Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Yasmine immediately looked away, like the sight of his bare chest was forbidden.
“Pull on a shirt, asshole.” I walked with Yasmine into the living room. “She’s sixteen.”
“Knock, asshole.” Carter pulled on the t-shirt sitting across the back of the couch. “Then I would have been dressed.”
“You knew I was coming.”
“Whatever.” He ran his fingers through his partially damp hair, evidently having just gotten out of the shower. “How’d it go?”
“The process wasn’t out of the ordinary.” I turned to Yasmine. “You’re probably starving, right?”
She nodded.
“Carter, you got food for her?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Carter nodded to the kitchen. “There’s a sandwich in the fridge, but you can have whatever you want.”
Yasmine slowly walked away, heading into the kitchen. Once she was out of earshot, I faced him again.
“Something did happen,” I said. “And you aren’t going to believe it.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Try me.”
“There was this young guy there tonight. Never seen him before in my life. Good-looking, arrogant—”
“Stop scoping out the dudes and get to the point.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I noticed he didn’t fit. And he didn’t bid on a single woman.”
Carter finally tensed, his suspicion rising. “Not once?”
“No. And there was plenty of talent tonight. But then the Skull King doing the auction spoke to him. His name was Bones.”
Just as I did when I first heard the name, Carter turned pale. His skin became creamy white like milk. Even his lips changed color. His eyes dilated like a light had been shined right in his eyes. His arms lowered to his sides and he released a deep breath. “Are you sure?”’
“Un-fucking-mistakable.”
“Did he know who you were?”
“The Skull King said my name, but he didn’t react to it.”
“Bones…that’s just not right. How can that be his name?”
“I don’t get it either.”
“Any relation?” Carter asked.
I shook my head. “My father told me he didn’t have any children.”
“Unless he didn’t know about them. Maybe he had a mistress who was pregnant. Bones Sr. died, so she named him after his father.”
“I guess it’s possible…”
“Or he could just be a lunatic wanting to be like Bones.”
“That’s possible too,” I said quietly.
“Or maybe it’s a coincidence. He just likes the name.”
I shook my head. “Unlikely. When you run in those circles, there are no coincidences.”
Carter stepped back and rubbed his hand across his jaw. “Fuck…”
“Should we talk to our fathers about it?”
“Are you kidding me?” he asked. “How would we explain how we know about it in the first place?”
“The truth.”
He shook his head. “They’d break our faces.”
“Probably.” It’s not like we didn’t deserve it. My father would be disappointed in me if he knew about any of this.
“So, the guy didn’t even look at you?” he asked incredulously. “Barsetti meant nothing to him?”
“It seemed that way.”
“But if he didn’t buy a woman, maybe he was just there to spy on you.”
“How would he have known I was coming? I didn’t even know I was going until this afternoon.”
“Unless he goes to every meeting in the hope of running into you.”
My blood turned ice-cold again.
“I don’t trust that name, Conway. Anyone with a name like that…is an enemy to all Barsettis.”
“I know.” The guy didn’t give his name willingly. The Skull King was the one who put him on the spot. He didn’t seem threatening, but every man in that room was wealthy and violent. If we were locked in a room together during a war, none of us would get out alive. “The next step is telling our fathers.”
“I don’t know…let’s think about it.”
“I think they have a right to know. They think Bones had no one to avenge him.”
“And he’s had nearly thirty years to avenge his father, but he hasn’t.”
“Well, he probably wasn’t old enough until now.”
“And we’re assuming they’re related when we have no idea,” Carter replied. “I don’t want to bother them until there’s a legitimate reason to bother them. And I’m not giving us up without a good reason. Otherwise, we’re just going to piss our fathers off for no reason.”
“Then what do we do?” I asked. “Are you going to look into this?”
“Yeah, I’ll ask around,” Carter said. “But I’ll be hush-hush about it. Don’t want to draw attention to myself and provoke him needlessly.”
“True.” I shoved my hands into my pockets, and despite the crazy night I’d had, I was anxious to get home to Muse. I wanted to tell her about my night, make love with her tits in my face, then go to sleep. “Let me know what you find out.”
“I will.”
I was about to walk out when my phone vibrated with a text message. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw Muse’s name on the screen. I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s four and you still aren’t back…tell me you’re alright.
She wasn’t checking up on me because she was worried I was messing around behind her back. She just wanted to know I was alright, that I hadn’t been caught by the Skull Kings. If this were months ago, I would have been ticked by the question. But I knew Muse truly cared about me.