Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Raven choked on her dinner roll. She looked happy, alive. Never did I think she’d be married to Ace of all people with one little girl and another one on the way or that she’d technically be an enemy to the five families for life while also playing both sides. “It’s not weird, it’s just…family.”
I pointed at Ace with my fork. “He’s scarier now.”
“He has a role to play.” She cleared her throat. “Just like us, plus it does make any time we’re alone explode into this tension like—”
“Hellooooo, um, Louis, Lucian, L… what did we decide on again?” I joked trying to make things better even though the guy still loved Raven, loathed Ace and was basically abandoned by La Nebbia only to be forced back in to help protect the very family he wished he had.
Basically his life was now torture.
“None of the above.” He looked between us and then exchanged a frown with Ace. “Hey, um Tempest can I talk to you for a minute?”
“I gotta pee.” Raven jumped to her feet.
Louis took her chair and sat. His blond hair was a hot wavy mess. “So, there’s no way to sugar coat this.”
“Then don’t.”
“I’m going to be your new bodyguard.”
“Ah, maybe a bit of stevia would have helped.”
“You said not to. And I’m good at my job.”
“Does being good at your job mean not sleeping with me if the boss forbids it or sleeping with me if he asks you to? At what point do we have a meet cute and fall in love and do you or don’t you prefer the side closest to the door?”
“Look…” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s not ideal for me either!”
“You don’t need to raise your voice.”
“It gets me out of the house,” he admitted. “Please, Tempest, I can’t—”
“Fine.” My smile was fake. I didn’t want the guy that ignored me anywhere near me, he would see too much and I’d have to kill him if he figured out all my secrets. “On one condition.”
Maybe this would work out best for everyone?
Maybe.
I held out my hands. “Deal?”
“You haven’t said yet.”
“I’m aware of that. Deal?”
He looked at Ace then watched Raven walk back toward us. Without glancing in my direction he held out his hand and shook mine. “Deal.”
I jerked him against me and pressed a kiss against his mouth. “Excellent.”
“What is?”
I jumped to my feet and clapped my hands. “Listen up, everyone. I’m not in love. I hate it when accidentally arranged marriages happen, too many feelings, don’t want to catch those. This guy’s going to be my new bodyguard, oh and husband, they say twins do everything together, am I right?” I laughed.
The tables fell silent.
“Anyway.” I grinned. “Carry on.”
I took my seat.
In three, two, one.
The room exploded with yelling.
I grabbed my champagne and winked at Louis. “Don’t worry I’m the last person you’d ever fall for. Many have tried, all have failed.”
“Why’s that?” he yelled above the noise.
I leaned in and tugged his ear with my teeth. “My kiss is poison, and I love to bite.”
Sweet Poison
Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. — Nelson Mandela
Tempest
"NO!” My voice cracked. “Tempest, no, back away, drop the gun, no.”
How many times could a person say no?
How many times would she point it at me and my brother?
How many times would I betray her?
How many times would I regret the moments I stole from her?
"Tempest,” I held up my hands. “It’s not what you think.”
Her blood-soaked Nike sweatshirt was plastered against her tall frame, just like her jet black hair with tips of blue kissed her cheeks. Mascara streaked down her skin.
Mourning. She was mourning what was lost while I was desperate to keep what I had found.
She choked on a sob. “Did you break me?”
The hardest words I would ever say. The hardest truth I would ever tell when I’d only ever been a liar. “Yes.”
“To what!” she screamed. “Say it!”
"I’m broken, and broken people break things.” My breath was heavy in my chest, my throat burned with choking flame after flame. “You were pretty so I touched you, you were easy so I took you, you were lost so I found you, you were nice so I ruined you.”
The truth hurt.
She was nothing but a target, right?
She was nothing.
Love me. I’m not done. Marry me. Cling to me. Stand by my side. Carry me. Kill me.
The final blow, I felt it, I orchestrated it. “In what world would someone like me, ever truly love, someone, like you?”