Total pages in book: 211
Estimated words: 201554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1008(@200wpm)___ 806(@250wpm)___ 672(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 201554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1008(@200wpm)___ 806(@250wpm)___ 672(@300wpm)
While I actually really appreciate his efforts, I tune out Savage and his song. I’m thinking about how completely done Eric is with this family. So am I but in contrast I haven’t suffered at their hands, while he’s been a literal victim of mental torture. They played on his need for family, for belonging. I remember a point where he denied being a part of them and turned around not long after and said he was done denying that he’s a Kingston. I hope like hell he doesn’t think that gives him a free pass to act like a Kingston considering the Kingstons just tried to kill me. Is that what he means by “end” his father? Does he intend to kill him? Does he believe he’s the one who ordered the hit on me and now he wants revenge?
I turn in Eric’s arms, and search his handsome, unreadable face, trying to understand where his head is right now. He gives me no hint. I simply don’t find my answer, and I can’t demand one with Savage in the car. But I can feel the press of time with his father arriving. He’s here to see Eric and he’s going to reach out to him sooner than later. If it’s sooner, I will have no influence over Eric, and I don’t want to think about what comes next.
Avenging his mother is unfinished business.
And I truly believe that in his mind, it’s an unfinished equation that will drive him insane until it’s finished. Together, we have to find a way to finish it that doesn’t get bloody.
Chapter fifty-six
Harper
The elevator dings, and the doors open.
Savage exits first, and when I would follow, Eric catches my arm and turns me to him. “I love that you are sweet, and good, and right, even when everyone else is doing everything wrong. I’m not thinking you are one of them.”
“I know that. You know I know that.”
“Do you?”
“I think you get confused sometimes. I think—a lot of things.”
“Trust me, please, to only do what is necessary. If I was going to fly off the handle and go for blood for revenge, I would have already done it.” I can feel the doors shut at my back as he adds, “Okay?”
“I have way too much to say to that to be able to articulate it in an elevator, but I trust you. I would never have come to you if I didn’t.”
Something flickers in his eyes, something dark and stormy that I do not understand. He captures my hand. “Let’s get out of here.” He maneuvers us, and punches the button to open the door. There’s a shift in him now, as if he’s closed himself off again, and I have a bad feeling I should have stayed in that elevator and finished our talk.
Savage is standing at the apartment door at the end of a long hallway, looking exceedingly bored, and holding up a wall, his arms and feet crossed. “I’m guessing he wants that drink,” Eric murmurs.
“He does have a way of getting his point across,” I agree, but we’re speaking empty words, while other, more important conversations wait to be had.
We join Savage, and he pushes off the wall. “You have a houseful of assholes in there waiting on you.”
“Who?” I ask.
“Our men,” Savage answers, and Eric keys in a code at his door, and opens it.
“You hacking my door now, Savage?” Eric asks. “If you hacked my locks, I’ll have to kill you.”
Savage chuckles and I get the feeling that despite Eric’s stern tone, this is some shared joke between the two of them. “You’ll have to kill me another day,” Savage replies. “Grayson used his key.”
That announcement is a nugget of welcome information. Grayson is not only here, he’s close enough to Eric to have a key, and as a bonus, it’s already clear to me that he’s a voice of reason and morality. Eric opens the door and pulls me in front of him, his hands scorching my waist, as he leans in close to whisper. “Welcome to my home. I hate that we’re not alone.”
My breath hitches with emotion and I reach up and touch his face. “Me, too,” I whisper, and in this moment, there is only me and him, and him and me. There is us and I can almost hear his wicked thoughts, and feel his hands on my body in places he’s not touching. Savage clears his throat, and Eric shoves the door wider, his hands falling away, when I wish I could pull them back.
I enter a narrow hallway with gorgeous gray and blue Chevron parquet hardwood beneath my feet. A glance up and the wall above the walkway steals my breath, because in the center is a magnificent painting of a jaguar.
Eric steps to my side and catches my fingers with his, his eyes alight with mischief. “I saw that painting and just had to have it.”