Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“But dumb like a pile of rocks,” I add, squinting at Dalton’s face. It’s a shame I didn’t get to suck him off last night. What a waste of perfectly good dick. Can’t have it all, I suppose.
Killian looks up at me, lips parting, and when he whips his head around, it sends a wave of sweet floral aromas straight in my face. For a man, his taste in fragrance is rather unusual, yet the perfumes he chooses aren’t sickeningly sweet, and the scent of his skin transforms them into something unique. Whenever I enter a room Killian’s recently been in, I can always sense it. “How so?”
Damen puts his arm around his husband’s shoulders. “He lost over a million in one of our casinos. He should have stopped playing while he was ahead, but of course the maggot got greedy.”
Several of my relatives chuckle in response from their spots on cushy leather sofas, and while I agree that few things are as pathetic as a gambler who believes their luck never runs out, there is something fishy about Damen’s story.
Dalton might not have a high school diploma, and he wouldn’t score high in an IQ test, but Killian’s a high school dropout and hardly a brainiac. I don’t like them laughing at Dalton, when I am reasonably sure that no one here bothered talking to him.
He didn’t try to kill any of us, didn’t steal from us, or undermine our business in any way. He just had a massive debt with us.
“Who let a bouncer borrow this much cash anyway? He couldn’t have paid us back if he tried,” I say, meeting Damen’s gaze.
He shrugs. “He did that to himself. Simon Kemper was at the casino that night, so he must have had reasons.”
Out of all the people I don’t want to see today, my cousin Aspen is at the top of the list. I bristle when he gets up from the sofa to join the conversation. He’s eighteen, but already growing tall, and going by the size of his arms, he’s been putting in extra time at the gym this year. But what confuses me is the head-to-toe brand-new tactical gear he’s dressed in and the crossbow in his hand, because he isn’t married, so he’s not taking part in the hunt. Even his mop of blond hair is hidden under a helmet.
Once he lays his eyes on Dalton’s photo, he whistles and winks at Killian. “Pre-kill threesome for you and Damen?”
I have many reasons to be annoyed by him, including the fact that he’s loud, rude, spoiled, and usually looks like an advert for luxury brands rather than a person, but this new idea has my guts twisting so violently I itch to grab the billiard cue from the stand and break it over Aspen’s head.
Damen’s faster.
He slaps the back of Aspen’s head but Aspen just laughs, pointing to his helmet. Damen places his arm over Killian’s shoulders, as if his husband were about to run off to grab Dalton from his cell.
I was meant to be his last fuck…
“How about you shut your face, huh?” Damen asks, shaking his head, as if that can get rid of the flush coloring his cheeks. “Go and fuck him yourself if you’re that keen.”
Even this exchange is an expression of how comfortable everyone is with ‘the gays’. Especially the younger guys, like Aspen, don’t seem to give a fuck, which is as much of a relief as it is disconcerting, because… have I been living my life in a spiral of angst for no reason?
My father would not have stood for it, but he has been dead for many years now.
Aspen grins at Damen. “If he’s prey today, would that make it zoophilia?”
I can’t stand how they talk about Dalton as though he’s not a real person. “Why are you even dressed like this? You’re not allowed to participate in the hunt.”
Aspen turns to me, blinking as if he forgot my presence. “Oh, I’m not. But I’ll be assisting my dad. I’ll be taking some photos for him. I even got this old-school camera, because Dad insisted the photos need to be analog, for no ‘paper trail’. I don’t think that makes sense, since the printout will be on paper anyway but I’m not gonna argue.”
Kilian raises his eyebrows. “You’ve got a crossbow.”
Aspen’s smile widens, and his eyes gain a predatory glimmer. He’s a little fucking psycho. “Well yeah, I need to be ready for anything.”
Unbelievable. How can his father encourage this bullshit? But that’s typical. I was held on the shortest of leashes, having to carve out every bit of freedom, but here is my younger cousin, getting to participate in the hunt without the need to fulfill the one rule we’ve all followed for the past hundred years? Just because he really wants to? I bet his parents let him drive a car before he got his license, and covered any issues with bribes.