Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
"You don't want to listen to music, Zolotse?" I ask.
"If you want." I glance over, and she gives me a soft smile, but I see the sadness in her eyes. I loathe it. I would do anything in my power to take it from her, but I don’t know what’s put it there and in turn how to fix it.
"What about one of your audiobooks?" I suggest next. I know how much she loves them. That's the thing about being on the road and stuck inside of an SUV: There is a lot of time to talk and get to know each other, except I have told her all I should about me.
"Not right now. I'm not in the mood."
"Are you ready to call it a day?" I want to get into a hotel so that I can get my hands on her and study her.
"How far are we from Lily's home?"
"We have a ways to go, but we can probably make it tomorrow."
"Okay, whatever you think is best." I reach over and rest my hand on her thigh. Teddy doesn't flinch away. In fact, she rests one of her hands on top of mine, but there is still a distance between us.
It takes another hour before we reach a hotel that meets the criteria I need, along with a few things that my Zolotse enjoys from them. The girl has more money than she can likely ever spend, but a mini bar gets her excited like it's Christmas morning, and it's not for the drinks.
She could buy a whole grocery store of snacks, but Teddy told me the ones in the mini bar taste different.
She stands at my side as we check in. When the front desk attendant hands me back my ID and credit card, Teddy snags my ID and peers at it. I’m sure she’s noticing it’s different, but she doesn’t say anything, only handing it back over to me.
I expect when we get to our suite, she’ll call me out for it, but she does not. She sits on the end of the bed with her attention on her phone. I stand there feeling useless and alone. I enjoy being alone, suddenly it’s hitting me differently. Silence used to comfort me, but now when it’s from her, it’s making me uncomfortable.
When I can’t stand it any longer, my insides feeling as though they are being turned inside out, I go to her. I pray the idea of children and marrying me hasn’t changed. I also don’t want to lose how sweet she thinks I am. Teddy sees me in a way no one else ever has.
The way her eyes light up for me gives me a sense of being normal. Not a killing machine that was crafted and trained by the government, more like an object or belonging and not a person.
I drop to my knees in front of her, wanting to be more eye level with her as she sits on the edge of the bed.
“No new messages from Lily yet, so…” Teddy shrugs one of her delicate shoulders. Today she wears a flowery dress with a fuzzy yellow jacket, which I learned is a cardigan.
"They are headed back. We only have to wait."
"But how long will it take? She still needs to find a moment to slip away from him." We'll get to that later.
"We'll figure it out." I give her reassurance because I will. It will be tricky. Tristan is a very smart man, but when emotions are involved, people often struggle to think straight and logically, especially regarding those they care about. A tool I have used against many, and now one that could be used against me. "Zolotse." I place my hands on her knees, struggling with my words or where to start. I decide to go with honesty this time. "You're scaring me." That has her brows rising.
"I'm"—she points to herself and then to me—"scaring you?"
"Da." I clear my throat and quickly correct the slip, which is far from normal for me. "Yes." I'm efficient in hiding that I'm Russian, or I was for the first ten years of my life after I came to the States. It was part of my training. Teddy knows that I'm Russian because I told her, and I'm sure the nickname I'd given her was a clue.
"Why?" She places her phone down on the bed beside her. Teddy must see I’m struggling and places her hands on top of mine.
“You’re pulling away from me and have gone quiet,” I tell her. “Do you want to talk about the man and what happened back at the spa?”
“What of him?” Her nose does an adorable scrunch. What about him? I killed him. I search her face.
“That I drowned him.”
Teddy gasps. “You did no such thing.” The fuck is happening here. Is she okay? “He slipped and hit his head. It’s unfortunate that he landed in the water.” Finally, I get a mischievous smirk from her, making me relax, but only a little.