Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
But I lifted an eyebrow. It was the only “hurry the hell up” reaction I allowed myself to give. I hoped he felt the sass pouring off me.
I just wanted to go to my room and sleep. Maybe have that good cry, too.
“You’re not excused.”
I curled my hands into tight fists on my lap.
“We have things to discuss. This week, I’ll be taking you to do some shopping.” He rested back against the chair and watched me.
“Shopping for what? I have what I need already. I brought it with me since you demanded it and all.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up slightly. “You need things for school.” He took a sip of his drink. “I got in touch with that fancy as fuck private school you attend and had them change all your forms to have me listed as your guardian and emergency contact.” When I said nothing, he was the one to raise an eyebrow. “Not gonna bitch about that?”
I shrugged. “I mean, it makes sense they’d list you as my emergency contact, seeing as I have no family left.” Not counting my grandfather, who I assumed was still living. I hadn’t seen him in ages, certainly not before he got sick, and never after the fact.
But Michael had never expressed any interest in his granddaughter anyway.
I watched a muscle under his jaw work as he mulled that over.
“You also need clothes. I saw what you brought, and it’s not enough.”
I wasn’t about to argue with him about wanting to buy me clothes. But a part of me hated needing anything from him.
“Thank you. When I get my inheritance, I’ll pay you back for any expenses you—”
“Not fucking likely.”
I swallowed at the hard tone in his voice. “Excuse me?”
He took another sip of his liquor before responding. “I don’t need or want your money, Princess. As your legal guardian, it’s my job to provide for you.”
I shivered. I had no clue why my body reacted at hearing him say he was providing for me, but here I was, feeling pretty damn uncomfortable by the visceral reaction Hades arose in me.
“And because you need items, we’re going to get them for you. I have some pressing business to attend to over the next couple of days, but after that, I’m all yours.” He said that with a smirk in his voice and one curving his lips.
“I don’t need you to be mine.”
He finished his liquor, set the glass aside, and started running the pad of his finger over the rim. For a second, that sight transfixed me. I noticed for the first time that he had tattoos on his knuckles, the backs of his hands, and I could see dark ink snaking up his wrists and disappearing beneath his dress shirt.
“You hate me,” he said matter-of-factly. It took me a little off guard. “You could lie.” It was like he’d read my mind. “But I’d prefer if you didn’t.” Hades leaned forward and braced his forearms on the table, his hands clasped.
His skin was a dark shade of tan, and I noticed his knuckles were a little scuffed up on his right one. “So go on.”
He was pushing me, wanting to get his way. I wasn’t about to oblige him.
“I don’t have time for stupid games.” I pushed the chair back and stood, knowing I probably looked shaky as hell. But when he narrowed his eyes, I threw a smile right back at him. “You may be my legal guardian now, and I have no choice but to tolerate you for the next three years, but I don’t have to like it. I don’t have to like you or the situation, or give into your psychotic demands.”
I turned to leave when the sound of his chair scraping across the hardwood floor stopped me.
I turned just as I saw him making his way around the table and right toward me, his expression so cold and hard that I moved backward until the wall stopped my retreat.
I felt something I didn’t want to explore too deeply. I pressed myself to the wall, and as Hades crowded me, I felt this intense heat settle right between my thighs.
“Zachariah never disciplined you, isn’t that right?” He stared hard into my eyes.
I tipped my chin in defiance and stayed quiet.
I heard him grind his teeth as he slapped a hand on the wall beside my head and leaned in. “I think you need a different kind of daddy to teach you manners, sweetheart.”
I didn’t have time to grasp what he meant by that because, a second later, he had his hand curled around the back of my neck. He jerked me toward his chest until the motion forced me to place my palms on his pecs. And then he led me out of the dining room, up the stairs, and into my bedroom.