Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 130955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
“Good. Then get rid of him.”
Burian didn’t wait for an answer and shifted back into the furry wolf form that would keep him warm.
Yev had to fight the urge to kick him.
Chapter 4 – Radek
Radek ended up talking Mirek into closing the station an hour after Yev left, and going back to the party together, since it wasn’t as though anyone would demand police attention so late at night. He spun a story of Mirek spotting him in the woods, and basically saving his life, because the stupid forest ranger and his drug-dealing empire deserved no mention. He was also a bit freaked out with his discovery and decided to keep his mouth shut.
By morning, the rush of alcohol had been replaced by a headache, and if he could have had his way, he’d have spent the day in bed. But Mom would bust his balls forever, and he awoke to several missed calls from her, so he dragged himself up, took a shower, and was frustrated to find Jan in bed with someone else, which meant he wouldn’t be starting the day with a blowjob. Their relationship was open, if it could even be called it a relationship at all, but Radek had his pride, and he wouldn’t be begging for attention.
Most of his friends were about to drive to Cracow shortly after midday, so he asked Iga to pass Jan the keys once he got up and made his way to the village, hoping the fresh air would help him ease the terrible hangover. But once he left the trees behind, and the morning sun attacked him from above, it became clear he did not have the greatest day ahead of him.
He wasn’t looking forward to seeing his mother. Their relationship had never been that great, but after Dad’s sudden death, she had taken her neediness to the next level despite Mrs. Irena, their part-time housekeeper, visiting her every day.
Radek imagined they often gossiped about how ungrateful he was, how he put partying over seeing his mother, how he should have come back to Dybukowo after getting his bachelor’s degree and taken care of the fox fur farm, or how Mom wanted grandchildren. He’d heard it all.
As he walked under the blue sky, through the snow-covered fields in the middle of the broad valley that encompassed Dybukowo, the white fluff reflected the light straight at Radek, forcing him to lower his head, because the sun’s rays were like needles taking stabs at his eyes. He knew this place by heart. He'd grown up here, and each landmark was yet another step toward a cup of hot coffee and the plush pillows of the sofa.
Across the fields to the left, right by the edge of the woods, was Emil and Adam’s new home, already decorated with homemade Christmas ornaments and pine branches. Radek couldn’t imagine ever being as at peace as Emil. Especially not in Dybukowo. His soul was restless for travel, for clubbing in Berlin, and sightseeing in Rome. He’d be leaving the village right after doing his duty of spending Christmas with Mom. New Year’s Eve in Madeira was bound to be the party of the century.
The bells of the wooden church surrounded by poplar trees rang as he was passing by—a reminder it was midday, and he hadn’t even eaten breakfast. He’d be home within fifteen minutes if he hurried, so he willed his legs to work faster along the grooves made in snow by cars that had driven along the road since the last snowfall.
The woods created a neck between the fields and the village itself, just wide enough to allow for the passage of an asphalt road. His family home was beyond it, sandwiched between the dense trees and the scattering of nineteenth-century farmhouses in the village.
While Radek’s home had been based on designs of representative villas from the start of the previous century, it had only been built twenty years back. The fence surrounding the vast garden and Dad’s now-abandoned golf course started right at the edge of the old forest, but the dense evergreen trees planted along it on all sides prevented strangers from catching a glimpse of the house. Even the driveway had been deliberately made S-shaped to protect the family’s privacy.
Some people in the village called it the Nowak palace, but Radek ignored the mocking, because it wasn’t them who had an underground pool, so they could gag on their jealousy. Tough Radek had to admit that Dad’s grand design had a whiff of nouveau riche tackiness. He would have chosen a more modern house, something that was comfortable to live in but didn’t clash with the rustic atmosphere of the village as much, but this wasn’t his house and never would be even though he was to inherit it eventually.