Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
The guys get out of the pool and grab their towels, wiping down.
Masters tells Baxter, “Keep our guests happy. Give them whatever drinks they want.”
“Clearly, you both had a better night than I did,” I say.
“Is this about the present Killian gave you?” Wrath asks, and I glare at him.
“He abducted me.”
“For, like, a birthday surprise,” Wrath says. “How many times have we done that with each other? It was your twenty-seventh. I figured he’d give you a Lamborghini.”
“Definitely didn’t get a car. Just these bruises and psychological trauma.”
Wrath assesses my injuries. “This isn’t making any sense. They’re our allies.”
“You don’t know the half of things not making any sense.”
“And you talking cryptically doesn’t help anything.”
Jesus, I’m starting to sound as evasive as Killian was with me last night, but for a different reason, because it’s not the kind of thing I’m eager to share with my brothers.
I lead them into Dad’s office, and Wrath removes his towel, so he’s just in his Speedo. He tosses it onto the love seat adjacent to the desk while Masters beelines for the liquor cabinet.
“Anyone else want a martini?” Masters asks. “I can make my Cutthroat specialty.”
I’m annoyed that alcohol’s what’s on his mind when I have something so serious to discuss, but I also could use a little something to take the edge off. “Sure.”
“Of course,” Wrath says, and Masters gets to work. Of the four of my siblings, he’s the best at mixing drinks.
Wrath waits for me to be out with the news, and I should just tell them, but now that I’m sobering up, it’s hard to imagine getting any of this out with a straight face.
“What is it, man?” Wrath asks.
“Killian had something he wanted to talk to me about. He—”
Masters shakes up the martini—convenient timing, as ever—earning glares from Wrath and me. He continues shaking, ignoring the attitude like we’re not annoyed as fuck, then starts pouring into three glasses on the bar.
I wait for him to distribute the drinks before I tell them about my abduction and being tied and blindfolded, fearing for my fucking life. As I get into it, I’m even more worked up that it was how he chose to tell me the news when there were plenty other ways without having me think last night was my last. I get to the part where Killian told me about the arrangement, but stop myself.
“What did he want?” Wrath presses.
“He wants… It’s gonna sound so ridiculous, so just listen. He wants me to marry him.”
Wrath and Masters shoot each other a look—the sort I never liked growing up because they have a way of communicating without needing to talk, which is great for them but terrible when you’re their brother and want to know what’s on their minds. Finally they break, bursting into boisterous laughs, the room echoing with their amusement. They’re clearly not buying it.
“I’m being totally serious right now.”
“Yeah,” Wrath says. “Well, it sounds like Killian isn’t. He’s fucking with you, man.”
Now that I’m done talking, I sip my martini, but then down the rest because these guys are stressing me the hell out.
Wrath sips on his, leaning his ass against Dad’s desk, something he never could have done while the old man was alive. And on top of his dismissive comment, it’s pissing me the hell off. “Wrath, I spent the night strung up with a psychopath who felt me up and told me that if I want our family to continue receiving protection from the Lordes, I’ll have to get married, and if that happens, you’re my fucking bridesmaid.”
“Okay, I’d be a groomsman, but—”
“Not in Killian’s fucked-up mind!” I shout, and Wrath’s eyes widen, a grin stretching across his face, the way he used to get when we were younger and he could tell he was getting on my nerves. As I check Masters’s smirk, it’s apparent he’s enjoying this just as much.
I know it won’t make any sense without telling them about the contract Dad had me sign before he passed, and as I explain, their expressions sober up. Just like my own skepticism, it seems they realize there might be some truth to it after all. I must say I preferred it when they thought I was out of my goddamn mind.
“Still think it’s a big fucking joke?”
“Huh, that’s how Dad kept the Lordes looking after us for all these years,” Masters says.
“But it’s just a formality, right?” Wrath follows. “You sign some paperwork, and then it’s done.”
“Killian was very clear that he wants me to be his actual wife, and that’s the last thing in the world I need right now.”
“And you’re gonna do it, right?” Masters asks. “I mean, we can’t be enemies with the Lordes, and we won’t survive Fury without them.”
“I’m not planning on being enemies with them. I just need to find a way out of this damned agreement.”