Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
10
LYLE
UNLIKELY DEFENDERS
I still can't believe that Honor agreed to meet us for a drink before tonight's activities begin. I fully expected her to keep our contact limited to the room at Club Scarlet, but after the things she said to Nate and me, I thought I'd take a chance that she might want to talk.
Last night, I laid awake for what felt like hours, wondering what Honor was aiming to achieve by bringing up things from our childhood while we were using her body for our pleasure. I thought she was saying those things to make us feel guilty, but that motivation didn't match with her expression.
It seemed like she was trying to make a connection, but why? Is she hoping we'll remember the girl she was and let her out of our arrangement?
"To the moon and back," she'd said, instantly transporting me to a very distant past, to a time when Victoria used to read us bedtime stories. I had asked a million questions of the woman set to become my stepmom—How far is the moon? How do you travel there? How long does the trip take?—and Honor burst into a fit of giggles, already understanding at her young age that it was an expression, not a literal description.
We started saying it to each other after that. We were being silly at first, but it turned into a shorthand for our connection with one another. We would offer it up whenever one of us needed support from the other.
Last night, she also brought up the stuffed animal, Bunny, that Nate had given her for her birthday one year. She used to carry that thing everywhere and insisted that we all give it proper respect. Nate looked like he'd seen a ghost at the mention of Bunny.
But nothing was as shocking as Kylian's actions with Honor.
Kylian is as opposite from warm and fuzzy as a person can be. The word tender is not even in his vocabulary, but that's the only way to describe the kiss he laid on Honor's back.
Seeing him do that shook my foundation like an earthquake, and no matter how much I've been thinking about it, I haven't been able to figure out what's going on in his head. He treats Honor like nothing more than a sex toy, so rough and unfeeling, and then… that kiss.
The whole situation is utterly fucked up, but I can't regret that it's brought her back into our lives, no matter how twisted it is.
Honor's already at the hotel bar when we arrive, looking ridiculously hot in a tight little red dress that inches further up her thighs every time she leans forward to reach for her drink. Her hair is up, exposing her delicate neck, and more than once, I've had to drag my eyes away from her pale exposed skin.
It's still hard to realize that the playful young girl I used to run barefoot with in the summer is the same woman sitting here now in sophisticated tan heels, with their thin straps wrapped around her shapely ankles.
"How's your mother?" Nate asks Honor, bringing me back from my distracted thoughts.
Her body stiffens, and her expression goes dark, and I know what she's going to say before her answer comes. "She's passed away." She lifts her chin and blinks a few times, holding back the tears that begin to well in her eyes.
I want to wrap my arms around her, but she won't welcome my comfort.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Nate says with a solemn nod.
"What happened?" I ask, hoping it won't hurt too much for her to discuss it.
"Cancer. Ovarian cancer."
Unable to stop myself, I lay my hand on her knee. She looks down at it but doesn't stiffen. "I'm sorry," I say. "When did she pass?"
"It's been nearly a year." She takes a long sip of her drink and straightens her spine. "What about all of you? How's your father?" Nate unwittingly brought up a tender topic, and now she's returning the favor.
Kylian barks out a laugh. "You want to know how Dick-Ass is doing?"
Nate clears his throat and takes a drink from his glass, no doubt worried about where this is headed.
When Honor lifts her brows in response, Ky says, "He's completed professional clown training, and now he spends his days entertaining patients at the children's hospital."
I can't contain a snort at the thought of our dear father doing such charitable work.
"And on the weekend, he rescues puppies," Ky adds after taking a swig of his whiskey. "Just kidding. He's the same old asshole he's always been since you and your mother left us."
Nate glares at Kylian and starts to say something but is interrupted by a muffled ring.
"Excuse me." Honor pulls her small purse, which had been hanging from the side of her chair, onto her lap and opens the flap to reveal a lit screen on her phone . With only a quick glance, she rejects the call and toggles a button on the side, presumably to silence it.