Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Let me get you both plates,” Halo said cheerily, and I jerked my head back around to look down at my food.
Gathe was right. She was smoking hot. And she was fucking my cousin. Had to be. I didn’t want any drama. If Gathe wanted to console her and get all mixed up in that shit, whatever. Not me. I had my own set of problems. No need to add more to it.
Six
Elsie
Don’t look at him. Do not look at him. He caught you already, and he was unhappy about it. Don’t do it again.
Sure, he was gorgeous, but he was also terrifying.
“Here,” Calvin said while handing me a plate with a small portion of the breakfast casserole, a slice of bacon, and some berries.
“Thank you,” I replied, taking it, although I didn’t have an appetite. I knew I had to eat, but I didn’t want to.
He was leaving me here with these strangers. Halo, Winslet, Cressida, and Noa all seemed very nice, but I didn’t know them. I had just met them yesterday. I needed Calvin. Asking him to stay this morning had been wrong. I knew he had to get back to LA and that his career depended on it. But in the light of day, facing the horror of my situation, I had cracked and begged him not to go.
He’d already postponed things to get me to safety. I should be thankful for that, and I was, but I’d woken up twice with nightmares about my parents. What they’d gone through. I had ended up crying in the shower, curled up under the water, at three this morning. Trying to hold it together while I watched Calvin leave today was going to be hard.
A chime went off, and Hawkins jumped out of his seat. “Daddy!” he called out, appearing thrilled.
His father was scarier than Forge, although somewhat friendlier. But the kid sure seemed to be excited about him.
“No, baby, that’s probably Oz and Winslet,” Halo told him. “Or Than and Montana,” she said with a shrug. “Daddy is at Linc’s.”
The little boy’s shoulders sagged, as if he was deflated. “I wanna go to Winc’s too.”
Forge leaned closer to him. “Remember what I said. You sit and eat like a big boy, and I bet you just might get to go.”
That had the little boy scrambling back into his chair. He wasn’t so scary when he interacted with Hawkins. In fact, it was rather heartwarming.
“Sorry we’re late,” Winslet said as she walked into the room, looking from Halo to the two of us. “The alarm didn’t go off.”
“Sure that’s what happened,” Forge drawled.
Oz stepped into the kitchen behind his wife, and his eyes narrowed on his brother. Winslet grabbed his arm and shook her head slightly, as if to stop him from reacting to Forge’s comment.
“You’re right on time,” Halo assured them. “We are just making our plates.”
Oz nodded his head toward the table for Winslet to go sit down. She started to frown at him, but whatever look he gave her made her cheeks flush, so she walked over toward the table.
“Flight time still the same?” Oz asked Calvin after watching his wife until she was seated.
“Yeah,” Calvin replied.
Oz nodded his head, then walked around us toward the food.
“I hope you both slept okay,” Halo said.
“We did,” Calvin told her, although I hadn’t slept much. Not that he knew that. He hadn’t asked me about my night. He’d been too focused on making me comfortable with his leaving. “I don’t think I woke up once.”
Halo smiled at him, but her eyes shadowed concern as she looked at me. I managed a smile as I took the plate in my hands and walked over to the table, being sure to sit at the other end as Forge.
Calvin gave me a slight frown as he sat down beside me. Did he not notice that Forge wasn’t thrilled we were here? I thought he was making it pretty obvious.
“You taking Halo and Hawkins today?” Oz said as he put food on his plate.
He didn’t need to look at his brother for Forge to know who the question had been directed at.
“Yeah,” Forge replied.
“Stay here when you bring them back. We have a run to make tonight, and Linc wants you, Gathe, and Than at the house.”
Forge didn’t appear happy about that as he scowled at his food, but he nodded.
“Bane going too?” Forge asked.
“No, he’s preparing to head out tomorrow. Santa Anita, remember? San Felipe Stakes is this weekend.”
I didn’t know much about horse racing, but I knew that Stakes had to do with races.
“Winslet and I are staying here while they’re gone,” Oz added.
“What horses does he have racing?” Calvin asked before taking a bite of bacon.
“Just one. Slingshot,” he replied, then shot a smile in Halo’s direction. She was beaming.