Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“I’m not shaking you off, Kenzie. Just going inside to talk to my sister.” He reached behind me for the knob. “Unless you want to talk about last night. I can stop by Sunny’s in the morning—”
“—and we can talk about this: I’m not a victim.”
“What?” he said, hand falling off the knob.
“I’m not a victim, Bane, even though your words have been playing nonstop in my head, trying to convince me otherwise.”
“My words? Hold on, I never called you a victim.”
“Didn’t you?” My eyes stung, squeezing out tears as strangled as my throat. “Can you break bones to maintain fear? Can you demand half the contents in a man’s safe while he’s on his knees begging and pleading that he needs the money for his family? Can you do what it takes to be the monster that monsters are afraid of? Can you love a man that does?
“You flung those questions at me, thinking you had me figured out. You’re the one who punches first, and I’m the one cowering before the monsters, hoping someone saves me.”
“Whoa, hey.” Bane cupped my cheek. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean, Bane? What else am I supposed to think after you morph into this quiet, polite stranger who doesn’t have three full sentences for me after the worst night of my life? I know what you’re thinking. I’m opposite of what you’ve trained and sacrificed to be.
“You’ve done everything to make sure you’re no one’s victim. That your death or capture can’t be used against your family. Then here comes some tragic homeless girl whose abduction almost got you, River, and your brothers killed. I’m everything you hate.”
“Kenzie, enough!” He made me lift swimming orbs to his—wide and imploring. “I never said any of that. I don’t think it either. None of that shit is true.”
“It’s not?” I pushed his hand away. “Because I understand why you refuse to be my boyfriend, but maybe you can explain to me why lately, you’re not acting like a friend either.”
With that, I walked off, leaving him calling after me. I made it all the way to my room before the dam broke.
THE NEXT MORNING, SUNNY alternated between rubbing cream on my ankle and rubbing my feet. The skin chafed where the chains bit into me.
The two of us—three of us were in his room. Sunny and I shared breakfast in bed while Laurel entertained herself on the play mat. Gunshots ran in my ears as I ate Shonda’s French toast and vanilla smoothie.
“Gorgeous, you’re uncharacteristically quiet. What’s on your mind?”
I came to, fixing my expression. “Uncharacteristically? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means the last time we sat in silence this long, you were fighting your attraction for me and biting your lips, so you didn’t use them to make things interesting.” He sat up straight. “Unless of course, that’s what’s happening now...”
I laughed, tension easing. No matter what happened, I could always rely on my Sunny to be... sunny.
“I was thinking about what we’re facing. Sienna is so sure we’ll be okay as long as we stick together, but it’s hard to feel secure when the Brotherhood could be anyone or anywhere.”
“We’ve faced worse and mowed those ‘insert profanity here’ down. This time won’t be any different.” He resumed rubbing my arches, making me purr. “Though I am wondering what the radius is on Sienna’s vision of togetherness, because Genny took off.”
“She did? Already? How did she get out of here so fast with a busted leg and hurt shoulder?”
He shrugged. “Probably had her crew carry her out on a golden litter. The scariest bunch of Amazons you’ll ever meet, but when Genny snaps her fingers, they fall in quick.”
“That would make me feel better if she planned on telling us or the Amazons the location of her new place. What if they ambush her again and she doesn’t get away? Why is she so stubborn?”
“’Cause she’s pissed, baby. The Brotherhood got this close.” He held his fingers up. “This close to showing that despite inheriting all the good and the better traits of our unstoppable mother, she can be sent running with her tail between her legs. Genny hates weakness—others’ and her own.”
Something about that lodged a lodestone in my stomach. I understood that better than I wanted to. “There has to be another way,” I whispered. “A way to overcome weakness that isn’t reckless.”
“Maybe, but I think there will always be some involved. It takes a little recklessness, a little wild, a little rage to run into a fight you can’t hope to win if it means saving someone you love. Being disciplined, calculating, or practical isn’t what makes you strong. It’s picking up your crutches, going outside, and showing them all they can’t make you afraid.”
I stroked his early morning stubbly jaw, loving him so much in that moment my chest ached. “You might be onto something, Sole Bellisario.”