Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
“We weren’t spoiled. We had chores. My parents had no problem telling us ‘no.’ We ate dinner together as a family almost every night. They made us do community service every other weekend. We watched TV. Only Achilles and Athena act like they’re better than everyone.”
“I can’t picture you scrubbing a toilet for allowance money or putting up with people at Andover Prep.” I put way too much enthusiasm into the name of his school. It sounded made up.
He looked at me, and I could tell his shoulders relaxed. “It wasn’t easy. Phillip tried to get these guys to beat me up our freshman year.”
“No,” I gasped.
He nodded.
“What happened?”
“Odi pulled the fire alarm to stop it.”
“But you could have beat the shit out of him.” He could have done way more than that. What an idiot!
His laugh was so genuine it felt the same way in my chest as an ice cream cone did on a hot day. “Yeah, then I would’ve gotten the shit beat out of me.”
“By your brothers?”
Alex huffed. “I wish. Alana. But it’d be easier than picking on a baby. It’s the first thing we’re taught: the strong don’t pick on the weak. Even if we want to and they deserve it.”
That was something else to think about. I side-eyed him. “I can take his wife and kid if you want me to.”
Alex leaned against the back of the seat, his eyes glowing briefly in the dark cabin of the car. “You would fight the kid too?”
I hugged the Hello Kitty a little bit tighter. “You don’t take care of the kid, he’ll grow up and come after you in the future. Come on, Alex, you’re better than this. You probably don’t read comics, but everyone knows this. The Electro-Man movies are really good; you might enjoy them if you gave them a chance.”
His eyes briefly glowed bright again, and I was pretty sure I saw a smirk on that perfect face. “Yeah, I might.” His smirk got even bigger. “I just might.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
It was settled. I was going to see how long Alex could hold his breath when I held a pillow over his face later.
When he wasn’t expecting it.
It was either going to be that, or I was going to choke him out.
Had his sister, The Primordial survived in space? Yes. Were chances in his favor that he could do the same? Yes.
And could he realistically overpower me with his smallest toe? Most definitely. But I was going to give it my all anyway.
He was going to learn a lesson some way, somehow. He couldn’t just do whatever he wanted.
“Why do I have to go with you?” I asked for about the twentieth time.
The son of a bitch, who I was purposely not looking at for longer than a second or two, repeated the same thing he’d said half the other times I’d thrown the same question at him. “Because.”
That was his answer: because.
Real helpful.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about meeting his mom, and that’s probably more than half the reason why I kept asking. I’d thought about pretending to have a migraine so I could stay, but that was cowardly. I was running at 50 percent capacity now, and maybe I should have insisted, but…
I owed him.
“Hear me out,” I started to say before he groaned.
“We’re five minutes away. You’re dressed. I’m dressed. We don’t have to stay long. I know you aren’t feeling great. It’ll be an excuse to leave,” he told me, sounding ultra-crabby.
I wanted to bang my head, but that would mess up the makeup that I’d had to watch an hour-long tutorial to learn how to put on.
Makeup that he’d left on my bed.
Along with a beautiful dress.
And shoes.
All of which were perfect for me, even the foundation that matched my skin tone perfectly.
I’d been so surprised the night before when I’d come out of the shower and found the bags from the mall sitting on my bed. I wasn’t sure what members of a bomb squad felt like, but it had to have been close to how my heart had pounded as I opened every bag and box. It kept pounding slowly while I’d looked for him and found him in his library.
I was holding everything in my arms when I stopped in the doorway. “What’s this?”
His attention had been focused on the computer on his lap. “Clothes.”
This mother… “For me?”
“They’re not for me, Cookie Monster.”
That didn’t help any. “For funsies or a reason?” I asked, my voice going just a little high.
His fingers flew across the keyboard as his lips moved along with it before he replied, “For tomorrow.”
What was…? His mom’s. I’d purposely made myself stop thinking about it. The idea of meeting The Primordial’s mom… Alex’s mom… was intimidating as hell. I gulped. “I thought we were going to your mom’s.”