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)
Before, I had only thought she—I didn’t know what I’d thought. I hadn’t, I guess. I’d just known there was an air of mystery around him, and though I’d tried not to be, in a reverse kind of way, I had been the most fascinated with him.
Out of their whole family, Kai Bennett was the most.
He was the best looking.
He had their dark and hypnotic eyes, but they were more with him. More smoldering. More hypnotic. More powerful.
More alluring.
He had the same facial features as the others—a perfect, lush mouth, as if formed just for kissing. And he had the body of a professional soccer player or surfer. There wasn’t an inch of softness in his pictures, and I felt my face flushing even now as I remembered how often his picture had captivated me. It had been his face that I studied the most, dreamed about the most, and fantasized about the most.
But that day he had killed it.
When their cars pulled into the school’s two-mile driveway, Brooke had stood. Moments later, she’d buckled.
I’d caught her, an arm around her to hold her upright, and she’d begun to shake.
She kept hiccupping as she sobbed, but she faced forward the whole time. She never turned away. Her hand gripped mine until it went numb.
A black SUV pulled up to the school and rolled forward.
A second SUV stopped right in front of us.
A third SUV parked behind it.
A fourth lingered in the driveway, partially blocking anyone else from pulling up if they had tried.
I wasn’t prepared for the spectacle that came after that.
All of the doors had opened at once.
The drivers of all four cars got out and stood guard.
Then the passenger doors opened, and more guards emerged, taking point.
The only two doors that had remained closed were the back two on the SUV right in front of us. The second SUV.
Two guards approached. They went to each side of the second vehicle, and as one, as if they’d rehearsed (and they might’ve), they opened the doors.
An older man wearing a suit stepped out of the door closest to us. He wasn’t tall; he was average height—maybe around five eight?—and he had a full head of graying dark hair. I saw the same eyes, the same chin that Brooke had, the same face as hers and her brothers’.
This was her father.
She barely ever talked about him.
She’d never talked about her mom, either.
It was only Cord, Tanner, and Jonah.
No father, no mother, and hardly any Kai.
I’d looked over to the other side of the SUV, and he’d been standing there.
I’d sucked in my breath.
Everything had paused for a second—it was like the world felt a full glitch.
I had not been prepared for Kai Bennett.
Then again, how could I? It’s not normal. He’s not normal.
In photos, his pull was excessive, but in person? It was astronomical.
He’d looked up and sought his sister first. Brooke had stilled, as if feeling his gaze, and then his eyes had moved to me.
I’d felt a punch in the sternum, along with a full blast of ice.
He was cold. He was calculating. And he was ruthless. I felt it all at once.
The air had sizzled around him, power coming off of him in waves as he’d rounded the car to stand beside their father.
I’d felt a tug in my gut toward the elder Bennett. He was dangerous too. I couldn’t have explained how I knew, but I felt it. I could taste it. Brooke’s father wasn’t the more dangerous of the two. Kai was. I couldn’t take my eyes from his face. And he knew it—and how I felt that too, I had no idea.
He’d known the effect he had on me, and it wasn’t normal, but he didn’t care. A wave of embarrassment washed over me, heating my neck and cheeks, and it was only then that I tore my gaze away to bring Brooke closer to me. I wasn’t sure if I was comforting her or myself.
“Papa,” she’d rasped out, her body stiff in my arms.
“My daughter.”
My skin had crawled when I heard his voice.
I’d tried to check my reaction, but when I looked away, my gaze skimmed over Kai, and his nostrils flared. He knew what I felt in response to their father; I couldn’t hide it. Instead, I lowered my head and held still. I was a statue, the way I’d been when my father paced the house, in the moments his anger left their bedroom.
“Dude!” A hand waved in front of my face.
I crashed back to reality. It left a sour taste in my mouth.
I was here in the cabin, not at the school. Not on those steps. Here, Cowtown. Calgary. I wasn’t there anymore, but man, I felt trapped in the past.
“Riley.” Carol’s head turned as she spoke to someone. “She’s out, like out out. It’s weird.”