Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 114936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“What?” Kyrin interrupts, and I pause, annoyed that I’m once again having to stop my story to talk about shit that has no relevance to the endgame.
“What, what, brother?” My tone is sharp. I intended it to be. “You found out about him and me being close.”
“I know that!” he snaps, and when I really look into Kyrin’s eyes, I can see our father in there—or should I say his father—he’s like the shadow that follows him everywhere without him knowing. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just… a scary thing. “Why were you riding around with him?”
“Because I was getting drunk with Nial at this bar down the road—”
“—what? How the fuck old were you when you were drinking at this fucking bar?” Keaton’s turn to snap at me now.
My shoulders pull back and my eyes narrow on his. “Old enough to fuck you. And have you phone fuck me outside of it.”
Keaton’s face falls as if he remembers.
Kyrin launches off the chair. “What!” Oh God. This is not good. He continues his steps toward the kitchen, angered and heavy. “You fucked my sister back then!” he yells so loud spit flies out of his mouth and the veins in his neck swell against his skin.
Lilith and I look back at each other, our expressions mirroring one another. I cheers her and she responds with her own as we both take another sip of wine. Something smashes to the floor around yelling, and I think King has entered, and Christopher has taken the spot beside me on the sofa, his hand resting on mine with reassurance. Glass is flying, more yelling, and all Lilith and I do is sit. And wait. And drink.
I squeeze my thigh. “This guy…” I whisper, and even above the boys fighting in the kitchen, Lilith’s attention is solely on me. She shifts to the coffee table, sitting directly opposite me now with her wineglass between the palms of her hands.
“Tell me,” she urges, her eyes wide and cheeks rosy. “Tell me it all.” Eli has always been the lifeline between Kyrin and Lilith. They needed him to stay alive the same way that they needed him to not kill each other.
“On this day, we thought we got away from them, but we drove back to my apartment and Dominic was sitting in the lounge with two other people. He looked like he stepped right out of a mafia movie.” The yelling has simmered down enough to hear me speak, and it’s not until I open my mouth to say the next part that I feel the flame of Keaton hover right beside me until he’s sitting on the couch. “I thought it had to do with Eli. I mean, for years I assumed it had to do with him because of The Kings. I thought it was one of their dodgy dealings and they’d come to collect—or I don’t know—whatever.” I take another sip as Keaton’s thigh presses against mine.
My pulse slows in my ears, but I continue. “Their exchange was odd. Almost as though they both knew why the other was there, but none of them were going to say it out loud. I’ve replayed it over and over in my head. Like what did I miss? Was there something I could have picked up on?” I shake my head. “The man wasn’t there for Eli. I think some of you met him already at one of his venues. Anyway, when I finally hunted them down and found Eli after months of trying, I stumbled across Dominic again. That was when Eli told me to stop looking or people were going to get hurt and that he has it under control.”
“Dominic…” King repeats out loud, a glass of whiskey between his fingers as he looks down at the street below from the window. His hair is a mess and there’s sweat soaked into his shirt. No doubt from trying to break up Kyrin and Keaton. “I wouldn’t have thought he was really into anything. Aside from his clubs.”
“I’ve done some research since then,” I say, catching Jordan’s eye and nodding at him.
Jordan smiles weakly before disappearing and returning with my laptop. He places it on the coffee table beside Lilith and I open it up, typing in my password.
“So he is alive?” Lilith whispers so low I almost miss it.
I rest my hand on her thigh. “He is. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Please know that I’m trying to do what’s best for him.”
Her lip quivers a little, her eyes turning glassy. “I don’t care about that. I’m just glad he’s alive.” I look over her shoulder to where Kyrin stands in the kitchen, holding a glass of vodka and staring out the window, his back turned to us. What he says to come clean with her will be between them. It’s not my place to tell Lilith that he’s known all along.