Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Jake cocked his head. “What’s so bad about him?”
A visible shudder went through Gray. “He’s like a fucking ghost. When I met him the first time, I was waiting alone in the middle of nowhere, and then I heard a noise, turned, and he was two steps behind me, with that... smile. To this day I don’t know how he managed to creep up on me like that. I don’t trust him.”
Jake stalled. That sounded exactly like the man Vars had talked about, Damon. This couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Vars had worked for Magpie too after all. “Oh, man… If he crept up on you, he must be skilled, so he should be an asset for the job, right?”
Gray shrugged, but the sound of the door to the gym opening shut him up.
Heavy footsteps filled the resulting silence, and Jake recognized Beast by his gait before he turned up from behind the wall. A wide smile twisted his burned face. “You two at it again?”
Jake grinned and made his pecs twitch as a joke. “I’m gonna outgrow you soon.” That was hardly ever going to happen with Beast’s height, but Jake was definitely building muscle and stamina.
Beast laughed. “Happy to hear that. You must work on your skills if you want to be patched in.”
Before Jake could answer, Gray butted in sharply, “He’s perfectly ready for it. Has been for a while.”
Butterflies flapped their wings in Jake’s stomach at the endorsement, even if they quickly got caught in cobwebs made out of fear. He had no idea how his life would look like once he becomes a member.
“So… yeah, how’s the progress on that, prez?” Jake nudged Beast’s fist.
Beast was rarely out of words, but he was so now. In the end, he cleared his throat, sending Gray a sharp glare, but Gray ignored it and raised his eyebrows higher, as if to accentuate that he was still waiting for an answer.
“I never said he’s not, but you must see that there’s been a lot going on since King died.”
“You found time to get married. You find time to drive around the grounds with Laurent, teaching him how not to wreck himself. Why not throw one of the parties we have every fucking night, this time in Jake’s honor, and give him his hard-earned patch?” Gray asked without a moment’s hesitation.
Beast’s face became tenser with each word spilling out of Gray’s mouth, up to the point when it was getting Jake on edge.
Beast snarled. “Those kind of talks should be kept with only members present. I don’t make all the decisions.”
“I tried having this conversation during church, and it didn’t work out. Is there a problem, Beast?”
“You know there are more pressing matters now than Jake’s patch—” Beast glanced at Jake “—no offense. And I haven’t found time to get married. That’s next month. And instead of running errands for that like they’re supposed to, Laurent and Elliot are wasting time reading some ancient diaries they had translated. They get a new chapter every now and then, and it’s like they’re getting a new fucking soap episode. This time it’s about a man breathing fire. Seriously. I don’t even know if this is nineteenth century bullshit, or if the translator is making shit up. If he is, I will find him and twist his balls off myself!”
Jake couldn’t breathe. He’d always assumed the diaries were some Ghostbuster bullshit for Elliot’s YouTube channel, even if Elliot claimed to have found them in the goddamn cellar. In the same room that had a secret cage under the carpet. What if those diaries held some knowledge about what was happening to him?
Beast went on, unaware of the panic his words unleashed in Jake, “And besides, we’re just gonna patch him and Vars in together.”
“Why?” Jake asked before he could think. He knew he shouldn’t question Beast’s authority, and yet the special treatment Vars kept getting struck him to the core. Was it because he was older? Because he was good with numbers and taxes?
“You figure it out yourself, Jake, Christ!” Beast barked at him with anger that made Jake take a step back.
“I’d like to know too,” Gray said, and Jake could have sworn the hair on his head bristled.
Beast sighed in theatrical exasperation. “He’s been vouched for, he’s experienced, he’s got contacts, should I keep going? Strong, smart, responsible. I’m sure he won’t cause us any trouble, so yes, Gray, I want to patch them in together. Happy, Jake?”
Jake nodded, so that Gray would give it a rest, but he wasn’t happy at all. His whole body stung with the indignity of what he’d heard. On one hand, Beast had always supported and championed him, he’d been the one to advocate for letting Jake prospect when King had been against it. And yet it seemed that no matter how hard Jake worked, how much he tried to please everyone, Vars would always be better, even if the members had only known him for three weeks.