Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Every day. My blessing. Their curse.” She winked again. “All right, what do you want to eat?”
“Everything?” I laughed. “The entire menu looks amazing, but I’m going to go with the clam chowder since you said it’s your favorite, and maybe some bread.”
“All the bread,” she corrected. “Because sometimes carbs are the only answer.”
I handed her the menu. “I think I like you.”
“Everyone does.” She said it so matter-of-factly that I wasn’t offended. “My name’s Hathor, and before you laugh, I’m fully aware that it’s the worst name ever, but my dad’s Egyptian, so people just call me Hath.”
I didn’t want to tell her that Hath seemed almost worse than Hathor, so I just nodded and guzzled fizzy soda down my throat.
With a grin, she was off, her hips sauntering the entire way back to the kitchen just as someone else shoved themselves through the double swinging doors.
Hath moved out of the way with the grace of a dancer while I would have probably ended up being somehow impaled by one of the nearby flower vases.
Women like that were almost impossible for me to understand. I preferred jeans and a T-shirt to designer dresses and oftentimes found that I looked almost funny in clothes like hers. Almost like I was meant to be a servant instead of a queen.
The man was taller than Hath, with similar dark features and jet-black hair to his huge shoulders. He had no easy smiles for me. Instead, he scowled in my direction, stomped through the restaurant, threw open the door, and stepped through, then slammed it closed.
I jolted in my seat and half expected a picture to crash to the floor, but instead, just a buzzing silence greeted me.
I grabbed my phone but realized the only person I wanted to really call was my mom.
I kept people at a distance for a reason, so it wasn’t like I could call any friends, right?
It was always for their own protection.
Or maybe to protect my sanity—because if they knew, they’d probably institutionalize me, right?
Bitterness seeped in like it always did whenever I thought about the people around me and their easy laughs and complete disregard for the lives they’d been gifted with.
Whereas I’d been cursed with fear and a lurking darkness that never fully went away.
I frowned, at least for a few brief moments with Benjamin it had.
I drummed my fingers across the table and noticed the missing nail polish and jewelry.
Yup, I should be institutionalized because when had a guy like that ever gone for someone like me over Hath? And since when did the person I was researching turn into a chance to volunteer for a good one-night stand?
“Hey.” Hath hovered over me with a bowl in one hand. Of course, she had perfectly manicured nails with red polish. She set the bowl down next to a bread basket that I hadn’t even seen her carry in. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for like thirty seconds?”
“What?” I blinked. “Oh, sorry, I just… I think I’m more tired than I realized.”
She shrugged. “No problem, and I’m, um, sorry about Montu back there; he’s been having a rough… century.”
I laughed at her joke. “Sometimes it feels like it’s been that long, am I right?”
“Girl…” Her smile widened. “You have no idea.” She leaned back. “Now, I’ll let you eat in peace.”
“Actually—” I reached for her arm and frowned when my fingers wanted nothing more than to hold on forever and never let go. The hell? “I’d love some company if you… aren’t… busy?”
Her eyes flashed. “Sure, I’ll take my break.”
Within minutes, we’d fallen into easy conversation about the town and all the fun rumors surrounding it. She’d grabbed her glass of wine, and for the first time since my mom had disappeared, I almost felt like I’d come home.
It was a terrifying feeling of contentment that I was almost too afraid to hold on to because I knew it too, would get ripped from me.
One day.
But not tonight.
So, I drank, and I ate, and I listened.
“Oh, and don’t even get me started on the rumors about human sacrifices in the woods.” She snorted. “Trust me, the local police are all over it. This town is locked down like you wouldn’t believe. Nothing even remotely fun ever happens.”
I pointed my spoon at her. “Not true. You guys have the taffy festival every year.”
She scrunched up her nose. “People fly into the airport at Vancouver from all over the world for that stupid thing—it basically pays for an entire year’s worth of this.” She threw her arms up.
“Ah, the current swarm of customers?” I guessed.
“Yup.” She popped the P. “When it’s slow, it seems like life’s on pause, but when the taffy festival happens, at least we get fresh meat.” Her eyes flashed. “Not that I eat meat. That one hundred percent came out wrong.”