Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Too harsh, Charlie. What the hell are you doing?
But Keira sat up and really looked at her. “No one talks to me like that.”
“We covered that already.”
“I know.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Look, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not all that good at the friend bit—probably because I don’t actually have friends. There isn’t a convenient playbook, and I’m kind of an asshole by default.”
Charlie frowned. “You’re not an asshole.”
“Yes, I am. And that’s okay.” Keira stood. “We can play with charcoal for a little bit. You can’t do too much damage with that.”
Charlie laughed, but the sound faded as Aiden walked into the room. She drank in the sight of him, feeling like it’d been days since she saw him last, instead of a few hours. He looked tired, but that seemed to be the norm for him. It made her want to take him away from here and spend a week or three on a beach with white sand and turquoise water.
Keira made a disgusted noise. “You two are so gross.” She headed for the door. “It’s going to take me some time to hunt down the supplies if mine have gone bad—and they probably have, since I just tossed them into a box instead of storing them correctly. We’ll do it tomorrow afternoon.”
“Sounds good.”
Aiden waited for his sister’s footsteps to move away before he sat next to Charlie on the couch and pulled her against his side. “What was that about?”
“Keira’s going to display the patience of Job and teach me how to paint.” She cuddled into his side, the feel of him settling something deep inside her. “I think she’s starting to make peace with the fact that I want to be her friend.” Surely they could stay friends even if she and Aiden weren’t together. Stop thinking about it.
Just like that, the frown disappeared, replaced by a hope so fragile, it broke her heart a little. “She’s painting again?”
Charlie hated to crush his optimism, but she didn’t want to lie. “Not exactly. She hasn’t done anything of her own, but she also didn’t totally tell me to fuck off when I asked her to teach me. So I guess it’s not all bad?”
“It’s more interest than she’s shown in years.” He shook his head. “You know, she used to have a full scholarship to RISD before she dropped out. Not that she needed it. The point is that she was good enough for one of the most prestigious art schools on the East Coast. That’s probably the saddest part of this whole thing.”
“She’s got time.” Even though she’d spent the last few years spiraling, she had more life than most people Charlie knew. If she had the chance, she’d recover and be one of those people who changed the world. “She’ll be okay.”
“Not if she marries Dmitri Romanov.” The light went out of Aiden’s eyes. He cursed and squeezed her shoulders. “Sorry. I didn’t track you down to talk about that Russian bastard.”
“It’s fine.” She shifted to straddle him, like it was the most natural thing in the world. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. “What do you want to talk about instead?”
Aiden sifted his fingers through her hair. “I ended up enjoying last night.”
“I did, too.” She’d been unexpectedly taken with Callista Sheridan. The woman was smart and driven, and she obviously had a deep love for her family.
That seemed to be the common thread that ran through all the power players in Boston, with the possible exception of the Hallorans—they valued family above all else. They were also everything she’d been taught to hate by both her father and other cops—career criminals who would never totally leave the life, no matter how many of their businesses they took legit. But even with all they’d been through, they still reached out with forgiveness, instead of cutting the very people out of their lives that they were supposed to protect.
Then there was Carrigan, who spoke so passionately about the work she was doing to combat sex trafficking. And Callista, who had mentioned in passing that she was working with several key people in Boston to fund a program that provided designated drivers to reduce the number of drunk-driving accidents.
These people were doing good in way she never could have dreamed. It didn’t mean they weren’t also bad, but it was a factor Charlie had never considered and didn’t know how to process.
“Are you hungry?”
“Actually, yes.”
Aiden guided her to her feet and stood. “I have something to show you.”
He led the way up the back stairs. He paused in front of a door that led out to a deck that she hadn’t had time to explore yet. “Wait here.” Charlie didn’t have a chance to argue. He ducked down the hallway and reappeared two minutes later with jackets for both of them and shoes for her. “It’s not exactly warm outside.”