Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“What’s Rodrigo’s last name? And last known address?”
“Settle down. I was twelve. Here, try this.” She gives me a small bowl. It’s marinara, cheese, sausages, and what looks like lasagna noodles, but instead of in layers it’s like a broken-down version.
I take a bite and struggle not to groan. “That’s incredible.”
“I think it needs more salt.” She wrinkles her nose happily and stirs some in. “Hungry?”
“I wasn’t, but now I’m starving.”
“Sit down. I’ll get you a bowl.”
When her back’s turned, I shove the envelope with the blueprints of her family’s house deeper into my pocket.
She joins me at the table. I eat in silence, hunched over my food like a prisoner in the mess protecting his meal. She seems like she wants to chat, but eventually gives up after I’ve exhausted her with one-word answers. I know I’m being a prick, and it’s especially not nice since she went to all this trouble to make dinner, but I can’t bring myself to look her in the eye.
I’ve lied all my life. I’ve lied to my parents, my sister, friends, lovers, partners. I’ve lied to politicians, judges, cops, psychologists, and doctors. I’m generally good at it, and it has never bothered me before, not a single time. Lies are part of what I do, they’re another layer to the game. They’re shielding on a tank. They’re the walls of a tower.
But right now, lying feels like poison in my throat.
I don’t want to introduce that to our marriage. As soon as I start, we’ll spiral down a path I’m not comfortable with. I know this thing we have is temporary, but there’s still a strange part of me that wants to take it seriously.
And that part of me came out the other day when I punished her in the alley.
Jealousy. Fucking jealousy. I’ve never been possessive in my life, not a single time. Women come and go, they stick around or they don’t, it never mattered until now. When Tallie transformed into that other, confident woman, and leaned forward to chat up the bartender, I felt like my blood was going to evaporate straight through my skin.
“You’re quiet,” she observes, looking at me over her wineglass as she takes a long sip. “Anything going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Think I can get a full sentence from you?”
“Probably not.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere. Seriously, what’s the matter? You were grumpy this morning, but right now you’re impossible.”
I stand and carry my plate to the kitchen. “Thanks for dinner.”
“Brenden, wait.” She follows as I try to escape to the bedroom. “If it’s about the bartender, you know I was only trying to win the stupid game, right?”
“It’s not about that.” I move upstairs, feeling trapped.
“But you didn’t like it. And I noticed the bottle opener is missing. Did you steal it back?”
I slip the opener from my pocket and toss it to her. She fumbles but manages to hold on. I use the distraction to put distance from us and duck into the bedroom.
But Tallie’s persistent. She stomps in after me. “Would you stop running away and talk to me?”
“You don’t want to know, alright?”
“Something happened then.” She moves in front of me as I try to slip into the bathroom. “Talk to me, Brenden. We’re supposed to be partners, right?”
Not in this. Not even fucking close.
But I can’t keep lying to her. I won’t be able to look her in the face, not until the job’s done, which means I need to pull it off quickly. I don’t want to live like this.
God, I hate this so much.
“Alexan brought me a job,” I say after a long, painful silence.
“What kind?”
“A bad one. A job I don’t want to do.”
“Then don’t do it? I mean, you don’t really work for them, do you? I can talk to him—“
I grab her arm. Not hard, but firm. “Don’t do that.”
“Brenden, you’re freaking me out.”
“Listen to me. You don’t want to know what I’m supposed to do, okay? You have to stop asking me about it.”
“Does it have to do with your other thing? The thing we’re allegedly working on together?”
“No, not at all. This is straight from the Sarkissians, and you know what your cousins are like. I can’t turn them down.”
She’s pale and shaking her head. “That’s not right. You aren’t their slave.”
“I know, baby, but Alexan saved my life. Arsen’s giving me another chance by letting me marry you. I can’t say no.”
“This thing you’re doing, it’s going to let us escape, won’t it? So can’t you try to ignore this job for a while and see if it goes away?”
“I wish it were that simple.” I release her. On a whim, without thinking, I touch her cheek. I wish I could keep my hands off her, but fuck, when she’s this close and I can smell her, it’s like I’ve lost control of myself. “I’m going to pull it off tomorrow night. When it’s done, it’s done, and we don’t have to talk about it again.”