Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“I’ve got half a turkey sub with your name on it.”
He hummed, corner of his mouth tugging up as he peered at me through slitted eyes. “Feed me, nurse?”
“You’re river dancing on the last of your luck.”
Another laugh was cut off by a groan. “Help me sit up?”
A reasonable request. I moved to his head, slowly lifting him by the shoulders and sliding onto the spot, letting Sunny rest on my back. His hairs tickled my cheek, sticking as easily to me as the ridges of his spine against mine. I felt every ridge. Shuddered to each movement.
“Soooo,” I drew out. “Sole’s an interesting name.”
“It means sun.”
“It’s also a girl name.”
“Ah, so my angel is beautiful and brutal. Much like the real thing I imagine.”
I giggled for the both of us. “Nothing against your parents. I like Sole. Certainly more unique than Mackenzie.”
“Really want to sit around talking about name meanings, or do you want to ask the questions that’ve been on your mind since you found out who I am?”
I bit my lip. So much for getting him to open up through small talk.
“I’ve been told you’re dangerous. Personally, I like to get to know a man before I dismiss him as a duplicitous liar. Never let it be said I’m prejudiced.”
“Great use of duplicitous.”
“I’m a college-educated bum, thank you very much.”
He shook with mirth, shaking me in turn.
“Anyway,” I continued. “I helped you because you’re a human being and you needed it. But what my sister and I don’t need is trouble. While I get you have no reason to be honest about this, if you’re tangled up with dangerous people that make a habit of throwing people off highways, promise that when you’re well, you’ll go back to your life and leave mine in peace. The last thing I need is more people after me.”
“That’s all you want? A mutual parting of ways?”
“Yes.”
“Can I at least treat you to a dinner that isn’t a soggy sandwich?”
“Not necessary.”
“Hmm.” He was quiet for a long stretch. “You’re one of a kind, Mackenzie Blaine.”
“I’ve always thought so.”
“Still, I meant it. Whatever you want, if I can, I’ll give it to you. I don’t take my debts lightly.”
“I don’t collect debts. Besides...” Her face floated in my mind, so real and beautiful my chest ached. “What I truly want, you can’t give me.”
“How long you been living rough?”
“Almost a year.”
“Mind if I ask how a beautiful, kind, college-educated woman such as yourself ends up on the streets?”
“That’s a long story. Mind if I ask how a strapping young mobster ends up flying over a ledge?”
Sunny dropped his head on my shoulder, casual as can be. “Doesn’t the mobster part cover it? We tend to pick up enemies.”
“Enemies or victims?” I probed. “Was pale-faced baldy avenging the death of his father or something?”
“Couldn’t tell you since I don’t know who he is. Whatever you heard about me and my family, Kenzie, I can promise you fact became legend long ago.”
“I heard you rule the city.”
“We keep the peace,” he replied smoothly. “No one’s fond of the lawmaker. They like the enforcer even less. All the same, we provide the needed service of policing the underworld. The old headlines will tell you what Cinco was like before we stepped in.”
The headlines didn’t have to tell me. I read the stories, heard the tales. Decades ago, a ledger filled with the deepest secrets of the most dangerous men turned the city on its head. Each new owner filled it with what they knew, then died tragically at the hands of a new owner.
Judges, politicians, wardens, business owners, monsters—everyone with the slightest bit of power found their way into the ledger, and therefore under the control of whoever owned it. Cinco City fell into a dark period. The convicts ran the prison, and no one was policing the fence. For a while, it seemed nothing could stop the spread of evil.
Then, Adeline Redgrave rose from the ashes like a phoenix, turning the city on its spires. We all woke from the worst night in our history to tales of her death and a smoldering fire that claimed the ledger. Until its secrets hit the news.
“I can’t do the compare-contrast game since all of this went down long before I was born.” I glanced around. “But if this is a better life, I can only imagine the hellscape I would’ve survived in forty years ago.”
“Your life may turn around sooner than you think,” Sunny said. “I’d like to hear your long story. What else do we have to do but—? Hello, hello. When the goddess sends a rescue crew, she chooses her best and finest.”
I rolled my eyes over Sienna’s giggling. How this guy had the energy or inclination to flirt hours after crashing onto a tent and undergoing surgery was beyond me. A picture was beginning to form of Sole Bellisario, and it looked a lot like the rich, self-satisfied high-society folk I once struggled to impress.