Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
All my life, I’d known what I wanted. I was clear on my path.
Before Hillcrest, my sole purpose had been to avoid my father and tend to my mother. When I went to Hillcrest, my mission had been to learn, to have fun with Brooke, and to stay at Hillcrest as much as possible (even over the extended holidays). Then after Hillcrest, my goal had been to survive. That was it.
Everything changed when the 411 Network approached me.
After that, my purpose became being the best Hider operative I could be. That meant finishing my education, training, and accepting the post they assigned me to. My mother was in love with another man. They’d had another child and a second not long after that, and she was fulfilling her goal of just living. That was a big middle finger to Bruce Bello, though he didn’t know.
One day, I hoped to share the news with him that he’d failed in killing us. I included myself in that because I knew it would’ve happened one day if I’d stayed around. It’d been inevitable. A man like that never changed.
See? My whole life had been clear and concrete, until now. Now my head was all muddled up.
Despite my circumstances, I enjoyed spending time with Tanner and Jonah. Yet I was worried about Brooke. And I was kidnapped. I hated Kai Bennett. Or I thought so. Yes, I did. I did. But my body didn’t.
Fuck me.
I was a mess.
“Let’s move.” Kai stepped aside as an entire caravan of SUVs rolled in, stopping before us.
Tanner and Jonah started toward one of the middle ones. I followed until Kai called out, “You’re with me, slicer.”
I whipped my head around, narrowing my eyes.
Had there been a glimmer of a grin on his face? No. His expression was stoic, as it had been the whole time we stood there.
Tanner frowned. “Why? She can roll with us.”
Kai didn’t spare him a look, only ducked into an SUV two down from us. “She goes with me. That’s final.”
I didn’t miss the sympathetic look his brothers sent me before I went over. Kai had taken the seat farthest from the house, so I didn’t have to go around. A guard stood at my door, waiting for me, and I ducked inside, trying not to appreciate the warmth and aroma of sandalwood. It reminded me of back home, with Blade and Carol.
Kai had his briefcase open on his lap, and he was going through some papers. He gestured to the console in front of us, “There’s coffee or tea if you want it.” He shuffled one piece of paper behind the other. “It’s not scalding hot, in case you were tempted to throw it on me.” He shuffled a second paper behind the pile.
I stared at him.
There wasn’t anything else I could do. I didn’t know what to say, and a gurgling sound emerged from my throat. I gulped it down, embarrassed.
The guards closed the doors, and it was quiet. Almost peaceful.
I’d expected two rows of seats like in the SUV I’d ridden in to get here. But this one had just enough room for Kai and myself. Two doors opened in the front, but there was a separator between us and the guards. I couldn’t see them, or hear them, but I felt the SUV dip under their weight as they got inside.
What did one say in this situation? I’d tried to kill him. I’d failed. And now he was offering me coffee or tea.
“I had to try.” So I guess that’s what I was going to say.
He paused in moving the papers. I could see him look my way in the window’s reflection, and with a jolt, his eyes met mine there too.
He showed no emotion though. “I know.” And he went back to reading his papers. “I would’ve too.”
What? I looked, but he was ignoring me again.
Then the cars started, and I had a feeling this was how it was going to be for the entire trip. Total and complete silence.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I was right.
We were now on hour four, and my bladder was screaming. I hadn’t wanted to, but I’d succumbed to both the tea and the coffee. I drank the tea first, because that’s what I would’ve done at home. Tea and berries: my morning routine, along with a good workout or yoga. Blade sometimes joined me. Carol never did. She’d watch us do yoga and crack jokes while she crunched down on her chip of the week.
The tea hadn’t fulfilled me, and I’d itched for the coffee. After my two cups yesterday, I was starting to understand why everyone was obsessed with it. There was an addictive quality. I was now wanting to go to the bathroom and also wanting a second cup of coffee.
I was returning to my American roots, it seemed—not with the bathroom part, the coffee part. My mom used to love the stuff. So did my dad…