Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
I sigh, tossing my phone onto my bed and making my way to the shower that’s adjacent to my bedroom. Is this what my life will be now? Favors for the Kings and pretending to be one? They can say it as often as they want, but it’ll never stick.
I am not a King. I am here, yes, and I bleed them, would die and kill for them, but I am not one.
As soon as the water is warm, I dip beneath and watch as it beads off my skin. Five minutes max, I’m out, dry, and standing in my closet, scanning my current options. Sundresses, winter dresses, knitted sweaters, flats, heels, handbags. Everything in this world is endless.
Like barrel wine, burgundy lace stands out between a beige sweater and a yellow dress. I’m about to take it out when my phone starts blaring from the room. I back up without looking away, swiping the phone blindly and tapping to answer.
“If you had to choose, which one?” In a second, my mom’s bright silver hair replaces the blank black screen.
“Where’s Aunt Perse?” I stand my phone upright on my bedside table, throwing on a loose top and fuzzy socks. I’m crawling up my bed when she tangles two dresses in front of the camera. One lilac and the other black.
“Lilac.” A yawn interrupts my answer as I settle into the sea of pillows.
The dress disappears, and her face fills the screen. Free of makeup and in the comfort of her bathroom, my mother never looked more beautiful than she does in her natural moments. “We always wear that color.”
“True,” I answer, unlatching the Rolex from my wrist. “But there’s a reason why we do. Where you going?”
She picks up her phone and walks me through the house and into the kitchen. “We have a meeting in Japan.”
“Fun. Mayhem?” My stomach turns to knots. I wish I fell into the Mayhem kid pool. Things on that side seem easy.
She nods, the light from the fridge disappearing when she closes the door. “Yep. Are you okay? What are you doing tonight?”
“Hey, baby!” Dad blows me a kiss through the phone when my mom passes him.
Warmth spreads through my chest, turning my heart heavy. “I miss you.”
“Us too—” Mom starts walking off, but Dad must take the phone because there’s a slight squabble before his face replaces Mom’s. “How’s everything going there?”
Bound by bland walls and unpacked boxes, I settle on the view of Riverside from the floor-to-ceiling window. “Well, the apartment is nice.”
“It’s temporary. You know you should take the offer to build down the lane.”
The thought puts out my fatigue like water to a flame. I roll out of bed and make my way downstairs. “I don’t want to.”
He’s silent for a moment, which gives me enough time to find the bar hidden in the corner of the living room. A soft ambiance of lighting allows for a comfortable setting. It's perfectly me, paired with a velvet moss sofa, a wide fireplace, and designer rugs.
“It’s all up to you, baby. You know that.”
Headlights catch the window as the passenger door opens onto River before Halen climbs out of the driver’s seat and Stella from the back.
“I have to go.”
When Dad doesn’t answer, I look down at the phone in time to catch worry lines wrinkling into the center of his forehead. “I wouldn’t want this for you. For what it’s worth.”
It’s not worth anything because it’s who we are. Dad is a King, but he isn’t one of the three. He’s a King through and through, but sometimes I wonder, if he was pushed enough, would he still choose the EKC? That’s the difference between the three founding members and the ten.
“We don’t have to do this, Dad. I’m happy, okay? And I love you.”
“I love you, baby.”
I hang up as my front door opens, and River fills the space. Halen moves her out of the way, swinging her car keys around her fingers. “Well, hello, Nightmare!”
The weird nickname I haven't heard since we were children leaves her mouth as Stella’s thigh-high boot closes the door behind her. Long, raven-colored hair is flicked over her shoulder as she carves the lipstick from beneath her bottom lip. This is what it’s to be. This was what I would have been had I been more involved as a child.
Had I not been thrust into the arms of a sociopath and made to be his pet. None of them know the truth beneath the pretty exterior of Priest Hayes, their official new leader. Halen knows a little, but after he hid me for years without his twin knowing, I’m starting to wonder what else he’s managed to keep from her.
Or from everyone.
“I’m not ready yet.” I leave my phone on the kitchen island. “My mom was calling to ask what dress she should wear.”