Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 102546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“Dillan?” I call out.
“Yeah?” He turns around under the archway.
“My old phone is on the nightstand charging.”
He nods once and then turns, disappearing once again.
I fall onto a barstool at the island and open my contacts. They’re all there. Jasmine, Haven, April, and Alexa. Along with Cross, Grave, Titan, and Bones. Luca is also there and Nite. A guy named Nigel. I remember him from the limo. He was the driver.
I hold the phone to my chest and smile as I hear it ping several times in a row.
I open a message that says BITCHES at the top and read over the chat.
Jasmine: Breakfast in the morning?
April: I’m down.
Alexa: Of course.
Jasmine: Empire?
I sigh, knowing that no matter what Empire is, I can’t go there. Although Dillan was nice enough to give me a phone with everyone’s number, I have no doubt that he won’t allow me to leave the house to be with the girls.
Emilee: No. I heard Mia can’t go out in public.
April: We can do it at mine? I’ll cook.
Sounds good. They all respond with.
Jasmine: See you all at six.
I smile at the fact they thought to include me in something so simple. Breakfast. Just girls getting together to hang out before their day starts. How did they get this number? Bones must have given it to them before he even brought it home to me.
I feel like I should be nervous because I don’t know any of them. I didn’t see Haven reply to them, but maybe that’s because she’s staying at the hospital with Luca.
I lock the screen and put it on the kitchen island, that smile still on my face. I have plans with the girls in the morning, and it doesn’t even matter that I don’t know them.
BONES
I WATCH HER from around the corner. She sits at the island, smiling down at her phone. One of the phone calls I made this evening was to get her a new one. I had no clue what all her brothers did to keep tabs on her when they showed up in California. The least they could have done was get her number. This was my best option.
I’m cutting off any contact she has with the world other than what I approve of. And that will be a very tight circle. My circle.
Pushing off the wall, I walk back down the hallway to my bedroom. I pick up her old cell phone off the nightstand and head out to the garage. Grabbing a hammer, I set it down on my tool bench and bang on it until it’s in fucking pieces.
Then I walk over to the sink, fill it with water, and drop it in. You can never be too sure. Entering the house once again, I go back to my bedroom to find her standing at the end of my Alaskan king-size bed.
She still wears my shirt, and my cock reminds me that the hand job I gave myself in the shower was not nearly good enough. “What?” I growl, irritated with myself.
She crosses her arms in front of her and drops her face to the floor. It reminds me of when I saw her all those years ago, back when I had no idea who she was. I should have made Luca tell me. But our fathers ended up taking us to Kingdom, and let’s just say there were other things on my mind. And over time, I just erased that memory. I believed her when she said she was no one. It was almost as if I had dreamed of the interaction between us.
“May I go to breakfast in the morning with the girls?” she asks softly. Her eyes rise, and she looks at me through her long, dark lashes.
I hate that my mind instantly pictures her on her knees looking up at me like that. “No.”
Her head snaps up, and she lets out a huff at my refusal. “The girls were messaging, and they want to have breakfast at Grave and April’s house so I can go.”
I run a hand through my hair. “That’s fine.” A smile grows across her face. Just like the one when she was in the pool and when I told her I’d teach her how to drive. “But come right back here afterward.”
She nods in understanding. “Thank you.”
My chest tightens that she’s fucking thanking me to walk across the driveway to go to breakfast with some women she doesn’t even know. “You’re welcome,” I say awkwardly.
“Were you hungry?” She changes the subject.
“No.” I’m starving, but I’m not telling her that. I have to be up soon. Right now, I just want to go to sleep and forget about the half-naked brunette in my bedroom.
“Oh, okay.” Her face falls. “I’ll go clean up the kitchen.” She walks past me but stops at the door. “Where are your blankets?”