Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 91480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I ruin you.”
In any other context, I might’ve winked and told Mr. Stone to ruin me–starting with my panties. But I had a feeling he wasn’t talking about that sort of ruination. He was probably talking more about emptying all one thousand and twenty dollars from my bank account. Maybe it was best if I didn’t let on just how little of me there was left to ruin.
I picked up the pen, met his eyes, and then scribbled my name. When in doubt, let curiosity take the wheel.
Mr. Stone seemed to visibly relax. He closed the folder and pulled it back to his side of the desk. “The real reason I hired you is because I need someone to tutor and look after my niece, Maxine.”
If an old-fashioned record had been playing, that would’ve been the moment someone leaned on the needle and let out a loud, unsettling scratch.
6
CHRISTIAN
Lola was waiting in my office as instructed. I stepped out of the elevator into my penthouse on the 60th floor and cautiously entered the room. Despite my best intentions, I found myself crouching slightly and swiveling my head to look for signs of danger.
“Max?” I called.
A plastic click was my only warning before something thudded into the side of my head. I turned in time to duck the next few foam darts as Max grinned and pelted me with a toy gun.
“Give me that damn thing.”
Max saw me coming, eyes going wide as she tossed the gun and ran. She was thirteen, lanky, and wearing a backwards ball-cap with a dress and black boots. I picked up the gun, which I was certain I’d disposed of at least two times and tossed it in the trash. “There’s someone you need to meet.”
“Meet this!” she countered. She popped up from behind the sofa with a dart pistol and fired off a few more well-aimed shots.
I raised my arm, gritting my teeth and inwardly cursing my brother for putting me in this ridiculous position. “That can go in the trash, too.”
Max finished unloading the weapon, then dangled it from her index finger and walked over towards me, offering it up. She had big brown eyes with matching hair, a slim build, and girlish features she tried to hide with a hard-edged personality. “Go ahead and toss it. I paid the janitor to smuggle my stuff back to me when you trash it.”
I glared. “Would it kill you to be less of a pain in my ass?”
“You should really watch your language around sweet, innocent little kids.” Max’s tone said she was about as far from sweet or innocent as you could get. “And yes. It might actually kill me. Because Dad always told me the fastest way to get murdered, kidnapped, or taken advantage of was to be soft. Soft people get squished. Hard people do the squishing.”
I wished that didn’t sound exactly on brand for my brother. I ran a hand through my hair, thinking for about the hundredth time that I was the last person on Earth who was qualified to take care of a kid. But every time Max talked about her dad, I realized my brother might be even less qualified than I was.
“So who am I meeting? Is it another tutor?” I would’ve preferred if she looked nervous or bashful. Instead, I saw the same flicker a bunny probably saw in its last moments before a wolf gobbled it whole. “Did you find somebody with a little more backbone this time?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But you’re going to be on your best behavior.”
Max pulled her chin back in mock offense. “I’m always on my best behavior.”
“Then your best behavior is far from adequate.”
She shrugged and smirked. “You talk like someone shoved a dictionary up your–”
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
Max watched me, eyes twinkling. “Anyway. Should we get going, Uncle Stones?”
I gritted my teeth. Stone. It was Uncle Stone. But I’d spent the last two months learning that the damn girl fed on conflict like a vampire on blood. She was constantly prodding and probing me to elicit some sort of response. If I was foolish enough to give it, she only made it worse. The best course of action was to ignore her and speak to her as little as possible. So I grunted and gestured for her to follow me to the elevator.
While we waited for the doors to close, I couldn’t help picturing Lola sitting there with her hands in her lap and the hem of her dress resting on her smooth thighs. A gentler man might’ve even felt guilty for what I was about to set in her lap. But I needed to keep Max off as many official records as I could manage. If she showed up on the student roster for the local school in a few months when Summer ended, there was a chance… Well, it was better not to think about that. I had it under control. All I needed was to find a damn tutor who could handle my niece.