Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“Okay. We’re all set.” Lucy rushed out, wearing huge cheetah print sunglasses. Even though she had dark red hair, for some reason she reminded me of Audrey Hepburn. “Are you ready?”
“Yep.”
Hundreds of people with skin browner than mine crowded the streets. It was thrilling and amazing to see such a different group of people and way of life.
I hope I can ride a camel before I leave.
I’d spotted tons of them. The only time I’d ever seen one was in the zoo. It blew my mind to watch them stroll along with people. Even cattle filled the streets. Loads of people rode bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and buses. Everything seemed so packed as people bumped into me and I edged around others.
And the whole place symbolized an odd make-up of things. On some streets dilapidated buildings, abandoned and carved out with a hollow emptiness, stood on our right. On our left, grand structures that looked like castles existed. Homes appeared to be thousands of years old as if each brick owned its own history. When we were on the plane, I’d noticed that the desert spanned across certain areas. In other spots lay grassy landscape amid buildings.
We walked through a people-littered market, brainstorming what we should buy a twenty-one-year-old son of a wealthy Indian family. Apparently, his birthday was the reason Chase had flown us out here. Chase wanted to show public support to the family and further cement their business relationship, because the family invested large sums of money into Stone Industries’ business ventures, especially the ones in India.
“I can’t believe he waited to the last minute to assign the gift buying.”
“Yeah,” Lucy said with a strained smile.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you promise not to say anything to Chase?”
“Sure.” I furrowed my eyebrows.
“I already bought the present for the birthday boy a month ago. It was delivered here last week.” She displayed a weak smile. “Chase wasn’t even going to come to the party. He actually decided to leave this morning.”
I struggled to calm down my anger. “Why are we here then?”
“He said you couldn’t run from him in a foreign country.”
“Awesome.” My voice dripped with sarcasm.
We remained quiet for a while.
So again Chase has managed to wrangle my free time for his own desires. And what is his plan for this trip? Will he be keeping me in India until I say yes, or will we be flying off to Russia or Spain next?
Lucy glanced at me. “I told him you would be pissed.”
“I’m not.”
“You look like you’re going to kill him.”
“Okay. I’m a little pissed.”
“Think of it this way. You got a great trip to India.”
I nodded. “Good point.”
Lucy eased around a woman draped in bright orange and pink fabric. The woman carried a baby on her hip. I wiggled my fingers at him, and the little guy laughed.
I halted on the dusty road. “So what are we supposed to be doing now, if you already bought the present?”
She grinned and took my hand into hers. “We’re supposed to be bonding.”
I yanked my hand away. “Bonding? Is that what our psychotic lordship requested?”
“No. Actually our ladyship ordered me to bond with you. Dawn thought it was a good idea if I talked to you and answered any questions you might have about our living arrangement.”
“And why did she think this was a good idea, again?”
“Chase didn’t tell us what happened Friday night, but we figured things didn’t work out because you didn’t come to Willow Park and Chase was pretty angry.” Lucy captured my hand again. “So Dawn and I are trying to do damage control.”
This is weirder than I thought.
“What happened?” she asked.
“I told him I wasn’t interested.” I returned to walking and allowed her to hold my hand. For what reason she needed to hold it, I didn’t know.
“You said no?” Lucy giggled really loud. “I bet he hated that. We barely ever tell him no. Then what happened?”
“Nothing.”
“No way. Something happened. Chase doesn’t just hear no and back away.”
“Nothing happened that was a big deal,” I lied.
“Oh, it had to be major. He stayed up in the batting cage all night hitting baseballs. Boom. Boom. One after another. My window is right over the batting cage so there was no way I got any sleep,” Lucy said. “Dawn raced out there later and begged him to come inside. It must have been five in the morning when he finally did. Two hours later he announced that we were going to India.”
I gave her a weird look. “You stay with him?”
“We all do. It’s a huge property called Willow Park. A big mansion with five individual apartments in it.”
Willow Park.
I remembered the name. When he had fingered me, he’d whispered that he wanted me under his roof in Willow Park and in his bed. Heat spread across my skin at the thought of that night, and it wasn’t from the sun that beat down on us as we walked.