Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
She wrinkles her nose. “Old fashioned would be the key phrase there, Ragnar.”
Thorin stops pacing at the odd name. “What?”
“Oh, nothing.”
Meanwhile, I stare in awe at this vengeful delight. “Wow…imagine if you’d stabbed her.”
Aurelia stares into the distance like she wishes she had. “I know, right?” Sighing, Aurelia shrugs like she wasn’t just imagining drawing blood.
“You still can,” I whisper when she pouts over the missed opportunity. “I have a knife you can borrow…or I can do it for you?”
Aurelia cuts her gaze to me like I’m insane for offering.
I guess I am.
I’m also completely serious, too.
“Can’t.” She releases a long sigh. “Apparently, being mean is out of character for me.”
“They must not have met you,” Thorin can’t help but say.
She glowers at him but doesn’t bother defending herself. Aurelia may be a ruthless bitch, but at least she owns it. It’s quiet for a few moments as we think about the state of the world we left behind almost a decade ago. I was just getting to know it when Thorin, Khalil, and Ezekiel snatched it from under me.
“Anyway.” She dismisses his commentary about her character with a roll of her eyes. We’ve no room to judge, nor would we. Thorin just likes to give people a hard time. I should know. “You got a phone or something? I need to call my uncle and let him know I’m okay.” Tension fills the room again as the three of us stare back at her. “Helloooo?” She snaps her fingers when none of us jump to do her bidding.
Instinctively, my gaze flies to Thorin, and I can see it on his face. Aurelia is begging for a hard lesson in manners, and he’s dying to be the one to teach it to her.
An idea starts to take shape in my already twisted mind, and I try to push it down. I don’t want to break my new toy so soon, but then her torn sleeve falls further off her shoulder, and my eyes are drawn to the curve of her breast.
Aurelia inhales deeply at that moment, unintentionally making her tits more prominent, and then she scrambles to fix her sleeve.
“What are you willing to do for our help?” Khalil asks before I can.
Fucker’s always copying me.
Thorin doesn’t try to stop him from setting his trap, either. He gave into his darker urges the moment Aurelia challenged him. He just isn’t ready to admit it yet.
“Fine,” Aurelia says with a huff. “I’ll sign whatever you want. Now, can I use your phone?”
“Sure.” We don’t have a fucking phone. Only a radio for emergencies that she’ll never get those dainty little hands on. “But you have to do something for us,” I say as I step away from the window and closer to the bed.
“And it’s not your fucking autograph,” Khalil clarifies. He’s growing impatient, waiting to end this interrogation so he can be balls deep inside her already.
Aurelia looks at us all in bewilderment. “I have to give you something just to make a phone call? Don’t you have an international calling plan?”
Khalil opens his mouth, but Thorin beats him to it just in case he tries to pussyfoot around it. Khalil has a weakness for the opposite sex, while Thorin is all brute strength and no finesse. He acts like women are God’s greatest insult to mankind. In my very limited experience, I’ve found them to be a bit tedious and wishy-washy myself, but I don’t hate them like Thorin does.
Besides, Aurelia’s different.
Her soul is as wonderfully grotesque as mine.
“Our help doesn’t come free.” Thorin lays it out sternly. “If you want to stay, you’ll have to earn your keep.”
“Who says I want to stay?”
“Oh, you’ll stay,” Thorin says. Aurelia withdraws, and rightfully so. It sounds more like a threat than the prediction he probably intended it to be.
Aurelia narrows her gaze, and Thorin returns the silent “fuck you.”
Khalil clears his throat, easing the tension a little. “So, check this out. Even if we could get the word out, the storm that took down your plane is just the first. We’ll be buried up to our eyeballs in snow for the next few weeks, long after whoever gives a shit about you gives up.”
Aurelia really looks nervous now, and I feel my lips curve as she says, “So, what are you saying?”
“You’re stuck with us, Goldilocks.”
“There must be some way—”
“There isn’t.” It’s not until Khalil and Thorin both look back at me in surprise that I realize how harshly I spoke. My carefree nature is slipping with each reminder that she wants to leave. I can’t help it. It’s pissing me off.
Leave?
No, she just got here.
She can never leave.
Ever.
I feel myself becoming a little manic, but I don’t realize how visible it is until Aurelia’s expression shifts, and she starts looking around for an escape route.