Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Amory,” I warned. “I need you to get in your car and drive away.”
Not wanting to stand out here any longer while all the things I’d been wishing for had gone up in a blaze, leaving nothing but ashes behind, I walked toward the house. His footsteps didn’t follow me, and I was relieved, although every move I made farther away, the layers of disillusionment thickened, making the magical time I’d had with him earlier a painful regret.
• Sixteen •
“We fuck the hot pussy. We don’t love it. How many times do I need to remind you?”
Sebastian
I poured my third full glass of whiskey. I hadn’t gone up to the house, but stopped at the stables instead. Other than the horses, the buildings were empty. While I lifted it to my lips to drink it down in one long gulp, hoping to numb the shit roaring inside me, the door opened, and I cut my eyes in that direction to see King walk inside, followed by my brother. I finished the drink and leaned against the bar.
“What’s got you drinking Jack like it’s water?” Thatcher asked.
“I’m gonna toss out a guess here and say she’s about five-seven, blonde, and excellent at pool,” King replied with a smirk as he walked behind the bar.
“The girl you’re supposed to use to infiltrate the Dancastles?”
I didn’t like the way he’d said it or how he’d said it. Grabbing the bottle, I poured more whiskey into my now-empty glass.
“Fuck, if you’re gonna drink it like that, at least drink something better than Jack,” King said to me, sliding the bottle he’d just poured from in my direction.
I glanced down at the five-hundred-dollar bottle of scotch. “Why waste it?” I replied. “It’s not like I’m drinking for enjoyment.”
“He has a point,” Thatcher agreed. “Don’t give him that. But pour me a glass.”
The door opened again, and Wells came walking inside with Teller, his younger brother. He’d just turned twenty this summer, but unlike the rest of us, he hadn’t been pushed into the family workings just yet.
“What the fuck is Teller doing here?” I asked.
“Stellan and Roland were informed that it was time Teller made a decision. He’s a part of this, or he isn’t,” Thatcher replied.
I didn’t have to ask who had informed them. It would have come from the top. Blaise Hughes would have made the call, taking Roland’s decision to let his youngest son finish college like a normal student out of his hands.
Wells slapped his brother on the back. “It’s about time Momma’s best boy got his hands dirty,” he said with a mocking grin.
Teller had always been their mother’s favorite, and it chafed the hell out of Wells. His narcissistic personality didn’t handle it well. Unlike Thatcher, who gave not one fuck about the fact that I was our mother’s favorite.
“Easy, brother. Your envy is showing,” Teller replied with a cocky grin, then walked over toward me—or rather the bar.
I liked Teller. He’d been annoying as fuck when he was a kid, always getting into our shit, but he hadn’t seemed to inherit all the bad traits that made Wells hard to like.
“Fuck off,” Wells shot back at him. “At least I wasn’t raised to be a pussy.”
“Could you not come in here with that shit? Keep your family drama at home,” King told them both. The irritation was clear in his voice.
“Sorry,” Teller replied. “Can I have some of that?”
King moved the scotch over to him. “Drink up, little Jones.”
Thatcher nodded his head toward Teller while looking at me. “You know, he could take your current job if you want out of it.”
I stared back at my brother, trying to gauge what he was attempting to do here. I’d come to get drunk so I wouldn’t have to deal with tonight. Not because I wanted to be rid of Royal.
“Are you trying to start shit with me?” I asked him.
“Fuck,” King muttered behind me.
Thatcher cocked an eyebrow. “You tell me.”
“What’s the job?” Teller asked, but I didn’t look at him.
“One you won’t be taking,” I said through clenched teeth.
Thatcher cut his eyes to Teller. “He’s closer to her age. It would make more sense.”
I slammed my glass down on the bar. Thatcher’s lips twitched like he might smile.
Fucking asshole.
“He’s not going near her,” I told him.
Thatcher chuckled that deep, sadistic sound that was rarely heard. “All right then. I was just trying to be helpful.”
“Bullshit! You are never helpful,” I snapped.
“Sebastian, please don’t tell me you went and fell in love again,” Wells said with a roll of his eyes. “Jesus, dude, what is your deal? We fuck the hot pussy. We don’t love it. How many times do I need to remind you?”
I narrowed my eyes as I glared at his smug face. Like he knew shit about anything. “I’m not in love. I’ve never been in love. But Royal is complicated, and I’m not sure …” I paused because I wasn’t saying she was innocent yet. I had to do some more investigating before I announced her innocence in all this. “She’s different.”