Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Yeah, that would have been good.
No, no. Shit. She wasn’t this person. She didn’t want to be evil. He was her father and she owed him . . . well, she wasn’t sure what she owed him.
“I can see maybe I should have left him there,” Vega said to her.
Fuck.
How could he read her so easily? Her estimation of his intelligence was going up and she wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
“No, of course not. How could you say something like that?”
Vega looked her over and there was something in his gaze . . . something hungry? Predatory?
Holy shit.
She longed to rush back into her bedroom and lock the door, to pull on some clothes and hide under the bed. That was her usual hiding place.
She and Coco could hide under the bed for hours. They often had.
“Can’t imagine that it’s easy to live with a drunken loser.”
“Don’t call him that!” she protested. Although there was no heat in her voice.
Because it wasn’t anything she hadn’t thought before.
Her father hadn’t handled her mom’s death well. Losing her had broken him. But that excuse had run thin a long time ago. Other people lost their soul mates, yet they still carried on. They managed to be there for their children.
Or, at the very least, they didn’t make their children’s lives worse the way that he had.
Her father let out a snore followed by a loud fart.
God. He was so . . . disgusting. She had to breathe through the urge to glare at him, to tell him what she really thought of him.
Sometimes, she snuck into his room at night, knowing he was passed out on a concoction of drugs and alcohol and told him exactly what she thought of him.
It was cathartic.
“Crappy place you live in. You deserve better, Mouse,” Vega said.
She wanted to snap at him not to call her Mouse. But she knew better than to give him ammunition to use against her. However, she wasn’t as good at guarding her face as she thought she was.
“Don’t like being called that, do you? Yet, he keeps doing it.” He kicked her father making him let out a grunt of pain.
“Hey! Don’t do that!” she protested. She might not like her father. But she also didn’t want him to be actively harmed.
And Devi didn’t like violence.
She wasn’t necessarily a good person. Not like the heroines in her books. They always did the right thing. Even if it meant that bad things happened to them. Or that they were pushed around by other people taking advantage of them.
Devi wasn’t like that. Maybe she had been when she was younger. But years of being bullied and abused had changed something in her. It was a gradual change. Not that she could ever be mean to someone.
But that didn’t mean that she didn’t exact her own sort of revenge when someone wronged her.
“Why? Why shouldn’t I do it?” he asked in a low voice.
Did he really not know?
Looking into his face she could see no regret in his face, no recognition that kicking a sleeping, defenseless person was wrong.
Shit.
Did Vega feel any empathy? Or regret?
Devi should be panicking over the fact that she was essentially alone with this man.
Another smile crossed his face.
Fuck. He was definitely reading her mind right now.
“Why are you really here?” she asked.
“Just checking on my possible investment.”
What the heck did that mean?
Her heart raced, her stomach turning over dangerously.
“Your possible investment?”
He didn’t reply, but to her relief he turned and headed to the door.
“You’re leaving?” she asked.
Shit. Why did she say that? Why didn’t she just let him go?
What was wrong with her?
He stopped at the door and glanced over his wide, thick shoulder at her. “You sound disappointed.”
She shook her head. “No. Not disappointed.”
Crap. He didn’t like that. His eyes narrowed and she braced herself.
Why couldn’t she learn to keep her mouth shut?
Because you no longer want to be that person. The one that puts up and shuts up about people hurting you.
No. But she also didn’t need to prod the beast, did she? Especially when she was on her own with little option for escape.
“Watch what you say to me,” he said quietly. “I don’t mind your fire. Going to make it interesting if I get to tame you. But that won’t make things easy on you.”
Fuck. Holy fuck.
He left, shutting the door quietly. There was more threat in that than if he’d slammed it.
Devi stood there, just trying to remember how to breathe.
Lock the door, idiot!
Shit. Shit.
Devi rushed to the door, locking it quickly. Then she peered out of the window.
Oh God.
Was he still there? It was dark out and it took her eyes a while to adjust. But she was pretty sure she saw him standing several feet away.
Still. Silent.
She sunk to the floor and leaned back against the wall, tucking her legs against her chest.