Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Pop watched me for a few quiet moments. “I don’t think that’s it.”
“You don’t?” I asked flatly.
“Nope.” He took a sip of his whiskey. “I think that you didn’t say anything because you didn’t want to inconvenience him.”
I scoffed.
“And you were afraid that even after you’d told him how bad it was, he would keep doin’ it anyway. Then where would you be?”
I saluted him with my glass and took a sip. The whiskey burned all the way down my throat.
“Feel like you should know this already,” he continued. “But it’s all right to be vulnerable once in a while. People might surprise you.”
“Are we going to share our feelings now?” I joked, leaning forward on my elbows, my cheeks squished between my fists. “Because I’ve been dying to tell you about the butterflies I get when Danny smiles.”
Pop chuckled and flipped me off. “Little shit.”
I smiled and leaned back in my chair, letting out a slow breath as my chest began to ache. “He knows how bad it is now.”
“And?”
“And he knows.” I took another sip of my drink. “He’s going to be more careful in the future, I think. And he won’t stay longer than three hours without calling.”
“That’s something at least.”
“I understand the caution,” I conceded. “We’ve been pretty insulated here so far, and I think if someone was going to find us here, they would’ve already.”
“Yep.”
“So for now I’ll stay here so he can do what he needs to do.”
“Simple as that, huh?”
“No, I’m going fucking crazy. He knows that I’m capable of helping.”
“But you also know that he won’t be on his game if he’s worried about you.”
“And there’s the rub,” I complained.
“Not an easy situation for either of you.”
“Let’s be real. It’s harder for me.”
Pop grinned.
“I mean, come on. I’m far more experienced than Ian, and they brought him with them tonight.”
“Glad you didn’t mention that when Ian was here.”
“I’m not stupid.” I rolled my eyes. If I’d said anything of the sort in my cousin’s hearing, it would’ve started a war. My cousin hated that he was two years behind me and was adamant that he was just as capable as I was in all things. The guy was competitive. He’d been struggling to keep up since he learned to walk.
“He might have less experience,” my pop reminded me quietly. “But he’s still a Vampire.”
“Well, I’m fucking immortal, and he isn’t,” I shot back.
I guess I wasn’t as immune as I thought to the comparison.
“Oh,” Pop replied. He took a deep breath and smoothed his scruffy beard down over his chin. “Already, huh?”
I shrugged my shoulder and pulled back my lips, showing him my canines.
“Lookin’ sharp,” he commented.
I snorted. “Really?”
“Seemed like the right thing at the moment,” he chuckled.
My clothes grew more damp the longer we sat there, our conversation moving on to less fraught topics like the U-bolt that Pop needed for the tractor before he could use the brush hog attachment to clear out the small field behind the barn. I forced myself not to look at the clock on the stove for as long as I could, but eventually my gaze landed there.
I nearly cursed out loud when I realized Daniel had been gone less than an hour and a half.
“Where do you think they are?”
“Probably gettin’ close to the coast,” Pop replied. “Want another?”
“No thanks,” I said as he put more whiskey in his own glass.
“You want me to get an edible?”
I shook my head. I needed to know how bad things would get without it, and I was a little afraid to have anything mind-altering when I knew Daniel was on—for all intents and purposes—a mission. If something happened, I wanted to be clearheaded.
“Did you know Daniel has his pilot’s license?” Pop asked as I stared at the clock.
God bless him for trying to keep me distracted.
“Yep,” I replied.
“Good thing to have in the family,” he mused. “Maybe he’ll take me somewhere tropical.”
“Uncle Dalton also has his pilot’s license and a plane. Plus, you hate the beach.”
“I don’t hate swim-up bars,” he countered.
“You’re so full of shit.”
“Did I ever tell you that Dalton took me up one time and let me take over the controls?”
“No!” I raised my eyebrows. “How was it?”
“Felt like I was gonna shit myself,” he replied, widening his eyes.
“Well, at least you didn’t crash.”
“Pretty hard to crash at that altitude when I only had the controls for about a minute,” he replied ruefully. “But, damn. It was wild while it lasted.”
“Did Mom know you two were fucking around in Uncle Dalton’s plane?”
“Hell no,” he replied immediately. “She would’ve killed me.”
I laughed. She probably wouldn’t have killed him, but she would’ve berated him for it until the day she died. My mother had married a man whose job was one of the most dangerous in the world, but she still lost her mind if he didn’t wear a helmet or did anything else that had the slightest risk.