Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Which was why I wanted to believe the fairy tale she presented with her son. Sure, he was way older than me, but she’d said I needed a strong, wise man to take care of me, because she could see I was going to cause beautiful chaos wherever I went. Now, I realized no one wanted that kind of responsibility. Not for someone like me. No one ever had. No one ever would.
The sacks of clothing and personal items the girls had picked out and bought for me were epic. I had so much stuff, there was no way I could go through it tonight. I was dog-tired. I wanted to wrap my hair in a towel and go to sleep. While it looked wonderful, it stank something fierce. It was why I’d put off touching up the roots. Well that, and I didn’t want to spend the money on hair color. Even the at-home stuff was money I didn’t need to waste, let alone what the women had spent on me.
I looked at the mountain of stuff and could have cried. For multiple reasons. Shame at not being able to purchase it myself. Gratitude. Hope. Guilt.
With a sigh, I changed my mind, starting to go through everything and put it away neatly. If they could spend so much money on me, the very least I could do was take care of it properly.
Once it was all done, I was barely able to stay upright. I got two towels. One to wrap my hair in, one to lay over the pillow for when the towel slipped as I slept. Then I crawled under the covers and promptly passed out.
Chapter Three
Warlock
I was going to hell. In a handbasket. Over the weekend, it didn’t matter where I was or what I was doing, I managed to catch glimpses of Hope everywhere. She was usually with one of the ol’ ladies, but occasionally I’d see her by herself. Usually sitting beside the pool, her feet dangling in the water. She never got in. Just sat on the edge.
When she’d come back from her shopping trip with the women, seeing her with the proper hair color had almost been more than I could take. She was heartbreakingly lovely yet awkward as hell. She tried too hard to please everyone. It was like she had no idea how to interact with others without being told what to do. Or was constantly expecting to be kicked out of the group. That thought didn’t sit well with me.
This whole situation with Hope was so fucking fishy, it stank like three-day-old roadkill in July. What had my mother been up to?
“You know, you could try apologizing to the girl.” El Diablo stood by my side as I watched her playing with one of the many Saint Bernard dogs bounding around the compound. Who the fuck had so many fucking huge dogs?
“She’s the one trying to manipulate me. Not the other way around.”
“You don’t know that. Seems to me she’s even more caught up in this than you are.” El Diablo braced his forearms on the railing where we stood on the balcony above the compound yard. “Shotgun and Wrath have been looking into her past. Perhaps you should go talk to them. Or, better yet --” He nodded toward where Hope was now laughing hysterically as three huge fucking dogs had her down on the grass licking her face as they played. “Go talk to her.” He straightened. “Might shed some light on her situation. And possibly why your mother acted in the way she did.”
He was right. I knew he was. “Apologizing ain’t something I do well. Guess it comes from being an MC president for so long.”
“You’re still trying to adapt to life not being in charge of everything and everyone. You’re a bit old for any advice I could give you, but let me say that, right now, you’re in charge of that young woman. Maybe not how you’re used to, but you’re in charge of her happiness and well-being. You may not want to be her husband, but while you are, you should take it seriously. Like you alluded to before.” He gripped my shoulder before clapping me on the back once. “Besides, who knows? You might find it’s a role that suits you. You might find something special inside her that fulfills something inside you. Your mother apparently thought so.”
“My mother wouldn’t have cared about me. I can see her looking out for the girl, though. Don’t make any of this right.”
“No. I suppose not.” El Diablo shrugged as he left me to my silent vigil.
What if I treated Hope as if she was really my wife? Not in a sexual sense, but in an affectionate sense. In a protective sense. My woman.
No. No way I could do that. I’d cared for Bev, and she’d betrayed me in every way she possibly could. She was a Goddamned spy, for Christ’s sake! CI-fuckin’-A! Her mission to get information out of Argent Tech. When she couldn’t get inside their security, she’d tried going through the people they knew Argent supplied. I still hadn’t figured out how she knew we were involved with them. I hadn’t said anything to or around her, but she could have broken my security over the years we were together. Then to find out at the end that she’d never loved me. Or even liked me, for that matter…