Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Still think you have a choice, do you?” I tighten my grip on her wrist, letting her feel who is in charge. “When will you just give in and submit to me?”
“Never.” She tries to pull her wrist from my grip, but I don’t budge. “Can I please go back to work now?”
“Well, of course, since you asked so nicely.” I release her arm with a shove. “I’ll see you at school, bird. Have fun working.” I stand up and take a step away from her. If I didn’t have Tia with me, I would play with her a little longer, but my sister comes first. I walk down toward the ice cream section of the store. I have plenty of time to play with my toy, and I intend to do a lot of that soon.
I need to get her alone again. Maybe I can visit her at home. My nose wrinkles at the thought of her tiny, dirty apartment. I don’t want to fuck her there. What are my choices? I can’t take her home to my place. An idea forms in my mind. An idea I like more and more the longer I think about it. Tomorrow, I’ll find a new place for my little bird, a cage I’ll have the key to.
I know it from the second I pull into the driveway. There’s something wrong.
Tia is happily oblivious, talking about how much she wants to watch a movie and eat ice cream together later tonight. I don’t want her to think I’m ignoring her, so I give her a couple of grunts and nod where it seems appropriate, until the sight of a familiar car parked in the courtyard in front of the house is all I can think about. I would know Richard Kingsley’s Mercedes anywhere. He babies that thing like I’ve never seen anybody baby a car. Tucker isn’t allowed anywhere near it. His own son, and Richard would kill him for so much as laying a finger on the silver exterior.
If he’s here at the house, something big is happening. He doesn’t randomly visit this side of Wicked Falls. It means stepping down from his throne and leaving the castle he lives in on the other side of town. He’s never been anything but respectful and civil toward me, though I have to imagine he looks at me as my father’s son. Not as myself.
I play it off, taking the groceries from the back of the truck while Tia goes on and on. “You’ve got to do something for me if you want to watch a movie later during ice cream.” She looks up at me as we approach the front door. “You have to go up and take a nap.”
“A nap?” She wrinkles her nose and looks at me like she has to be imagining things. “I don’t need a nap. I’m not a baby. I’m almost seven.”
“Really? Tell that to me later on when you fall asleep twenty minutes into a movie you picked out. I’ll end up having to watch the whole thing while you’re snoring and drooling all over the place.”
“I don’t snore! And I don’t drool.” Because she’s too smart, she holds up a finger. “And if I’m asleep, you can turn the movie off and watch something else. Duh.”
Just before opening the front door, I crouch in front of her and look her straight in the eyes. “Go upstairs and take a nap, or no movie and no ice cream. That’s final.”
I can tell she’s weighing her options while my heart pounds in my ears. I need her upstairs and away from whatever is happening between Richard and Dad. Or rather, to Dad, courtesy of Richard. I really doubt he showed up for a friendly chat.
“Fine,” she huffs. “I’ll take a nap. We’re still watching a movie, though, right?”
“You bet. Go ahead.” I give her a gentle nudge toward the stairs, and she wastes no time running across the hall and racing up to her room. Thank fuck.
The kitchen is on the way to Dad’s office, which I’m assuming is where they would meet up. I put the ice cream away quickly before standing in the hall, staring in that direction, listening to the muffled sounds coming from behind the closed door. I can’t make out what they’re saying—or what he’s saying, only Richard, since it seems like Dad is staying quiet for the most part. For once.
“Where do you get the audacity,” Richard almost barks as I reach the closed door, “to embarrass yourself and me by confronting me in public? What the fuck goes on in your head? Or have you drunk it all the way?” he asks. I have to grin to myself, even if my father’s shitty decisions trickle down on me, and more importantly, on Tia. At least I get to witness somebody calling him on his shit.