Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
It’s now past three a.m., and Ethan still hasn’t come home. Calls to his cell have gone unanswered along with my text messages going unseen.
I wrap the blanket around me and lean my head back, yawning. I’m so tired. I gotta be up at six to be at the shop and have it open by seven. He acts like we both wanted this life. Like I didn’t give up college or a life for him. I didn’t have a choice. I did everything I could to make sure he had one, and he still resents me. I don’t think anything I could have done would have been right.
I hear a car pull up outside, and I jump to my feet to look out the window. Ethan exits the passenger door of an old Saturn and begins to walk up the path to the stairs. My anger flares at him as I see he’s looking down at his phone. That ungrateful son of a …
The front door opens, and he leaves the lights off as he starts to walk up the stairs. I flip them on. “Where the hell have you been?” I demand.
He stops midstep but keeps his back to me. “Out.”
“No shit!” I snap. “Where the hell were you, Ethan?”
“None of your business,” he snaps back and begins to crawl up the steps.
I move and yank him around to face me, almost making him fall down the stairs. His eyes meet mine, and mine widen. “What the hell happened to you?”
His right eye is swollen and has a blue and purple bruise. His bottom lip is cut, and he has dried blood on his chin and neck. “Jesus. What did you do?” His mouth clamps shut, and he looks away from me. I dig into the pocket of my robe. “Did you get that here?” I hold up the key card, not sure what a room key would have to do with bruises. Maybe he got into a fight with some kids. That happens at parties. And I wouldn’t be all that surprised because he’s a mouthy fucker.
His eyes widen on it, and he reaches for it, but I pull it away. “Did he give you that?”
“What? Who?” What is he talking about? “I found this in the office. It fell out of your jacket pocket.”
His shoulders slump, and he runs his hands through his shaggy hair. “Keep it,” he says before he gives me his back and walks up the steps, slamming his door shut in the process.
CHAPTER NINE
GRAVE
I STAND INSIDE Roses the following morning. She stands behind the counter in a pair of black yoga pants and a shirt that reads prick me with a rose that has thorns on the stem. It’s adorable. “I hope you like it,” she says nervously.
“I have no doubt.”
She walks away and goes into the side door behind the front counter. While I wait for her to return, I head back to the office. I smirk when I see the kid exit the office. He sees me and immediately turns his back to me, ready to run away.
“Come here,” I order him.
He comes to a stop and turns to face me with a look of annoyance on his face.
“Does she know?”
He shakes his head before dropping his eyes to his feet.
“I don’t wanna see you there again.”
That gets his attention. “But I …”
“I don’t give a fuck! If I see you at Kingdom again, I will throw you out on your ass. After I beat the shit out of it.” Kingdom is no place for a young kid like him. It’s not meant to be a place where kids hang out. It was made for adults, for men who had more money than God and were bored out of their fucking minds, needing a place to spend it. He fits neither of those qualifications.
Of course, we have our customers who get a room for the night, but our hotel is just a front. Our event center brings in major cash along with the Queens service that Titan supplies the city with. Nothing good will come from him hanging out up there.
He opens his mouth to argue again, but April walks out of the cooler. He rolls his eyes and then turns back to enter the office before she sees him. I’m not even sure who he is to her exactly. He could be a brother, or he could be some charity work she’s doing by giving him a job here. Doesn’t matter. He was there to fight last night, but he won’t be doing it again any time soon.
“Here you go.”
I reach out and grab the arrangement from her hands. “Wow!” I say, looking it over. It has five kinds of flowers with multiple colors in the pretty butterfly vase.
“I hope she likes it,” she says to me, and I swallow nervously.