Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
I kick at the water.
Tonight, after the club closed, I couldn’t stand the thought of going back home to compulsively wail on my numb-to-the-world-clit.
So I drove here. My stupid brother has to talk to me eventually. I figured there was no point ringing the doorbell, so I just came around to the back, hopped the security fence, and made myself at home in his hot tub.
Frankly, I’m shocked attack dogs haven’t come and ripped my throat out. Domhn’s such a freak about security. I figured a bunch of alarms would have gone off by now and the cops would be hauling my ass away.
Does that mean he still loves me if he disabled the alarms enough to just ignore me and not call the cops?
I kick angrily at the water again.
Of course, he’s ignoring me. I don’t exist, right? I’m dead to him. Fucking bullshit. He should be so lucky. He can’t get rid of me that easily.
At least it’s one thing keeping me from wanting to disappear off the face of the earth. Fucking spite. I mean, yes, it would be fun to haunt his ass and see how bad he felt for saying all the things he’s said—
The bubbles suddenly turn off.
I swing my head around toward the back of the house.
“Domhn?”
Then I realize, no. It was just the stupid timer. I’ve been in here for an hour already? Sighing, I drop all the way underneath the water. The hot tub is big enough that I can submerge my entire body.
I look up through the circles of settling water at the big, full moon.
It’s so bright.
But lonely, too, up there by itself in the sky. I’ve always been a moon child, preferring night to day. Just you and me, pal, I say to the moon from underneath the water, bubbles coming out of my mouth with each word.
I stay under until my lungs burn.
Slowly, I bring my face out of the hot water.
The cold air feels like a relief. I’ve been in too long, but I don’t want to leave yet.
Maybe just another hour. There are towels by the grill. I could wrap myself up in them and sleep by the pool until Domhn’s forced to kick me out tomorrow.
Just as I’m daydreaming all the ways I could try to get my brother’s attention, movement at the edge of the yard catches my eye.
What the fuck?
I know why I’m back here, but who the fuck else is trespassing in my brother’s backyard at this hour?
I slink back down in the water so that only the top of my head and eyes are over the edge, like a crocodile, watching a figure in black jog toward the house.
Fucking seriously?
Am I watching someone try to rob my brother? Yes, his security will keep them out… but I could always try to stop them, too.
That’s, like, fucking heroic. And if they, I dunno, knife me in the process, well… at least it’ll be noticeable.
I slip, dripping but still relatively quiet, out of the hot tub.
Then I run on bare feet toward the figure right as they manage to pry the kitchen window open without setting off any alarms at all. Maybe they’re silent, only lighting up Domhn’s phone or something.
Either way, the intruder has one leg over the windowsill and is about to climb in before I leap forward to grab them and yank them back to the deck.
They yelp—a much higher-pitched sound than I’m expecting—and before I can grab their wrists to pin them, they’ve flipped me and got me pinned.
“Anna?!” I gasp in shock when I realize it’s my soon-to-be sister-in-law crouched on top of me. “What the hell are you—?”
But her hand slamming down over my mouth silences me. By the hard way she’s glaring at me and shaking her head no—I get it.
It’s not Anna. It’s obviously Mads running the show right now.
I nod to let Mads know that I won’t make a noise.
She looks suspicious but still lets go of my mouth.
“Mads,” I whisper, “What the hell are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” she laughs. “Why are you drenched in nothing but your underwear in my backyard?”
Right. I look down at myself. I figured underwear worked as well as a bikini. I can’t decide which of us is being weirder right now. “I was stopping by to borrow the hot tub. Now you.”
She sighs, rolls her eyes, and climbs off me. “Can’t a girl take a night-time stroll without being interrogated?”
I raise an eyebrow, looking her up and down in her totally black burglar outfit.
So she’s sneaking because Domhn doesn’t know she’s out… and that’s why all hell didn’t get raised when I hopped the fence.
“You disabled his security,” I breathe in realization.
She shrugs. “He’s not the only one who’s good with a computer.”
“Where were you?”
“None of your business, kid.” Her tone’s sharp now. “Now get out of here.” Then her brow pinches. “Where the hell’s your car, anyway? I didn’t see it on the way in?”