Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 90972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
“I won’t talk to any guys,” I promise. “But you can’t talk to any girls, either.”
A wide grin spreads across his face. “I’m too busy stalking you, remember.”
I laugh. “That’s not as endearing as you try to make it sound.”
“Maybe it’s my love language.” Kellen shrugs.
“I don’t doubt it.”
“I guess I should go,” he says, sadness pooling in his eyes.
“I was actually leaving, too. We can walk out together,” I offer.
He nods, and I pack up my laptop and charging cable. Getting up from my chair, I sling my bag over my shoulder. Kellen gets up from his chair and together we walk out of the coffee shop.
“My car is parked over there.” I point to the corner of the street.
“I’ll walk you there.”
Less than two minutes later we are standing in front of my car, and I am wondering how to tell him goodbye. Looking at his face, I’m guessing he is thinking the same.
“Would a hug be out of the question?” He finally asks after a moment of awkward silence.
I shake my head without thinking much about it. He smiles and opens his arms for me. I step into his embrace and wrap my arms around his torso. He pulls me in for a bear hug, and we stand there together for a moment. I bury my face into his shirt, enjoying the way he smells.
All too soon, Kellen releases me. I let my arms fall to my side and take a small step back.
“I’ll see you around, dragonfly.” With that, he spins around and walks away from me, leaving me standing there and wondering when I’m going to see him again.
Chapter 33
Kellen
I can honestly say, four months after the night I ended Dad’s life, that I’m finally starting to understand his filing system.
Clearly, the man thought he was going to live forever, because he didn’t bother to put anything in place to help me keep things running smoothly in his absence. He didn’t see the time ever coming, and I’ve been paying for it ever since.
But what else was I going to do? Follow Tamson around? Watch her from afar? It turns out I’m pretty damn good at multitasking, because that’s exactly what I’ve been doing when I’m not here at The Archer’s Den or trying to organize the desk in Dad’s study. There are still surprises here and there—secret books, people he paid under the table. I would bet at least half of them came to me quoting fees higher than anything he ever handed over, but there were no records kept, so how would I know? It’s easier to pay them off and get them out of my face before telling them I won’t need their services anymore.
Because for the most part, I won’t. A lot has changed around here, and it’s going to keep changing until this business looks the way I want it to.
My neck is stiff after bending over old ledgers for the past hour. Another fun twist: he had the handwriting of a serial killer, almost impossible to read sometimes. I can imagine him sitting in hell, telling himself at least he’s making my life difficult from beyond the grave.
The joke’s on him. As time-consuming as this is, as many nights I’ve gone home with a headache and tired eyes, it’s still a hell of a lot better than what he put me through before. There are a lot of lives that are better today than they were four months ago.
Including my dragonfly. She’ll always be mine, even if she isn’t ready to admit it to herself. We will always be connected. Maybe I should be glad that I have the distraction of work to keep me from following her every move. There are actual whole hours in my day when I don’t think about her. My heart still speaks her name with every beat, but I don’t always have the chance to obsess now. Asking myself if some asshole is trying to pick her up at a coffee shop, and how long it would take me to cave his face in for it.
I’m rolling my head from side to side and rubbing the back of my neck when one of the guards pokes his head in. “Boss, somebody here to see you. Says his name is Easton.”
That’s a surprise. Almost like my past life is coming back to remind me it existed. That’s how disconnected I feel now from the way things used to be. “Let him in,” I reply. It’s only another few seconds before he walks in, looking serious for the first time since we met.
“Look at all of this.” He blows out a low whistle, taking in the overstated furnishings Dad set up a long time ago.
“I haven’t had time to redecorate.”
“Well, I know one thing for sure: it’s not because you’re too busy answering the phone when your friends call.”