Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
With a sigh, she snuggled in, almost missing his next quiet words.
“When it comes to you, Little Blossom, I’m not reasonable at all.”
41
Reuben was worried about how tired Faith seemed.
She’d fallen asleep while he was paying. Which was a good thing since he didn’t want her to see how much everything cost.
One of the store workers had packaged it all up and he’d wheeled Faith down to the car, getting her settled without her waking up.
She had barely stirred when he’d carried her up to his apartment.
Now he was sitting on the rocker in her playroom, watching her sleep. She’d slipped her thumb into her mouth.
Hmm. Standing, he walked over to her nightstand. He’d already put everything he’d bought away, including the pacifiers, which he’d already washed.
Which one to use?
The butterfly one.
After sliding her thumb from her mouth, he replaced it with the pacifier.
She let out a grumble but started sucking.
Fuck. Was it wrong that he was wondering what it would be like to replace that pacifier with his cock?
Sitting again, he checked his phone as it beeped.
A: Faith, okay?
Alejandro had texted last night to check on her as well. This was more than he’d ever checked in on Reuben.
R: Starting to think you like her more than me.
A: She’s prettier.
A: She smells better.
A: And she’s smarter too.
R: Stop looking at my girl. And smelling her. That’s fucking weird and I’ll tell your wife.
A: My wife is the one who keeps asking how she is. You should thank me, Cat wanted to come around first thing this morning to check on her.
Oh, hell no.
R: You keep Cat at home.
A: You know I don’t like being told what to do . . .
He wouldn’t.
R: She’s asleep. She’s tired. And she fell over at that toy shop today. While playing with some strange Little.
A: She’s okay, though?
R: Yeah, but I don’t like the idea of her meeting strangers and thinking they’re gonna be best friends. She’s too trusting. She doesn’t understand that there are shitty people out there.
A: That’s where you come in. You need to look into this guy.
R: Don’t worry, I will.
A: I know. You’re less trusting than I am.
R: That’s because most people are fucking assholes.
A: Fine, I’ll keep Cat away, but you need to arrange a playdate. Soon.
Reuben wanted her and Cat to be friends. However, he just needed his girl to himself for a bit longer.
Then, he could ensure she followed his rules and wouldn’t let Cat sway her toward the dark side.
A: We also need to talk about our friend’s funeral.
Our friend? These phones were as secure as they could get them, but Alejandro still wouldn’t say anything too interesting via text just in case.
Still, Reuben knew he was talking about Venturo.
R: Later tonight. Circus.
A: Done.
Getting up, he moved out into the hallway so he could video call Juliet.
His smile dropped when it wasn’t Juliet who answered. “Xavier. Where is my sister?”
“Hey, Reuben. How are you? Good to talk to you. Yeah, I’m fine,” Xavier said sarcastically.
“Cease the bullshit. I didn’t call to talk to you. I want to speak to Juliet.”
Xavier sighed. He looked tired. That wasn’t a good sign. What was going on?
“What’s wrong? Is it Juliet? Is she all right?” Other than her concussion which had affected her memory of her accident, her injuries had been minor.
“She’s okay. She’s just a bit . . . fragile.”
Reuben didn’t like the sound of that. He walked into his kitchen and grabbed a protein drink from the fridge.
“Fragile? Of course she’s fragile. She was nearly fucking killed.”
“I don’t mean physically. Her body is healing well. I’m making sure of that.”
Reuben grunted. Xavier was a doctor at the local hospital. If he hadn’t been there to watch over Juliet while she was recuperating, Reuben would have hired a doctor for her.
“She’s been having nightmares about what happened.”
“She’s remembered?” Reuben straightened. No one could work out how she’d fallen off her bike.
“No. She doesn’t remember what happened. All she knows is that she was scared.”
Fuck.
“Do you think someone hit her?” he asked.
He’d fucking kill them.
“I don’t know. There was no sign of anyone else being involved and no one in Wishingbone would harm her, but if it was a tourist being reckless, someone from a neighboring town driving through who knocked into her without seeing her . . . there’s a lot of theories and no fucking proof.”
Reuben ground his teeth together. “I do not want her biking around anymore.”
“Yeah. Brick and I agree.”
Reuben took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Logically, he knew that what happened wasn’t their fault. But he’d never been very logical when it came to Juliet’s safety.
“Even Juliet feels the same,” Xavier told him.
That did surprise him. But he was also relieved. He’d always hated her biking around Wishingbone. He’d tried to hire her a driver, but she’d always refused.