Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
She marches back into the kitchen for more food, and the rest of us look at each other in complete silent awkwardness.
“We have a cook, but she prefers to poison us with her home cooking when we have guests,” Xavier whispers to me.
“Xavier!” Dylan hisses at him to shut him up.
“You have such pretty hair,” Melody says out of nowhere.
I forgot she was seated next to me.
“What?” I mutter, confused.
She grabs a strand of my hair and plays with it. “Did you paint this?”
“I have poliosis,” I reply. “But I bleached the rest so it matched.”
“Nice. I dig it.” She smiles. “You should pose for me sometime.”
“Pose for what?”
“She does paintings,” Aspen whispers. “Sometimes she finds new muses and latches onto them. Doesn’t bode well for people if they say no, so just go with it.”
“Oh … yeah, of course,” I tell Melody.
“Really?” Her eyes begin to glisten, and now I’m beginning to wonder what I’ve gotten myself into.
“Here’s the refried beans and the rice,” Aspen’s mom says as she puts more plates on the table. “And some veggies of course. Can’t forget those.”
“Hmm … delicious,” Xavier says sarcastically.
“I call dibs on the toilet after dinner,” Silas says.
“Silas!” her mom growls. “Can you not?”
“What?” Silas shrugs. “We’re all thinking it.”
Her mom snatches his plate and throws on not one but three spoons of chili along with some rice and veggies and drops his plate back in front of his nose. “Here. Enjoy your bathroom break later.”
Silas just stares at her with a blank stare, and it makes me snigger.
“What’s so funny?” he barks.
“Don’t start a fight with our guest,” Felix barks back. “He’s a friend.”
“For now,” Silas growls, stabbing his food with the fork.
“Don’t you dare, Silas,” Aspen says, pointing her fork at him. “I know what you do. Stop it.”
“What? Who says he can be trusted?” Silas quips. “For all we know, those Torres fuckers planted him in our family as a spy.”
“Silas!” Penelope barks as she fills up my plate, then hands it to me.
“Don’t mention that name at this table,” Dylan hisses at him.
“Can we eat now? I’m famished,” Alistair mutters, but he can’t get over the ruckus at the table.
“What does Levi have to do with any of this?” Aspen says.
Oh shit.
Her mother’s face has darkened in a way that I have never witnessed before, and it’s kind of reminiscent of when Aspen tried to light the Phantom Society on fire.
Now I get where she gets her spark.
“That motherfucker better not be anywhere near you, Aspen,” she says, her hand tightening around her own fork. “You know as well as I do the only thing he deserves is the death he gave Mavis.”
Holy shit, this got bad really quick.
Aspen folds her arms. “What I do is my business.”
Her mother’s eye twitches.
Well fuck.
“Can we get through one family dinner without a fight, please?” Melody asks.
“She’s right, you know,” her dad, Alistair, adds.
I quickly pick up the fork and stuff my face with the chili. “Hmm. Delicious!”
Her mom immediately breaks eye contact and looks at me instead, the darkness briefly lifting from her face, like a parting cloud after a thunderstorm. “You like it?”
I nod and swallow it down, then scoop up some more. “It’s fabulous. What herbs did you use? So spicy. I love it!”
Part of that is a lie, but I don’t want to offend the host, and I certainly don’t want to die while eating chili.
“See? Someone actually likes my chili!” her mom exclaims. “I can cook!”
“Great …” Silas mutters as he drops his fork.
Felix pokes his fork into Silas’s arm. “Eat. Don’t offend your mother.”
“Yes, let’s eat and forget about the fight,” Alistair says.
“What fight?” Xavier asks, completely unaware as he takes a bite.
“I’m surprised you’re still running to his defense, Aspen,” Silas says, homing in on her. “I thought you were finally over that fucker.”
God, not again.
The rest start putting the food on their plates just to avoid eye contact with Penelope, and I get it.
“I’m not running to anyone’s defense,” Aspen responds. “But you’re all way too quick to judge someone for something you weren’t even there to witness.”
Now the forks are coming down. Oh dear.
“Excuse me? Are you implying he didn’t kill your sister?” Felix barks, clearly on edge, because he’s nearly breaking his fork in half with just his fist.
“Forks down. I repeat, forks down on the table,” Alistair says. “No one is getting stabbed tonight on my watch.”
“Like you can stop me.” Dylan snorts.
“I’m saying that I was there … and that I still believe it might’ve been an accident,” Aspen says, taking a deep breath.
“Hmm …” Silas tilts his head, staring her down. “Are you just saying that because you want us to patch things up with the Torres family so you can keep railing his cousin?”
Oh fuck no.