Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 196(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 196(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
When he first showed up in the garden my only thought was of getting away from him. But here we are three hours later and it’s like I’ve met someone else entirely halfway through our little excursion.
He’d bought me ice cream, and later, we had lunch at this cute little café where he asked me about myself. Not only did he ask, but seemed genuinely interested in my response.
I was afraid at first to talk. After all I still didn’t know what Lisa was up to and how much she wanted me to share. I knew for sure it was a good bet she didn’t want me telling the truth though.
But he was so relaxed, so easy going. And his questions seemed more like genuine getting to know you questions than a digging expedition. And besides, she hadn’t said not to talk to him.
So it was that I felt myself relaxing in his presence, even laughing a time or two, so that by the time we got back into the car headed back to the mansion, I had lost my earlier reticence.
He still makes me nervous, but that fear of him disliking me, of him posing a threat, had eased immensely. It was almost like night and day, and I wondered as we drove back if he was one of those people who switched moods at will.
“What are your plans for the rest of the summer Elaina?”
“Um, I don’t really know. I haven’t left Piedmont in the last five years. Usually I just did a lot of reading and helped out….”
I stopped talking when I caught the look on his face. Why was there a tick in his jaw? Now I was back to being afraid. Somehow he seemed to notice and set about trying to soothe me. Very confusing indeed.
“Don’t be afraid of me, I’m not going to hurt you. I just don’t like hearing that you were shut away at boarding school all that time. Are you sure you’re not exaggerating?” Oh boy, I think I may have said more than I should. What if he says something to Lisa?
“Oh it wasn’t that bad, please don’t worry about it. You’re not going to tell my…you’re not going to tell my mother are you?” I felt sick at the thought. It had been a while since I felt the repercussions of her wrath but I well remember them.
Well remember the feel of her nails biting into my skin. Or will it be the starvation treatment? That one I can deal with. Not when I was a child of four or five of course, but now it would be a breeze.
There were so many times that she’d forgot to send money to cover my meals, I’d become a master at what the rich and aimless call intermittent fasting.
LUKE
Fuck! How could I have been so wrong? I almost made a horrible mistake. Could I really have misread her that much? I’m not usually that wrong in my assessment of people. I can’t afford to be.
But if I go by what I learned today I have no choice but to accept that I might have accused her wrongfully in my mind. It was hard to reconcile the two differing aspects of the girl sitting next to me. To accept that I may have done her an injustice if only in my mind.
But I’d been so sure that she was no different from her mother. Yesterday when we met…. No after today it’s obvious that she wasn’t trying to seduce me, it’s just her natural allure. And that little extra something in her that seems to call out to me.
I can’t think about it now, not while she’s so near. I have to wait until she’s no longer here, when her very presence is no longer influencing me, which in itself is a problem that I’ll have to deal with later. After I’ve figured this shit out one-way or another.
I was a little distracted when I took her back to the mansion and for some reason was reluctant to leave her there without me to protect her. Where the fuck are these strange thoughts coming from?
And she only made shit worst with the look she gave me when I told her I was leaving. She did everything but beg me to stay. With her lips anyway. Her eyes were saying it enough for her. That’s why I found myself doing something that was very unlike me.
“Don’t worry little one, I’ll come take you out somewhere tomorrow, would you like that?” I brushed my finger down her cheek and couldn’t remember ever feeling that tender towards anyone in my life. What is it about this girl?
In the space of one day she’d taken me from one emotion to another without even trying. It was the first time in my life that this has ever happened to me and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. She nodded her head at my offer and I could’ve sworn she was close to tears.