Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
After walking Iris and Magnolia to Magnolia’s car, I walked to my truck.
The air tasted like snow, and I had no doubt in my mind that we’d get a light dusting at some point in the near future.
“What are y’all doing here?” I asked the moment I joined them.
And how can I get you to leave?
Dad looked sheepish, but Seraphina looked smug. “We’re here to discuss me taking over the Cowgirls again.”
The smugness in her tone made me want to punch her.
And seeing as my family had raised me to never hurt girls, that was saying something.
She may be my sister, but she was my least favorite person in the world.
“I haven’t lost yet,” I pointed out.
“No, but you will,” she replied smugly, as if she knew something I didn’t.
My eyes narrowed. “Let me guess, you paid off a ref to throw that game.”
Dad shifted on his feet.
He’d never been able to see the worst in his daughter like the rest of us had.
Lysander and me? We could see the evil from the moment she was old enough to take care of herself.
My dad, however, always saw her as his little girl.
My mom was ambivalent to the issue until Sonja died, then she’d become solely on our side.
That was the reason for Mom and Dad’s divorce five years ago. My dad’s inability to see his daughter as anything but perfect, despite having killed his other daughter.
But that was an accident!
I couldn’t tell you how many times that particular phrase had come out of my dad’s mouth.
“Of course I didn’t.” Seraphina placed her hand over her heart, playing the affronted heiress.
I’d had my suspicions, but those suspicions were now confirmed as I looked at the gleam in her eyes.
“We’re here just as a pep talk,” Dad signed. “We’re not here to start anything. We both believe that you can pull this off.”
Yeah fucking right.
Seraphina was here to throw me off my game.
Plus, she felt like she was about to lose, so she had to play her games.
“I don’t need your pep talks,” I said as my eyes narrowed on Seraphina. “I’m having that ref investigated. If you slipped up and paid him a large lump sum to get him to throw that game, then I’m going to find it.”
Something flickered in her eyes, too fast to read.
“Do you hate me that much that you feel like I’d do something as dumb as pay off a ref?” She snorted. “As if, Beaufort.”
Fucking bitch.
Of course I thought she was dumb enough. She was also dumb enough that she thought she’d get away with it.
She wouldn’t.
I already had a buddy who was a savant with computers and technology in general, working on it.
My sister had slipped up this time, and I’d have concrete proof by morning that I planned on sharing with the head ref of the league.
I guessed I would share it with my father, too.
But he’d probably think it was an accident.
His inability to see my older sister as doing anything wrong was a serious hang-up for him.
“So what was the point of this meeting?” I asked, signing for my dad’s benefit since he was looking between my sister and me.
My sister who’d never learned sign language despite having a father and a brother who were both deaf.
That should’ve been my dad’s first clue.
Her refusal to make accommodations for her family.
Hell, sometimes I think she actively forgot the sign language she was taught as a child just so she could make life harder for us.
Dad looked sheepish. “We seriously just wanted to give you a pep talk.”
My sister winced at my dad’s voice.
She always did.
She was so embarrassed by him that she couldn’t hide it.
She was such a creep.
“Well, on that note…” I said as I unlocked my truck. “Y’all have a good one.”
My sister didn’t stop her lean against my car.
My dad moved to his vehicle, but my sister stayed right where she was, entire body leaning against the door. Hell, she was probably scratching the paint with her ugly rhinestone belt.
I started it up and she still didn’t move.
I didn’t give it much thought beyond that point. I put it in drive and pulled away, getting a shot of satisfaction when I saw her stumble away.
She obviously didn’t think I would leave without making sure she was off the car.
She was delusional.
I’d run her over with it if I knew there was a way I could stay out of prison.
SEVEN
It’s been a ‘cuddle with my toaster in the bathtub’ kind of week.
—Beau to Magnolia
BEAU
I didn’t go home like I’d originally been intending.
I went to my mom’s.
On the way, I made sure to give Lysander a call and ask him to meet me there after work.
“I’m already here,” Lysander explained. “What do you want?”
Unlike my father, my brother had gotten cochlear implants that allowed him to learn how to speak.