Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
He’d beat the ever-loving shit out of Oberon. Almost to the point of death, but not quite. He’d had enough control to stop before it’d gotten that far.
But since all of Oberon’s rich friends had been in attendance to his beat down, Cassius had never stood a chance.
Then again, when he had gotten arrested and charged, he’d plead guilty. He hadn’t tried to hide his loathing and disdain for Oberon.
From there, he’d gone to trial and had gotten ten years in prison, with a possibility of parole once he’d done eight years of his time.
But why was he out so early?
Those thoughts and more raced through my brain as I made my way toward Cassius.
Would he recognize me?
Would he…
The moment I stepped onto the dock, my feet heading in his direction, Cassius’s gaze snapped up to meet and hold mine.
In that moment, I felt like my entire world had shifted on its axis.
Oh, yeah. He remembered me. Just like I remembered him.
But where I would’ve expected his eyes to be warm and welcoming—which was kind of funny because they’d never been warm and welcoming even before he’d gone to prison—they weren’t. They were anything but warm and welcoming.
“C-Cassius,” I said as I made my way closer. “It’s good to see you home.”
Why are you home so early?
I’d followed his life and his status for so long. It felt weird to be talking to him, too.
I mean, we’d never truly spoken before. I’d been a young, starry-eyed eighteen-year-old that had seen an older man and thought he was so attractive it hurt.
No other boys my age would do.
Hell, they still didn’t do.
I was practically a virgin.
Why?
Because every time it came to the point in my relationship with the opposite gender that we’d have sex, I’d never been able to follow through.
Mostly because they were always found lacking.
When you compared normal guys to men like Cassius, things didn’t quite work out the way you wanted them.
Turns out, men didn’t like being compared.
Hence the reason I’d never had a long-lasting relationship with a man in all my dating years.
“Hello,” he said. “It’s good to be home.”
That was it.
Not anything more, or anything less.
“Are you here to pilot today?” I asked.
God, just the thought of talking to him in person was like a punch to the gut.
“I’m here to work, yes,” he confirmed. “You still work here?”
The way he asked it made me sound like I was mooching off my family.
I stiffened.
“I’m here because they need me,” I confirmed. “No one else will work.”
My eyes moved toward my sister, who was leaning against a pylon about halfway through her glass of iced tea before I turned back to Cassius.
Cassius’s disgust with Jaycee was obvious. “I see nothing’s changed.”
“Nothing’s changed,” I confirmed. “Which boat are you taking out today?”
He jerked his head toward a new yacht that’d shown up yesterday. “I figured I’d start small and get the rust off before I did bigger.”
That was a good idea.
And it was also super…
“Bye.” He walked away without a backward glance.
I was momentarily shocked at his abrupt departure, but before I could think much into it, my dad arrived at my side, looking haggard and worried.
I instantly forgot about Cassius’s rudeness and focused on my dad.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He looked nervous to tell me, which was never a good thing.
My dad didn’t have any problems when it came to me. It was always the dreaded ‘your sister needs this, so you can’t do that’ thing that made my dad look like he currently did.
“I need you to listen but not get upset when I tell you.” He grimaced. “It’s not a bad thing, I don’t think.”
“Okay…” I waited for him to start in, and he did, with only a small amount of hesitation.
“We want to give your sister a chance,” Dad said, looking ill. “And to do that, we’re going to let her start working your shift at the gas station.”
That was honestly the best thing I’d heard all week.
It wasn’t that I hated working at the docks, filling up the vessels that came through. I loved it. I had a regular set of people that were some of the greatest friends I’d ever made. However, it wasn’t something that I wanted to do with my life forever.
“So what you’re saying is that I need to find a new job,” I asked for clarification.
Dad winced. “It’s not that I want to do this…”
“It’s just that Jaycee is Jaycee. I know.” I smiled. “It’s not a big deal, Dad. But, saying that, if I find a new job, I’m going to owe my loyalty to them. If they need me to work, I’ll work. You and The Marina won’t get precedence.”
My degree was in business. It was something I was passionate about. When I was sixteen, Dad had let me help with the books for The Marina and The Pizzeria, and from there, I’d fallen in love.