Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 128812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
"Shit," I say. "Sorry. Didn't mean to strike a nerve."
Billy shakes his head as if trying to get shit out of his head, an attempt to self-regulate, but the guy is stoned and probably more than a little volatile right now.
I don't know if pressing him further will render the information I need or if it will only piss him off even more.
"Don't mind him," Scott says. "He's still pissed about the other night."
"What happened the other night?" I ask before thinking of a better way to word it.
Scott doesn't skip a beat. "That fucking bell."
"He runs the entire property with that bell. If I had only been five minutes quicker," Billy growls.
"So if you're entertaining already when the bell goes off, you don't have to stop?" I ask, leaning forward as if I have plans, and his answer determines my own actions.
"Right," Scott answers before looking at his friend. "If you were five minutes quicker, the bell just would've gone off five minutes earlier."
"So Bobby doesn't want us to get laid?" Zeus asks, joining the conversation for the first time since ordering his food.
There's just enough annoyance in his voice to make it believable that it isn't utter disdain in these men having sex with women who aren't as willing as they may seem to be.
"It's all a fucking mind game," Billy says. "I think the man gets a hard-on for controlling everyone else's cocks."
"Doesn't fucking stop him, though," Scott adds.
"Not at all," Billy mutters, his fist closing around the handle of the butter knife in front of him like he has immediate plans to use it on someone.
"Bobby gets first dibs," Scott reminds him as if the man may have forgotten. "On any woman who sets foot on the property."
"And how often does he decline?"
Both Scott's and Bobby's eyes land on me, but I don't cower under their scrutiny.
"Not very often," Scott replies. "Especially if he knows someone likes a girl a lot."
"Fucking power play," Billy growls. "Wish that was something I fucking knew before showing up with Ruby."
Regina Banks.
He's the motherfucker who set his eyes on her and made introductions to others in the group. The way he slouches a little more, saying her name, I can guess that he must've actually liked her and thought bringing her in was the best thing in the world.
It also tells me that Billy hasn't been in the group very long, if he didn't know she would be claimed by someone else. She went missing a couple of months back, and if he'd been part of The League for any length of time before, then he would've already learned by watching it happen to others what her destiny was.
"There's an easy fucking fix to that," Zeus says. "Don't bring your bitches to the property."
He shrugs his shoulders as if going against that rule of the group is something he'd do if he didn't want to share.
Scott and Billy stare at him. I don't know if this info is something they'll go run and tell Bobby, compromising us, or if it's something they never considered before.
I shift in my seat, waiting for one of them to speak so I can see which way this is going. If shit goes south, I guess it's better that we're outside of the compound.
"That," Scott says, pointing at Zeus. "Is a fucking death sentence."
"Can't go against him like that," Billy adds with a shake of his head.
I look at my partner, knowing the relief has to show on my face.
"Rachel," I say to him, hoping he'll play along.
Zeus shakes his head. "Sounds like a really fucking bad idea."
"You got a girl?" Scott asks, frowning when I nod my lie.
"I'd suggest letting her fucking go," Billy says, the threat of Bobby's wrath greater than his own anger at what he perceives as the loss of Regina as he releases the knife, letting it thud to the table. "If you love her, it's better to break her heart than subject her to the shit that goes on back home."
I can't ask what he means. I can't give a voice to the questions about how the women are treated and what they face living on the compound. As someone who is supposed to have lived this life since birth, I should already know all these things. Billy's lack of education in talking about what happened to the girl he brought there gives me the outlet to talk about expectations and rules.
"You're probably right," I mutter.
"What's her last name?" Scott asks, and the curiosity in his voice makes my skin crawl.
I have my own suspicions that if I gave him a full name, he'd try his best to find that girl and bring her back to Bobby as an offering of not only my betrayal, but a way to get in better with the man.