Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Suddenly, she runs up to me and hugs my legs, and I don’t know what to do with it other than stare. “Thank you!”
I just look at Ivy and back at Cora as a kind of warmth I’ve never felt before floods my entire body.
What … is happening?
“Hey, why does he get all the thanks?” Silas says as he strolls inside. “It was my idea.”
Cora swiftly releases me.
Ivy folds her arms. “She’s right. This is a castle compared to where we live.”
Maybe she’s right. We are fucking rich, after all, and we’ve never experienced any kind of poverty, let alone having to take care of a kid too. It must’ve taken a toll on her.
“Can we go up to our room?” Cora asks.
“Of course, you can,” Max says as he walks in too. “I’ll show you where it is.”
Dammit. I really didn’t think this through.
Cora grabs Max’s hand and drags him up the stairs, making me feel some kind of way I can’t describe as I follow everyone.
“Fine, I’ll come too,” Silas grumbles, rolling his eyes, almost as if the mere idea of being nice annoys him.
Or maybe he’s just not used to feeling … something. Whatever it is.
Because I clearly noticed a shift in his behavior since he discovered she has a kid. And he’s not the only one.
I breathe out a sigh and head toward the guest room with everyone. The moment Max opens the door, Cora begins to squeal at the small four-poster queen bed with fluffy blankets. She immediately runs to it and belly flops onto it with a giggle, rubbing the mattress.
“It’s so soft!”
Ivy giggles as she enters the room and looks around. “This is … spacious.”
“There’s a bathroom to the left with a tub,” Max says, opening all the doors. “And here’s your closet.”
“Wow,” Ivy says, her lips still parted as she gawks at all the stuff in the guest room. “This is … almost too much.”
“No, it’s not!” Cora yells, making us all laugh. “I love it!”
“I’m glad you’re happy,” Ivy says.
“Aren’t you going to test out your bed?” Max coaxes her.
“Um …” Ivy blushes.
“Go ahead, it’s yours now. You can stay as long as needed.”
“I just … kind of miss my things,” Ivy responds, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“You’ve got more than enough stuff here,” Silas says.
“Yeah, but not my clothes,” she says.
“We’ll take care of it,” I reply.
A smile lifts her face, and my heart beats faster at the sight. “Really?”
“Tomorrow,” Silas grumbles.
“Thanks,” she says. “For everything.”
I lower my eyes. “We just did what comes natural to us.”
She folds her arms. “What, protecting people?”
Silas smirks. “Murder.”
All the blood drains from her face, so I slap Silas on the back. “Time for us to go to our own beds.”
“What, with all this blood still caking my skin?” Silas says, tugging at his shirt.
“Go wash up,” I tell him.
“Don’t tell me what to do, bitch,” he spits back.
“Silas!” Ivy hisses, eyeing Cora. “There’s a kid.”
Silas just throws around an awkward look and sticks his hands in his pockets. He really doesn’t know what to do with this, and I have never seen him so uncomfortably weird as he is now.
“Right, good night.”
“Sleep well,” Max says.
“Doubt it,” Silas replies, waltzing off.
“What’s his problem?” Max asks Ivy.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. It started when …” She gulps and withholds the words she was going to speak. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
She stretches and yawns.
“I think it’s time for us to leave her to do her thing,” I say.
Still, Max won’t look at me, even when he says, “Yeah.” He grins at Cora. “You gonna sleep through the night all by yourself?”
“Yes!” Cora exclaims. “I’m a big girl now.”
Ivy’s laughter fills the room, and it makes my heart swell once more, and I physically have to grab my own damn body to keep me from swaying closer.
“Thank you, Max. Heath.” The looks she gives both of us makes me feel like there are so many words left unspoken, but I don’t have a clue where to start. “Good night.”
Max approaches Ivy and grabs her hand, squeezing tightly. “Sleep tight. We’ll talk again tomorrow, okay?”
She nods and leans up to grab his face to peck him on the cheek, and it turns him into a beet. Goddammit.
“Thank you for helping,” she says. “I mean it.”
“Anything for you,” he replies.
Anything for her …
Of course.
My fingers dig into the palm of my hand, and I turn around and waltz off before I combust.
CHAPTER 39
Ivy
I roll around and look at Cora’s little sleep-drunk face as the morning sunlight trickles in from the window in the back. She slept well in her own little bed. I’m surprised. She normally hates to fall asleep without me. But maybe this slight change in surroundings has done her good.
I mean, she loved splashing in the bath last night. Not to mention these beds. God, they feel so nice compared to our own. And I bet that’s part of the reason she slept like a log.