Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
A blade of guilt stabbed into my spirit.
I never should have let it happen, and now…
“Um, how do you think I saw her? Did you think I was just going to stay in my room?” She widened her hazel eyes like I was dense.
Of course not. It wasn’t like she ever listened to what I said.
“But don’t worry. I made sure I was set up in prime position to get a peek at her without drawing attention to myself when you showed her to her room. Out of sight like you told me.”
She gave me a sass-filled look that declared my rules were ridiculous. Then she arched an accusing brow. “She didn’t seem to like you all that much.”
Brody laughed as he set the milk onto the counter next to Meems. “What sane woman does? Why all these passarounds try to catch Silas’s eye, I’ll never know.”
“Now, none of that,” Meems scolded. “We’ve got little ears in the house.”
I glanced at Kai who was sweetly oblivious, back to sucking at another orange slice that had been set on his tray.
“Want you all to keep your distance from her,” I warned as I strode around the counter, heading for the coffee pot. “Know you want to make her feel welcome, Elena, but this isn’t playtime.”
“You don’t need to talk to me like I’m five, Silas,” she spouted back. “I know it’s not playtime, but I don’t see anything wrong with her feeling like she isn’t alone while she’s here. You could at least be nice to her.”
“There’s no need for her to like me,” I grumbled as I filled a travel mug full of dark brew.
Steam billowed out from the top, and I took a sip of the hot liquid, that first hit soothing my senses.
I turned to my family.
Gaze pointed. “My only concern is her safety, same as the rest of yours. I expect you to respect that.”
“So you plan on keeping her in a box the way you do me?” It was a straight accusation from Elena.
Frustration huffed from my lungs. “I don’t keep you in a box.”
“Twelve-foot-high walls in a perfect square around ten acres.” Elena lifted her hands like she was juggling an equation. “Seems to me the property is quite literally a box.”
I sighed, not in the mood to argue with her. “What I plan on is you keeping your distance from her. I don’t need this situation any messier than it already is. Have enough on my plate without having to worry about what she’s up to, or what you’re up to, for that matter.”
Hated that it looked like hurt that bunched up Elena’s brow, but fuck, she had no idea the burden that was sitting on my shoulders.
My head barely above water.
Meems must have picked up on my agitation because she shuffled over to me.
Our grandmother was nearing eighty. Plump and her head barely coming up to my chest.
She might have looked frail, her gait hobbled a bit, her back slouched with her age, but she was the strongest woman I’d ever known.
She was the one who’d stepped in and cared for us when there was no one left to do it.
The one who remained at my side even after I made a choice she begged me not to make.
She set her hand on my cheek, her hazel eyes peering into mine like she was searching for someone she used to know.
“You don’t have to carry it all, Silas. I’m right here.”
She glanced at my brother and sister, who were staring back at us, before she returned her attention to me.
“We’re all right here. And we’re always going to be. I know you think everything falls on you, but it doesn’t. And we do respect you. We respect who you are and all that you’ve done for this family. But if that girl is here and doesn’t know anything like you said, then she’s probably scared and feeling alone, and she’s going to need support. It’s not right to treat her like a prisoner.”
Brinley Webber scared? Not even close.
My stomach clutched around the thought. Something about it didn’t sit right. Not when it was clear what had been in her voice when she demanded that I release her last night.
Terror.
Terror hidden behind black, viscid rage.
“She’s not going to be alone,” I forced out around the lump in my throat. “She’s going to be working at the shop.”
Elena fucking clapped, giddy as hell. “Best news ever! Guess I’m going to have to take a jaunt over there today and formally introduce myself.”
I started to tell her not a chance in hell but clipped off with a grunt of surrender when Meems sent me a warning glare.
I took a swig of my blazing hot coffee. Burning the fuck out of my tongue.
Yup.
This was a mistake.
A terrible fucking mistake.