Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 70488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
She was folding a load of laundry on her bed.
There was no rhyme or reason to her laundry.
She washed whites with reds. Reds with yellows. Blacks with white. Towels with delicates.
It was honestly kind of funny to see what color some of her whites would come out when she didn’t take care which clothes she threw in the washer.
Needless to say, I had a goddamn easy chair in front of the window that I watched her from.
She was like my own personal form of entertainment.
Even worse, when she was at work, I would pull up my cameras that hooked up to The Mercantile and I’d watch her that way, too.
I knew everything that my mother said and did to her.
If it was something that I vehemently disagreed with, I’d confront my mother right then and there.
If it was something that I thought was bullshit, but that I figured Bernice could stick up for herself on her own, I’d leave it alone.
But the problem was, Bernice never, ever stuck up for herself.
She’d take all kinds of shit that my mother would shovel her way and not say a word.
It was disheartening.
And it sucked to watch.
Speaking of watching, she finished folding her clothes and then put everything away neatly in her dresser and closet.
She was very neat.
I never saw one single thing out of place.
She came inside and stripped every night, and she’d throw her dirty clothes into the hamper.
No discarding clothing on the floor.
No accidentally dropping and not picking up.
It was a little bit overkill, if you asked me.
When she was done putting her clothes away, she walked into the bathroom out of sight.
I grumbled darkly when I saw steam start to billow out of her bathroom door.
I hated that I couldn’t see her in there.
I was also disappointed in myself that I couldn’t stop watching.
I was a sick motherfucker.
But I continued to watch. Mostly because when she came back out long minutes later, she had nothing but a towel wrapped around her. And I finally got to see her without seven layers of clothes wrapped around herself.
She had supple breasts, long legs, and the longest hair I’d ever seen.
I loved watching her brush it out.
Sometimes her towel slipped and…
A nipple.
Today I got to see her nipple.
Score.
Week Six
I was in my easy chair again, watching her through her window.
Today she was having a bad day.
She’d had two asthma attacks at The Mercantile, and I’d forced my mother to let her go home early with pay.
The only way that she would allow it, though, was for me to work in her place.
Not wanting to see her suffer, I’d done just that.
And it sucked.
But anything was better than watching her struggle to breathe while she worked.
I’d gotten cameras on her place, too.
Outside and inside.
Creed would kill me if he ever found out.
But he wasn’t going to find out.
I just had to make sure she was safe.
Today, she lay in the middle of the bed with her head propped on a pillow, her face aimed my way as she watched the television to the right of the window.
I had another view of her from the video feed that I’d set up in her hallway, aimed at her bed.
She was bundled up in a heating blanket, the only thing visible was her cute little nose and eyes.
I cursed myself for my inability to stay away. To stop watching.
I’d turned into some psycho that couldn’t look away.
And she had no fucking clue.
If I were a better person, I’d stay away.
I really would.
But…
She shivered, and I pulled up her thermostat app on my phone and bumped up her heat.
It was already seventy-five degrees. Eighty, it was.
Week Nine
I listened, trying not to freak out, as Odin offered her a job.
“I’m sorry, but what?”
“You’re a nurse practitioner. I’m in need of some help, and you’re not doing what I know you want to do.”
“How would you know that I want to do it?” she asked. “Maybe I love my job.”
He snorted. “No one would love working there, Bernice. Everyone loves eating there, sure. But working there is hell. Hux has been complaining since I’ve known him about that stupid place.”
Bernice sighed. “Will you quit for me?”
Odin blinked. “Is that what it would take to get you to agree to work with me?”
She nodded.
“Then yes, I’d quit for you.”
She blew out a breath. “I have to give a month’s notice. She needs help, but I’m not just quitting and forcing her kids to pick up my slack. They’re good people.”
My heart felt weird.
Why did her caring so much about us make me feel all warm and gooey inside?
What the hell was wrong with my goddamn heart?
“Deal,” he said. “That’ll give me enough time to find us some help.”
For the first time in a long time, I watched Bernice smile thinking about her job.