Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)
She seems to ponder for a second and then nods. “You should get a camera inside. He’s going to have to go in and participate, if he hasn’t already.”
I walk toward her. “How do you know that?”
Why would he have to do anything?
“The Wolfe Room is an exclusive club,” she explains. “I can imagine my parents were invited—given their status—but it wouldn’t have been something they would’ve entertained.” She swallows. “Deviant and disgusting, as it is…”
I’d seen some of the footage, most of which Macon never kept, as it was irrelevant, but it didn’t seem that bad. Raunchy but not illegal.
I’d heard stories, though.
“But in high school, I did hear Garrett tell Callum,” she goes on, “that he would prove how trustworthy he was someday when he joined in at the Wolfe Room.” Her eyes shift from me to Liv to Macon. “Callum’s twenty-two now, and…”
I nod. “…and his father still doesn’t respect him.”
“What makes you say that?” Macon asks me.
It’s time to let Callum prove himself, Garrett had said.
“He knows Callum doesn’t want to fuck women,” I say plainly. “And he’ll want him to prove to him that he’s willing to do as his father says.”
“Well, I’m not waiting for the slight chance he decides he needs his father’s respect,” Macon spits out. “We’re either going to find a way into St. Carmen or find a way around the curfew, but we’re going to do what we’re going to fucking do.”
“Hell yeah,” Aracely concurs.
My brother guides his wife back inside, Aracely following her boss, probably because she doesn’t care to talk to me. Liv whispers something to Clay, and in a moment, her fiancée gets up and disappears somewhere into the house.
Macon’s right. This won’t stop us, but fuck, I’d love to have some proper fun so I can put him in his rightful place. Unfortunately, we’re no longer at that age anymore, where a beatdown solves your problems. In the end, Callum knows what power he has at his disposal.
“You know…” Liv speaks up when it’s just us left. “When he and his friends attacked me in high school…”
I dart my eyes to her, my fist squeezing around the bottle.
“I was angry,” she explains, “furious, and vengeful, but I don’t know how scared I was.”
They dragged her out of a limo she was in with Clay and took her to Fox Hill. Tried to coerce her into…
I clench my teeth, getting hot all over again. What the hell is she saying?
“When he looked at me that night,” she goes on, “I don’t even think he saw me. I think he saw you.”
I don’t give a shit. And I don’t care that it never would’ve happened if I hadn’t fucked with him. It wasn’t my fault.
Liv jumps down from the window, and I watch my sister, who has our mother’s long black hair and her brown eyes but no dark circles or frailness. Olivia’s only gotten more beautiful.
“I think you should have a conversation with him,” she tells me in a low voice, continuing before I can tell her to bite me. “I think you should offer to accompany him into the Wolfe Room and help him with women in exchange for him turning a blind eye toward our family.”
I laugh, and I can’t seem to stop as I think about her ridiculous proposal. I don’t care if he makes his father proud, and I have no doubt he can get his dick to work if he’s creative.
But…
As I let her idea roll around in my head, I wonder if he’d agree.
He might relish another opportunity to fuck with me on his turf.
Liv closes the distance between us. “We’ve made ourselves liked, wanted, and valuable to this community. We’ve created a need where there wasn’t one.” She whispers, “Make yourself invaluable to him now.”
I stare at her. It’s not the best idea, but it’s an idea.
But…
No. I shake my head. “No. Fuck, no.”
I spin around and move away from her, inhaling a deep breath. I can’t play nice with him. Let him put me in a fucking suit. Let him get me into a club. Let him have me picked up and driven home like I fucking work for him?
And what if I’m into it and want to have some fun? Is he going to watch?
No.
“What would your teachers say, Dallas?” Liv hasn’t moved from where she was standing. “Would Epictetus and Socrates run away from the one thing they knew would save them?”
I throw her a scowl. She’s barking up the wrong tree with me. If I have to lose my self-respect to get fed, I’d rather starve.
But she smiles, approaching me again. “And when you have the leverage you need, you can fuck him up again for hurting me.”
I expel a weak laugh. Well, that would be a perk.