Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
"You know, I'm good to stay back at the house if you have other things you need to be doing."
The house was fairly empty except for random men I'd met here and there who worked for the Marino family, and I don't mean a butler or cook.
The majority of the family attended the football game tonight. It's homecoming weekend. Both Damon and Jax are on the team, and Nix is now a varsity cheerleader.
Eros has had to leave more and more lately. He has work. I'm not sure what all that entails, but he came back once with wet hair, and I knew he'd showered. If Eros were any other man, I would have said he was washing the smell of another woman off him, but I know better. He washed the blood off himself before coming home. His red knuckles had really given him away. All I asked was if it was related to me, and he said, “Not this time.”
"I want to be here." Naomi stares at me.
"Okay, why do you want to be here?"
"I like you." I have to admit her answer shocks me a bit.
"Are you trying to butter me up for something?"
"I am, but I do like you. I get a lot of outsiders who don't get me, but I can like people."
"I'm honored." I smile. "And I'm not even being a smartass."
I sit down on one of the couches. I wasn't lying when I said the place was pretty cool. It's a bit away from Cosima and Z's home, stationed closer to Ronan and Marks’s. Which makes sense because it's Marks’s father that is a doomsday prepper, and this is most definitely a bunker. I’m trying to get better at calling Ellie by her nickname, Marks, like everyone else but it’s taking some getting used to.
The bunker has a secret garden near it. We had to push aside a beautiful rose wall that revealed stone stairs that led down into the bunker. It might be a bunker, but it isn't a war room.
I take that back. It could be one, but there are also chandeliers hung from the ceiling and pink explosions everywhere. I have no doubt Marks might have designed this place, but Cosima sure as fuck decorated it. It has her name written all over it. The couch is even a soft velvet that I can't stop running my hands across.
"You believe me?"
"That you like me?"
"That I can like you." She tilts her head slightly, her eyes never leaving me.
"Yes, I mean, War is your father, and it's clear he has affection for his family." And I'm shacking up with Eros.
There are times around his family that he can appear cold, but it's how he carries himself. Not everyone is expressive in the same ways.
It's fascinating to watch them all together, which I'd done at their weekly Sunday dinner.
"And you have a lot of affection for your mother as well." Naomi softens around Tova. It was sweet to watch her mom fuss over her, and Naomi fully allowed it. I might say I enjoyed it.
"My mom is different." Naomi's mouth pulls up on one side. I wonder if I enjoy Naomi so much because she reminds me of Eros but is more chatty. Naomi's got questions, and she wants the answers.
"She's really sweet."
Naomi nods.
"I could potentially be sweet." Her brows pull together as though she's not a fan of her own idea. I'm a bit hung up on potentially. It's an intriguing use of the word there but also fitting.
"Don't force it," I laugh. "If someone inclines you to be sweet, it will happen. No?"
"Maybe." Again, she doesn't appear to care for her own response.
"So ulterior motives."
"Right." Naomi pauses.
"Girl, just spit it out. I don't need you to pretty it up for me."
"See, I knew I liked you." Naomi stands, and I watch her walk over to a wall that has a television mounted on it. She grips some latch, pushing the wall to the side to reveal another wall behind it. Only this one is covered in pictures with string things linking them together.
Holy crap. I feel like I’ve been transported to an FBI headquarters. I take everything in, amazed at how extensive this display is. This must have taken Naomi a fair amount of time to put together.
There are two pictures at the center. My father and me.
"At least you picked a good picture of me."
"It wasn't difficult. You're very pretty."
"I told you. You don't have to butter me up."
"I'm not; I actually like your style."
"I would offer to go shopping with you, but Nix might kill me."
"This is true," Naomi says with such confidence that if I didn't know Eros would lose his shit if anyone so much as touched a hair on my head, I'd say Naomi is dead-ass serious. "Now to my murder board." She glances over at me. "Sorry, we can choose a different name for it. I'm open to suggestions." Again, she’s dead-ass serious.