Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 112567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
“She asked me why my name was Duck.”
Chen shook his head. “You could have elaborated and explained that you love ducks because they have corkscrew penises. You could have also told her that you used to rave about it over and over when we were kids, until we all just started calling you duck.”
Duck shrugged. “I basically said that.”
I gave him a skeptical look. “You really didn’t.”
“Stop talking to her about penises.” Sighing, Lei guided us forward.
“I’ll try.” Duck chuckled. “But I cannot make any promises.”
Chen returned to Lei’s side. “So, we are on the eighth floor.”
“Oh no.” I stiffened.
Still walking, everyone gazed my way.
“Eight is a lucky number. We need as much luck as we can get on this mission.” Chen put his gaze on me. “But, Monique, is there something wrong with the eighth floor?”
“Well. . .you all may think I’m crazy, but everyone in Glory knows that a ghost lives on the eighth floor.”
Lei shrugged. “I don’t mind ghosts. You leave them alone. They will leave you alone.”
Chen stopped us at the elevator and pressed the button. “Still, we should know about this ghost on the eighth floor.”
“Sometime in the early 1900s, a rich family bought up the entire hotel due to their daughter getting married in Royal Palm’s ballroom that weekend.”
The elevator doors slid open.
We all stepped on—Lei, Chen, Duck, three other men, and me.
Once the doors slid close and the elevator rose, all turned my way, even the three extra men in blue.
I cleared my throat. “The bride’s family stayed on the eighth floor. The groom’s family stayed on the ninth.”
Chen shrugged. “All sounds fine so far.”
“Early in the night, the bride-to-be could not get any sleep due to pre-wedding jitters, so she decided to take a stroll down the hall. To her shock, moans drifted from the staircase.”
Lei quirked his brows. “Moans?”
I nodded. “Nosy, she went to see who was hooking up on the stairs and to her horrifying dismay, she realized her fiancé was giving it to her mother.”
Chen touched the top of his tie. “Oh my.”
Duck smirked. “She must have had a hot mother.”
“Anyway, she rushed back to her room, grabbed a knife—”
“This isn’t going to be a happy ending.” Duck whistled.
“Be quiet.” Lei scowled and put his gaze back on me. “The bride killed her fiancé?”
“And her mother, sliced them up and then painted I do in blood on the walls over and over. My mother thinks she was probably already a bit crazy.”
Chen grimaced. “Clearly.”
“Then, at the stroke of midnight, she entered her suite, put on her wedding gown, walked to her balcony, and jumped over the railing.”
Everyone put their views back on the doors, except Lei.
He continued to watch me. “And so she haunts the eighth floor?”
“People have reported encountering this ghost in a wedding gown with her face hidden under a cascading veil and a bloodied knife in her hand.”
Chen frowned. “What does she do?”
“Sometimes she asks them if they saw John. Others have claimed that she chases them around screaming, ‘Cheater. Cheater.’”
Lei shrugged. “Then, she’s not so bad.”
“Not so bad? But it’s a ghost.”
“Try walking around hundreds of angry ghosts who are forced to live by a lake full of their flooded graves.” Lei smirked. “Now that is terrifying.”
“Are you talking about Dream Lake?”
“I am.”
I opened my mouth in disbelief. “You have been around Dream Lake at night?”
“I have many, many times.”
“And against my orders,” Chen added. “Lucky for Lei, the ghosts like him.”
“My ancestors did nothing to them, so I have nothing to worry about.”
“But ghosts. . .” I eyed him. “That doesn’t scare you?”
“Not at all.”
Impressed, I got closer to him. “Then. . .I won’t be scared about the bride. . .if I happen to see her.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
What. The. Fuck?
In the hallway, at least twenty women stood in front of us, dressed in different types of stilettos, red lingerie, and wearing long black lace front wigs.
I wasn’t sure if we happened to bump into a Victoria Secret’s conference or some exotic dancer championship.
Uh. . .what is really going on with this day?
Lei groaned in annoyance. “What are they doing here?”
He knows them?
“I’m sorry, Lei. I forgot to mention.” Chen cleared his throat. “Aunt Min brought your harem along too.”
Stunned, I turned to him. “Harem?”
Chapter fourteen
Only Hands and Feet
Lei
I wished everyone would leave me alone. Everyone, except Monique.
The rest could go somewhere else, anywhere else.
There my harem stood, lavishly dressed and adorned with jewelry.
They were all beautiful women of different complexions, shapes, and sizes. Tall and short. Curvy and slim. Usually their hair was in various styles—long and wavy or short with corkscrew curls. Individual braids or afros. Ponytails or elaborate updos.
Even their clothes tended to be different. Some loved silk. Others relished in lace. Many picked satin. Yet, the color always remained some variant of blue—cobalt to turquoise, sapphire to berry.