Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
He didn’t move, and we lay there for a moment—him hard between my legs. Me, pinned beneath him. We were near each other like always, I realized. But we’d never really be together. Then he spoke, and his words shocked me.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“Let me up,” I whispered again, refusing to listen. To wonder why he’d say something like that. It didn’t matter. Whatever game he was playing, it didn’t matter.
Eli suddenly rolled to the side, then reached down to offer me his hand. I ignored it, sitting up, trying to think. He shook his head, then sat down next to me.
“I’ll give you two weeks’ notice,” I said after another long pause. “You don’t deserve it, but I’ve put way too much work into this bar to just walk off and let everything fall apart. Gus hasn’t been running things for the past few years. I have.”
“I know,” Eli replied, his voice serious. “Gus knows, too.”
Hearing the words hurt. More than I expected.
“Am I supposed to be thankful that he noticed?”
“Look, I know you’re angry at him—”
“No, I’m angry at you.”
“But he loves you. He’s always loved you.”
“Like he loved my mom?” I asked, turning to look at Eli directly. His eyes softened. We sat there for a moment, just staring at each other, and then the ridiculousness of the situation hit me.
“This is crazy,” I said, glancing around and taking in the office. I’d shredded the poster. The chairs had been knocked over, and I’d smashed the keyboard into the wall.
Eli snorted.
“Your mom would’ve set the place on fire.”
“My mom did set the place on fire,” I replied, feeling a little smirk stealing across my mouth. “I feel like I failed her. I didn’t even make it out of the hallway.”
“The customers do a pretty good job of tearing up the bar itself,” Eli said casually. “You’re more of a specialist. Although I appreciate the fact that you didn’t kill the computer. I don’t know how good the backup system is.”
I glanced over at it, thinking of all the hours I’d put in working on it. “It’s set to automatically back up to the cloud. I do the books. Did you know that? Gus hasn’t worked on them in years. You’re fucked, Eli.”
My smirk turned to a full-on smile at the thought.
“I know,” Eli admitted, and he smiled, too. “Jesus, you’re never boring. Don’t leave, Peaches. Manage the bar. I’ll pay you more. We can make this work.”
“How much more?” I asked, allowing myself to consider it. Could I work for him? I wasn’t sure…
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I haven’t seen the books. I don’t even know how much you’re getting paid now. You’ll have to tell me.”
I thought about it, glancing up at what remained of the poster. It’d taken months to find, but less than a minute to destroy it. Not that I regretted it. Gus deserved it. He really had fucked me over…just like he’d fucked over my mom. But I still needed a job, and Eli would be offering me a very nice salary, I decided. A very nice one, indeed.
Otherwise, he could figure out the passwords on his own, because Gus sure as hell didn’t know them. Idiots. Both of them were idiots.
“I’ll give it a month,” I told him thoughtfully. “But don’t fuck with me, Eli. I’m serious. Or next time, I really will slit your throat.”
“I believe you,” he replied, and it almost sounded like he did. I’d have to retrieve that survival knife before he remembered it. Hide it somewhere good. “I’m just glad you didn’t have one of those knives when we were kids.”
I considered the thought of my five-year-old self with a ten-inch steel blade, then nodded slowly.
“Yeah, you’re probably right about that. I had more of a temper back then.”
Eli coughed, then looked away. I could tell he wanted to say something. I waited, but he kept his mouth shut.
Wow.
Maybe he’d gotten a little smarter in prison. I still hated the bastard, but I could take his money. For a while, at least. Hard to know with an old building, though. So many things could go wrong. Maybe there’d be a fire, after all.
We’d just have to wait and see.
Chapter Four
Thirteen years ago
~Eli~
“So, I heard there’s a party at the clubhouse this weekend,” said Holly. She smiled up at me, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. My eyes slid down, noting just how perfectly her tits filled out the front of her spaghetti strap tank top.
Technically, those weren’t allowed—too much of a distraction. I could appreciate a good distraction as much as the next guy, but seeing Peaches wearing one earlier today had been enough to convince me that maybe the school should enforce that rule.
Being a helpful kind of guy, I’d pointed that out to Peaches. Fortunately, her arms were a lot shorter than mine. Made it easy to just hold her back when she tried to punch me.