Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77236 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77236 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Kylo had a little longer to go than I did, since he was moving much slower. Alaric and I had been over twice, trying to do the heavy lifting for him, but there was still a lot he needed to handle himself.
And, unlike me, he had to find a new place.
“Yeah,” I agreed, releasing a slow, deep breath.
“It’s nice seeing you happy,” Kylo said. “He’s a good man,” he added.
“The best,” I agreed.
“You nervous about giving all this up?” he asked.
“Surprisingly, no,” I admitted.
“When it’s right, it’s right,” he said, nodding. “And you get a whole new family with that crew,” he added.
I did.
I’d always loved the concept of “found family.” I ate it up in films and in books. But fiction paled in comparison to what it was like to have it for yourself.
In the days following my attack, I had endless visitors. Mostly the women in the club, dropping by to check on me, to do little tasks around the house like laundry and dishes, not wanting me to have to lift a finger.
The men showed up too, spending most of their time outside. Building a fence for Frida.
And Eddie, of course, was an ever-present fixture in our kitchen. Cooking. Or simply dropping off food. And, yeah, adding supplies to it that we desperately needed.
I’d never felt quite so loved and cared for as I did while I’d been hurting and recovering at Alaric’s home.
It was everything I’d been craving my whole life, a piece I hadn’t really realized had been missing.
A deep sort of peace had settled inside of me, chasing away some of the anxieties that used to plague me endlessly.
“You’re still coming over for dinner tomorrow, right?” I asked, determined to be part of Kylo’s found family as well, knowing how alone he was in the world, and refusing to let that continue.
“Don’t remember the last time I’ve ever had a home-cooked meal,” he said, shaking his head. “Wouldn’t miss that shit.”
“Well, don’t get your hopes too high. I’m only an alright cook. We have to invite you over when Eddie is cooking sometime, right?” I asked as Alaric moved in.
“Got a feeling he’ll be getting more than his fair share of Eddie’s cooking in the future,” Alaric said, making my brows scrunch, unsure what he meant by that. Clearly, there had been some sort of discussing going on between these two that I hadn’t been privy to yet. “Did the Greeks pick up the Lucy Lou?” he asked.
“Yeah, yesterday afternoon. Everything’s all settled.”
“The Greeks?” I asked, tensing.
As much as Alaric had wanted to keep me out of the loop about what happened to those guys who’d shot Kylo and attacked me, he hadn’t been able to have that.
Because it was the police themselves who’d filled me in. I’d gotten the phone call, telling me about their murders in what the police called an act of “gang violence” given the “nature of the attack.”
Maybe curiosity should have gotten the better of me, led me to watch the news, to look into it.
I found I didn’t want to know more, though.
They were dead.
That was all I had to know.
But I did know that those guys had associated with the Greek mafia.
I hadn’t even known the Greek mafia existed until I’d overheard Alaric talking about it.
But why would Kylo be making deals with them if the guys who Alaric had killed were friends of theirs?
“Just an agreement we all came to,” Alaric said, moving over to press a kiss to my head. “No one worries about a couple less bad guys in the world so long as Kylo sold them what was left of the Lucy Lou.”
“Why would they take that deal?” I asked.
“Because the demand, and therefore sale price, of Lucy Lou has doubled in the past two months. I got my cut and they’ll still make a hefty profit,” Kylo explained.
“Definitely enough to get your affairs sorted. And recover,” Alaric said. “Before your career change.”
I had a lot of questions.
But it was right then that a seagull landed on the balcony railing, making Frida lose her ever-loving mind.
“I really don’t miss those things at our house,” I said when Alaric opened the door to make it fly off, then settled Frida back down with some head rubs.
Our house.
God, that felt good to say.
“We still got the lizards, right, girl?” Alaric asked before looking around the space and sighing. “How about we grab anything else you want to save, and I send the prospects in to finish this shit?” he asked.
“I never thought I would like having on-the-call help as much as I do right now,” I said, looking around at the torn couch and scattered, broken bric-a-brac still littering so much of the space.
“That’s the best idea you’ve ever had.”
“We can go get some food. Wanna hit a restaurant, or get some of Eddie’s food?” he asked.