Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
He’d rather choke on his own vomit.
It took him twenty minutes to find her.
He found her in a large cabinet that sat in one of the reception rooms. It was a monstrous thing that had to be well over a hundred years old. She’d managed to scrunch herself up tight into it.
To his surprise, she was sucking on her thumb. Which made him feel even more terrible.
Christ.
What kind of fuckwit scared a kid into hiding and sucking her thumb?
Him, apparently.
She quickly took her thumb out when she saw him, her eyes going wide. Her face was pale and it fucking killed him.
“Come out of there.” He winced. Probably not how you were supposed to talk to a kid. But what did he know?
Her breathing grew faster, her thumb trying to return to her mouth before she seemed to realize it and drew it away.
Then she shook her head.
He raised an eyebrow, shocked. He might be seventeen, but he was used to grown men jumping when he said jump.
This slip of a girl was either lacking common sense or she had more guts than most adults.
For the first time, he truly took her in. Her shoes looked scuffed and worn, like her clothes. She was pale and thin.
Her hair was clean but limp.
His brain shoved that information to the side for the moment. He had to get her out of the cupboard. Preferably before his father came looking for one of them.
“What are you doing in there?”
She blinked rapidly. “Playing hide and seek.”
Okay. His lips twitched. He hadn’t expected that reply.
“Peek-a-Boo!” she said.
Another lip twitch. Shit. She was pretty cute.
“Indie, get out, please. I promise I’m not going to scare you anymore.”
She shot him a disbelieving look.
He nearly laughed. Yeah, maybe she did have more guts than he’d thought.
“Well, I’ll try not to. How about that?” he said to her.
It must have been enough to reassure her because she climbed out of the cupboard and stretched her limbs with a wince.
“Maybe we should start again,” he said as he stepped back to give her space. “I’m Slade. I live here with my father. I take it you’ve met him?”
She shook her head slowly.
That. Mother. Fucker.
He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, trying to regain his composure as she took a step back, bumping into the large cabinet.
“You haven’t fucking met him?” he whispered.
Shit. He probably shouldn’t swear in front of a kid.
“Um. No.”
“But you’re moving in here?” he asked.
“Apparently. I didn’t know about that either.”
“What?” he spat.
She jumped, then winced as she accidentally smacked her head against the cabinet.
“Shit. Come away from there before you do some serious damage,” he commanded.
Rein it in, asshole.
“I’m sorry,” she said with a gasp, turning toward the piece of furniture. “Did I mark it or something?”
“What? No, I wasn’t talking about that ugly thing, I was talking about you.”
“Oh. It is pretty ugly,” she agreed.
She had some guts, even if she was a bit jumpy. He hated to think about what could have happened in her life to make her so jumpy.
“Come and sit down.” He gestured to the flowery sofa.
She sat gingerly as though she was scared to touch anything.
“Relax,” he grumbled. “I’m not going to bite.”
“Um, I didn’t think you would. I’m just aware that everything here probably costs a lot of money. And likely isn’t replaceable.”
“Only thing in here that can’t be replaced is you.”
She blinked at him. “Or you.”
He had to grin even though he didn’t find anything amusing. “Not according to my father.”
She tilted her head to the side. “You don’t get on with him.”
It wasn’t a question. She was smart and perceptive.
“You didn’t know you were moving in here? And you haven’t met my father?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Fuck.” He ran his hand over his face. “And your mum just left you here?”
“I don’t know where she went.” She looked lost for a moment.
And he felt like even more of an asshole for scaring her.
“How old are you? Eleven? Twelve?”
“I’m fifteen!” she said indignantly. “Well, in just over a month I will be.”
Older than he’d thought. Was she small for her age? He didn’t know many nearly fifteen-year-olds.
Slade nodded, making his mind up. If her mother wasn’t going to take care of her and she was living in his house . . . well, that made her his.
And he took care of what was his.
“Come on, Boo,” he said. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of the guys.”
“Boo?” she asked.
“Yeah, short for Peek-a-Boo.”
She went bright red. “Not my finest moment.”
He grinned. “Come meet my friends. We’re more like brothers. Then you can get settled in your room.”
A strange look filled her face and she hesitated.
“They won’t hurt you.” He tried to gentle his voice but figured he failed when she didn’t look reassured. “And I won’t throw any more glasses.”