Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
“Was askin’ a question, Aviana.”
“I wasn’t fucking him. I was with him against my will when the monster I did live with took me there for business, but he took a liking to me, and being the incredible actress I am, I played along. That’s exactly how I walked out of there alive and not sold to someone else, though I’m starting to wonder if that might have been a better option. You don’t need to know the details; all you need to know is that I can get you there.”
Alarick nods. “You can be involved in coming up with a plan to get us there, you know the ins and outs, we need your input.”
Of course he does.
They’re helpless without me.
That’s exactly how I need it to get what I want.
They’re not going to know what’s hit them.
5
THEN – COHEN
“Hey, wait up.”
I turn to see Aviana jogging toward me on the sidewalk, backpack flying behind her, bright smile on her face. She’s always smiling, there isn’t a time I don’t see her making a joke and then laughing hysterically at it. She’s the most bubbly, happy person I’ve ever met and, considering the life she’s been given, that’s something.
She’s younger than me, god knows by how much, but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice how utterly fucking beautiful she is. Thick dark hair that frames the most incredible eyes I’ve ever seen. She’s got the skin of a fucking doll and the body of a goddess. She’s going to go places with looks like that.
Today she’s wearing a pair of jeans that fit a little too well, a tank that makes her tits bounce in ways not even I can ignore, and her hair is flowing around her, wild and untamed, much like her, really.
She’s fucking spectacular.
If I didn’t already have a woman, I’d be looking in her direction, no doubt about it.
“Aviana, what’s goin’ on?” I ask her, bringing a cigarette to my mouth and lighting it. I inhale deeply as she watches me with some sort of weird fascination.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” she says, falling into step beside me, puffing from her run toward me.
“I do what I gotta do to keep sane around here. Were you at school?”
She snorts. “How young do you think I am? No, I’m done with school. I was working.”
“Didn’t know you had a job.”
She laughs. “There are probably a lot of things you don’t know about me, Cohen. Where are you off to?”
“Lunch, then back to the club. King has got us on some fuckin’ mission. I don’t know, don’t really fuckin’ care right now, to be honest.”
“I thought you like being part of the club?”
She raises a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun as she stares at me. I take another long inhale of the cigarette smoke, slowly pushing it out once I’ve let it sit in my lungs for just a moment.
“I fuckin’ love the club, I’m just sick of doin’ the little crappy jobs. Be good to have somethin’ real good to be chasin’ after.”
Aviana rolls her eyes and grins at me. “Always chasing the danger. I don’t know why you’d want to risk your life like that.”
I shrug. “Why not, Avi?”
She laughs. “Why not, indeed. Can I come to lunch with you? I’m freaking starving.”
I nod. “Yeah, come on then.”
We walk to a nearby café. Aviana throws her backpack down and sits down with a huff, swiping the hair from her face. She looks to me and gives me the biggest damned smile I’ve ever seen come from something so small. She’s fucking beautiful. I can’t help but smile back, you’d have to be cold and fucking empty not to smile back at something that looks like her.
“What’re you havin’?” I ask her, glancing down at the menu.
“Burger, fries, and a vanilla shake.”
She doesn’t glance at the page in front of her, she already knows what she wants. I imagine her life is like that, knowing what she wants all the time. She’s strong willed and determined. I can’t see there being a time where she hesitates.
“You goin’ to eat all that?”
She winks at me. “You’re shouting, so yeah.”
I chuckle and stand, going inside to make an order. When I return, Aviana is staring out at the cars, a look of peace on her pretty face. She turns to me when I sit down and leans forward with her hand under her chin. “Briella told me you’ve got a woman now; how’s that going?”
I snort. “You know what it’s like, nothin’ serious.”
She nods, mulling that over. “Well, I hope you’re being nice to her. Women don’t get treated right anymore.”
I laugh, leaning back in my chair. “Do tell me more.”
She giggles. “You know what I mean, there are so many players and broken men out there now, nobody has their mind right. They’re all treating each other badly and pushing their broken pieces around for everyone else to stand on. Not me, I’d rather glue my shit back together then toss it on someone.”