t have time for this,” Danny said as I left the kitchen. “We need to get back—”
I reached the bedroom and slammed the door behind me.
Taking a deep breath, I dropped onto the end of the bed and set my bag between my feet. The sun shone through the blinds of the simple room. There was no dresser, just a bed and two nightstands with small lamps. The door to what I imagined was the bathroom was closed, but the one to the walk-in closet was open and empty. There wasn’t even a random pair of shoes left inside.
Where the fuck were we? No one lived here. The place was clean and tidy, but there was no sign that anyone had been here in a long time, despite the lack of dust.
Jesus, Charlie had really fucked us when he fell in love with Zeke. My poor, heartsick brother.
Carrying my bag with me, I walked into the massive bathroom and closed the door behind me. A little window above the shower filtered in enough light that I didn’t even have to turn on the vanity lights, but I did anyway. Might as well waste a little electricity since I’d basically been kidnapped. I grimaced at my reflection in the large mirror behind the sinks. My hair was a mess, falling out of my ponytail and hanging around my face. My eyes had dark circles beneath them, with good reason. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a full night of sleep. My clothes were wrinkled past the point of worn and straddling the line of slept in. I looked like shit.
I told myself it didn’t matter as I tidied my hair and changed my shirt into a slightly less wrinkled one from my bag, but somewhere inside, it did. These were Zeke’s brothers, and even though my resentment was so strong I could practically taste it, I’d still loved my brother-in-law. It was impossible not to after I’d seen the way he treated Charlie. The way he’d looked at him. The way he’d spoken to him.
Clearing my throat, I pulled out my toothbrush and toothpaste and got to work. There was no reason to think about Zeke. Not yet. Not until I had a little more time to really sit in it and mourn the life my brother could’ve had, and now never would.
When I finally came out of the bathroom, Ambrose was sitting on the bed, waiting.
“I thought you said I could pick my room,” I greeted as I set down my bag. “I didn’t hear you knock.”
Dear God, he was incredible to look at. I couldn’t really accept how attractive he was. I’d been around other Vampires—Zeke and his cousin—and I’d noticed that they were both good-looking, but they weren’t even in the same league as Zeke’s eldest brother.