Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Penny seemed to rally as she closed her empty suitcase and set it by the wall. “Besides, if I leave you alone with these guys, there might be an actual body count by the end of the week.”
“You saw my live stream before?”
She nodded. “I like that part about Early American Twig being the décor.” She looked around the dull room. “Though the decorations up here aren’t quite as bad.”
“What decorations?” Except for the light fixtures, the room looked like it could’ve been straight out of Little House on the Prairie.
“The paintings in the hallway.”
Oh. I hadn’t paid them much attention, but Penny was the one who had majored in art, not me. Yet we’d both still ended up out here in the middle of nowhere. There was definitely some irony in that.
I remembered something Brady had told me. “Dinner’s in forty-five minutes. Would you like a tour of the place? The area out back is pretty pleasant.” I wondered if it was the right time of the year for fireflies. I hadn’t seen them since I was young. My parents and I had lived in one of the many Chicago suburbs, and definitely not one of the more prosperous ones.
Penny looked torn. “I was actually thinking maybe I could grab a quick nap. It was quite the drive getting out here.”
“I bet it was. So sure, take a nap.”
“I’ll set my alarm.”
“Penny, it’s fine. If you’re tired, take as long as you need.” I started for the door but then turned back. “On the other hand, forty-five minutes is the perfect length for a nap.”
Penny grinned. “Meaning you don’t want to be alone with them for dinner.”
“Exactly.” I checked the time on my phone. “So I’ll be back to get you at six unless that saggy mattress swallows you up by then.”
I went back to my room, but there was absolutely nothing to do there unless I wanted to refold my clothes. Which, even though I was bored to tears, I really, really didn’t.
Those guys were assholes for taking my stuff. Who the hell was going to know as long as we didn’t show it on camera? And thank god my eReader was password protected. I wondered what it said about me that I didn’t mind them seeing my sex toys, but I would’ve been mortified for them to see the erotic stories I sometimes read while using them.
But I had nothing to be embarrassed about. They were the uncouth country bumpkins who needed to be worried.
Unable to sit still, I roamed down the hallway with no particular destination.
“Pssst.”
I passed the entryway to the kitchen and then doubled back. Brady was there, looking in his element even though he seemed to be doing a dozen things at once. There was a pot on each burner. Something in the oven. Meats and veggies on cutting boards.
“It smells good,” I said honestly. I couldn’t identify all the scents, but I was pretty sure that homemade bread was one of them. It made my mouth water.
“Want to help?” Brady asked.
“Me?” My friends generally ushered me out of the kitchen, not into it. “I don’t know how to do any of that stuff.”
“But I do, and I could use some help.”
I took a step back. “Seriously, I can’t cook.”
Brady seemed unfazed. “Luckily, I can. And I’ll tell you a little secret. If you help cook, you don’t have to do dishes.” He gestured at the gazillion pots, pans, and bowls on the counter. “It’s a pretty sweet deal.”
Involuntarily, I stepped toward him. “Honestly, I would if I could, but I don’t know what I’m doing.” But the thought of washing all these dishes was enough to carry me all the way to Brady’s side.
“Let me guess. You have some kind of high-tech combination of pressure cooker, air fryer, and sous vide that you put freeze-dried astronaut food in, and it produces a Michelin-starred gourmet meal.”
“Actually, I have the DoorDash app on my phone.” I smiled as he chuckled, but honestly, I was a little impressed that he knew what sous vide was. I wasn’t sure I did. “And okay, you’re right, helping out sounds better than doing dishes.”
“Smart girl.”
“But wait, what about Penny?” I didn’t want her to be stuck doing all these dishes with Cole and Gideon. That was adding insult to injury. Maybe we could drive into town and get something? If anything was open after six.
“She gets a pass tonight,” Brady said. “She looked wiped.”
I nodded, a little surprised that he’d noticed. “She had a hard time finding this place.” I didn’t want to get into the stuff about her and Jeff.
“Most people do.”
“And yet you wonder why you don’t have more reservations.”
“We’ll get there,” he said confidently.
“How?” The word came out rather baldly, but I wasn’t trying to be snarky. I just couldn’t see how he could be so optimistic about this place.