Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
“I think you might be right,” he whispers, our eyes scouring at a dangerous speed. “What are you going to do about it, Koning?”
“I’m making sure this isn’t just a summer fling. It can’t be the finish line, and if you don’t move the goalpost, I will.”
“I’ll move it with you,” he says. “I’m used to doing the heavy lifting.”
I start to smile. “Yeah?”
“Oh yeah. I suspect you’ll need me.”
“I suspect you’ll need me, too,” I say as our gazes roam so freely. I feel like we’re inside of each other in this field, and we haven’t even physically touched. “Move in for good,” I spell out clearly. “Live with us at this estate.”
He breathes deeply through his nose, his lips curving higher. His eyes shining brighter. “I’ll have to check my other offers.”
“Your other offers?” I glance at his lips, then watch him back away from me with a smile like dynamite and kerosene, and I am so gone, so fucking taken by him, looking away would feel like the real death of me. “Are you playing hard to get right now?”
“Keeps things interesting.” He grabs Kit’s leather reins, then gives me a salute. He laughs lightly. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m torturing you.” He’s amused and chews on the end of the toothpick. “I’ve already let you fuck me once.” I have been inside Oliver, but that’s not nearly as deep as I want to be.
“I don’t think once was enough.”
Oliver stays fixed on my gaze like he’s the one falling down the rabbit hole. “Agreed.”
* * *
—
After trekking back to the house alone, I only find Rocky.
He’s balancing backward on two legs of a patio chair, his actual legs kicked up on the table while he plays Candy Crush on his phone.
“Where’s Hailey?” I ask on instinct, anxious to see her.
Rocky drops his feet off the table. “She went to the bookstore with Phoebe. I didn’t want the girls hanging around here in case your brother throws a temper tantrum. I suggest you go make him an offer before he decides he has nothing to lose.”
They’re very good at preempting worse-case scenarios. It makes me wonder how many times they’ve encountered marks who like to retaliate after being humiliated. How many times they’ve needed a quick escape. How different this must be since they’re not fleeing the place of the con.
“Will do.” Before I go deal with my brother, I walk over to Rocky. “About your sister.”
“About my sister,” he says darkly. I can’t see a situation where Grey/Rocky/Brayden wouldn’t be protective of the people he loves, no matter who’s on the other end of his aim. “If this is another conversation, Jake, where you tell me you aren’t serious about her, your face will be the one I put in that pile of dog shit.”
I let out a laugh. “It’s the opposite, actually. All I want is to be serious with Hailey. I can’t imagine not being with her after all of this, Bray.”
He smiles hearing his birth name. “And Oliver?” It’s like he already knows. There is no real question in his eyes.
“And Oliver,” I say deeply.
He nods. “You love them.”
“I love them,” I state more firmly. “I will take care of them the rest of my life, and I know you guard all of them with yours. So I needed you to know where I stood.”
“I already knew, and I could lie, but I won’t.” He forces a dry smile. “It is nice hearing it out loud.” He checks his watch. “You need help with Trent?”
“I’ll call you if I do.”
“Great. You better go.”
The conversation with Trent is thirty minutes of a pulsing migraine. I offer him our family’s flat in London—one bedroom, one bath, in serious need of new plumbing. He takes it like I’m doing him a favor and starts packing his bags right then, right there.
“This small town is overrated trash. I always knew I’d be in a city. Spend your days bored out of your fucking mind, Jacob. There is nothing here.”
Everything I’ve ever loved has been in Victoria.
* * *
—
I’m stuck taking calls regarding the beer company for hours longer than I want. By the time I rip myself away, my head is pounding, and my pulse spikes with anticipation.
Noon.
It’s past noon.
Hailey. I can’t think anymore. I’m going out of my mind. Grabbing the keys to my Porsche, I exit quickly. The blue car is parked in the large horseshoe driveway.
I only slow when I open the door and look back at the looming mansion. Ivy spindles up stone. Red rosebushes in bloom. Wind catches and rustles the trees, and afternoon light strikes the windowpanes.
It’s beautiful.
I smile fondly. Kate would’ve loved to see the haunted mansion evicted of its ghouls. “I’ll call you later, Kate,” I whisper. My little sister can’t come back. Kate Koning Waterford was pronounced dead, but she’ll be thrilled to hear the news.