Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 61905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
I close my eyes at her words.
Six hours? Is that all?
Fuck, I need at least ten more.
“Now, get the fuck up and deal with your mother with me because, unlike you, I need to make a good impression on her.” With that, she turns and walks out the door.
My mother is a hard yet amazing woman. Along with my brother, she is one of the only people in this world who I don’t want to disappoint. She’s had her fair share of fucked-up life being married to my father. We saw it growing up, and I vowed to never be the man he was. He was a mafia boss, and he was in an arranged marriage with my mother, just like I am with Adora, but he treated her like utter shit. He even went so far as to fake his own death to run away with the woman he was sleeping with behind my mother’s back.
And then, to add to the shitty things he’d done, he came back because he wasn’t happy with how Keir was running things. He said Keir should’ve stuck to his arranged marriage to a fucking lunatic. Kier ended up having to kill our father, which wasn’t easy for him, but it wasn’t exactly hard either. Keir has only loved two women in his life—the one he’s married to and the one who is downstairs currently cooking me lunch. I’ve only loved one. And I’m not sure I can love the other woman in my house right now. I don’t think I even fucking want to.
Getting out of bed, I go straight for the drawers and pull on a pair of shorts and a shirt before going down the stairs to where I can hear my mother’s voice.
My mother didn’t approve of Keir’s choice in wife at first, but now they are extremely close. And I expect the same thing from her regarding Adora and me. But when I reach the bottom of the staircase, I hear my mother’s laughter. When I round the corner, I see flour all over the kitchen counter and her rolling out dough. Adora sits on the other side and watches, holding a glass of wine in one hand, a smile strapped to her face as my mother tells her a story.
As soon as I enter, my mother raises her head, her eyes light up, and her smile brightens. “Oh, my baby’s awake.”
Adora turns around and doesn’t offer me a smile, merely glares at me before turning back to face my mother.
“I was just telling Adora about how you were when you got your first girlfriend in high school and how your brother ran her off because you were destined to marry someone else.” Keir and I have always been close. Not your normal, average brotherly close, but more on the side of we don’t lie to each other, and we are protective, even when we shouldn’t be.
I grew up in a household where nothing revolved around me. Everything was done in preparation for my brother to step up and take over from my father. I was naïve and young and thought I could get away with everything because I didn’t have to worry about this life. This life that I have been handed and will always be a part of. But when Kier took over, he brought me with him, made me his second-in-command. It wasn’t by force. I willingly went because that’s what family does.
My brother was trained to kill at a young age, and the first time I ever took someone’s life was when I was seventeen, and they had a gun to my brother’s head. I had no other choice. And ever since then, I haven’t been able to back away. Seventeen is considered late in my world to get your first kill, but I’m in this life now, and there is no getting away from it.
“I lost my virginity to her,” I share. Adora almost spits her wine out, and my mother looks at me, shocked.
“Joey, I don’t think that’s something that you should announce so proudly, do you?” my mother scolds.
All I give her is a shrug.
“Anyway, I’m making pizzas for you and Adora. We have family coming over tonight to congratulate you and bring gifts, so do you think you can dress?” my mother says, waving her hand at what I’m wearing. Adora laughs again over her wine glass.
“And what about what she’s wearing? Do you think that’s acceptable?” Adora licks her lips, trying to hide a smirk, while my mother’s mouth hangs open in shock. “I would say it’s a bit trashy, wouldn’t you?”
“That’s it.” My mother holds up her finger, and I know I’ve made her mad, but the smirk still sitting on Adora’s lips makes me even madder. “March right up those stairs and don’t come back down until you have a better attitude. Lunch will be ready in five minutes. You can fix yourself a plate when you’re done.”