Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I hadn’t been in any kind of relationship in a long-ass time, but I knew ‘get in here so we can talk’ when I heard it.
“Smells good,” Charlotte said as they moved into the kitchen, making the spicy tomato and tangy cheese scents waft into the living room.
“Anything smells better than whatever the fuck Chris made last night.”
“Language,” I grumbled.
“I’m all for a good diss,” Alara said. “But that was lame,” she added, clucking her tongue at the teenager. “I mean, if you’re gonna be a dick, be a dick. That’s my motto.”
“What would you say?” Liam asked.
“Depends on how bad it was. You could have gone with that it tastes like a learning experience… or asked what the ingredients did to him to make him punish them like that…”
“He doesn’t need help in the insult department,” I told Alara.
“What did he try to make?” she asked, ignoring me.
“Pizza,” Charlotte added.
“Pizza?”
“It was both soft and burnt at the same time somehow,” Liam supplied.
“Why would you make pizza? In the city of pizza?”
“Don’t listen to her,” Ezmeray said as she breezed in with a tray of different sodas and juices for the kids to choose from. “She can’t even fry an egg.”
“I make an epic sandwich, though. Which is way better than eggs.”
“I like sandwiches,” Liam said.
Was he… warming up to Alara?
The kid was cold with everyone. Not a single one of the maternal figures he’d met so far had been able to get him to engage. Then there was Alara, calling him a dick, and getting him to open up.
She walked over, snatching an orange soda off the tray, then dropping down on the couch to discuss what made the best sandwich with my moody-ass nephew. Who she not only got to talk, but smile. And once… almost laugh.
“I like her,” Charlotte said, catching me looking at Alara.
“Yeah? I would have thought she was a little rough around the edges for you.”
“She reminds me of the heroine in the book I’m reading. She’s kind of… snarky too.”
“Snarky. That’s one way to describe her.”
“She’s a mage who does blood magic.”
“Alara?”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “The heroine in my book.”
“Right. That makes more sense. Though, I wouldn’t put blood magic past Alara either.”
“Did I hear book and blood magic?” Alara asked.
“She’s like Pavlov’s dogs,” Ezmeray said. “And those words are her bells.”
“You like to read?” Charlotte’s voice was small and hopeful. I was sure it disappointed her that no one else in her immediate family (or the kids at school, it seemed) liked reading.
“I’m in a book club with the Lombardi Family women.”
“You’re what now?” Brio asked.
“Yeah, they’re who got me into reading. Lore, Cinna, Elian’s wife, and his sister. Though, those aren’t books you can read. Yet.”
“Or maybe ever,” Ezmeray said.
I had a feeling the books were of the smutty kind, judging by Ezmeray’s mom voice.
“How long have you been sneaking off to Brooklyn for book club?” Brio asked.
“I don’t know. Since the third one, I guess. Maybe the second. I dunno. Lore was still roughed up from that whole kidnapping thing.”
“How am I just hearing about this now?”
Ezmeray sighed. “I have a feeling there are a lot of things she’s keeping from us.”
“Keeping from you,” Alara said with an eye roll that rivaled Liam’s. “Like I’m a kid. I own a whole business. Pay taxes. Make questionable life choices. Besides, the Lombardis are allies now.”
“What you gonna say next, you go to The Bronx to get steaks from Primo Esposito?” Brio asked.
“No. Oh, but I did go to a rage room with Mira last week.”
“I don’t remember any of these names,” Charlotte whispered to me.
“That’s okay,” Alara said, patting Charlotte’s knee. “Stick with me, kid. I’ll have you up to date in no time.”
“With your murder board.”
“Murder board?” Brio asked.
“It’s more of a stalker board,” I relented.
“I need a drink,” Ezmeray said, turning on her heel and disappearing into the kitchen.
“So, blood mage, you said? What’s the book?”
“Well, it’s for young adults,” Charlotte said.
“So what?” Alara asked, kicking off her shoes and folding up on the couch. “I mean The Hunger Games was for teens, but I ate those up. What’s the book?”
I stood there for a moment, listening to Alara effortlessly engage Charlotte the way she had with Liam before making my way into the kitchen to offer Ezmeray a hand.
“Alara hates kids,” Brio said, standing in the doorway, watching Alara and the kids.
“That’s not fair. She doesn’t hate kids. She just doesn’t want to have any. She’s freaked out about pregnancy and childbirth,” Ezmeray explained to me. “And babies freak her out. And she’s not a fan of the sticky and snotty stage either.”
“Basically, she likes tweens and teens,” I said, holding out my glass when Brio waved the whiskey at me.
“I mean, she’s good with the younger ones,” Ezmeray said. “But she likes that she can engage with the teens on a more natural level.”