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)
I didn’t want my body to do something embarrassing either, which meant, I needed to focus on something else.
A woman beside me let out a fake, high laugh.
I felt so out of place.
And I was hungry.
I turned right out of the doors and took in the empty hallway, counting the doorways until I found the one with literally a bathroom sign for women on it.
I pushed open the door, half expecting a half-bath, but it was a full-on bathroom with stalls. Was that marble on the floor and the sinks? Ducking into one of the stalls, I did what I needed to with my clothes; I clutched my brand-new multi-tool so it wouldn’t fall into the toilet and squatted. I’d just started peeing when I suddenly stopped.
Because peeking at me from the gaps in the slats that made up the door was a little face.
I covered my midsection with my hands.
“Hi,” the little girl said.
Watching me pee.
I kept holding it and said, “Hi.”
“Whatcha doing?” the little blonde girl asked.
I kept holding it, not sure whether to pull my dress back down or not… but I wasn’t done. “Peeing.” I paused. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Looking for my grandma.”
Grandma? She had to be… little? I hadn’t been around all that many kids, but she looked like she might be freaking cute.
“Do you… need help finding her?” I hadn’t seen any other kids in the ballroom now that I thought about it.
“Uh-huh.”
“If you let me finish peeing, I’ll help you look for her after.”
I saw her bob her head through the slats. “Okay,” she answered in a sweet, squeaky voice.
But she didn’t move.
Was she…?
“You don’t have to keep watching me if you don’t want to….” I trailed off. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Maybe watching people while they peed was no big deal. I wasn’t going to be the one to shame her. Her parents could have this conversation with her.
“I want to,” she said, totally seriously.
I tugged the front of my dress down, knowing all she could see were thighs anyway, and kept going. As much as I could at least, because apparently, I could go in front of Alex but not in front of a Peeping Tom of a little girl. I finished and wiped carefully before flushing and opening the door just as she backed up.
She was adorable.
Her hair was down, straight to her shoulders, bangs were cut straight across her forehead, and in a mint green dress that looked like it had been made by some fashion designer, she blinked bright blue eyes at me.
Selene and Achilles’s eyes. How was she related to Alex? Was her grandma his mom?
“Hi.”
“Hi,” I told her, going straight for the sink to wash my hands. “I’m Gracie. What’s your name?”
“Asami,” she answered. “I like your boobies.”
I was in the middle of rubbing soap between my fingers when I snorted so hard my head hurt. “Thank you. Me too.”
“My mommy doesn’t really have boobies. I hope I do,” she let me know.
Thrusting my hands under the water, I couldn’t help but grin as I said, “Well, I hope you do because you want them, but if you don’t, they are still boobies, just smaller ones.”
“Uncle Leon calls them jubblies.”
Did she just say jubblies?
I started cracking up again and could barely say, “I like the word boobies more.” And if Leon was her uncle, Alex had to be too.
“Me too,” the little girl agreed. “Can we go find my grandma now?”
I reached for a towel and stalled just as I saw there weren’t paper towels but cloth ones. That was the epitome of rich. I dried off, taking in the soft texture as I said, “Sure. My friend might come with us though.”
“Okay,” she agreed, reaching for my hand, threading her tiny fingers through mine.
It made me smile.
We marched forward, and I felt something in my chest at her easy friendship and soft little hand in mine. Like she knew I was thinking about her, she beamed up at me.
Oh, I knew that smile.
It was a no-good one.
And it looked awful, awful familiar.
There was a tiny zip of energy coming through her palm too, I noticed.
Oh boy.
I opened the door for her and let her go out first. Part of me expected to find Alex right outside, but he wasn’t there, and the little girl started tugging on my hand, heading in the opposite direction of the ballroom. “She’s over here,” she said. “Come on.”
So she knew where her grandma was?
Well, Alex could sniff around to find me, I figured.
“You wanna play Trouble with us?” she asked, leading me in the direction of a big, ornate door on the left.
“I need to find my friend first,” I told her, pleased by her invitation and that deceivingly sweet smile she kept shooting at me.