Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 136025 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136025 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
I appreciate it more than he’ll probably ever know. “Why me?”
“You’re a good listener,” Farrow says matter-of-factly. “And I have a thing for you.”
I lick my lips and feel my fucking smile.
“Just so you know,” he says huskily, “the thing you have for me is ten times bigger.”
I try to glare, but it’s difficult. “I have a tiny, fragmented thing for you. Thanks for asking.”
“You’re welcome, wolf scout.” He smiles into another swig.
I think I can speak. Find the words. Grab them. Say them. I breathe. “I’m afraid for my brother. I’m afraid this’ll happen again with a worse outcome, and I just want him to be okay.” I swallow. “What’s also getting to me is that today—it’ll stay with Kinney for the rest of her fucking life.” I crack my neck from side-to-side, my bones stiff.
“What about you?” Farrow asks, and off my confusion, he says, “It’ll stay with you too.”
“I can handle it.” I laugh at a thought. Of where we are. “I’m standing in a hotel vending area.”
Farrow frowns. “I’m not following.”
I take a rough breath. “So when I was twelve, I went to Disneyland, and back at the hotel, I left for a vending area.” I gesture to the machines. “Just like this. I slid down and just cried. My dad found me, hugged me, and that’s when I asked him if my mom was a sex addict. I’d heard rumors…and that’s where he said yes.” I look up at Farrow. “The memory is with me, but it’s not eating at me. The ones that hurt my family—those almost get to me.”
“Almost,” he repeats, studying my features.
I open and close one hand in a fist. My body tensing. I rotate my neck again. “I swear it’s like I have two switches: rage or off. Sometimes I’m programmed for automatic shutdown.”
“It’s a survival instinct,” he says.
I give him a look. “I thought you said I was desensitized to my own death.”
His barbell ratchets up with his brows. “Trust me, you are, but when other people are in danger, you have to survive to help them.” He adds, “Corpses don’t save people.”
“You’re right, they eat people.”
He rolls his eyes into a laugh. “You would take it to zombies.” His gaze practically brushes my cheekbones.
I step closer, my knee hits the machine, our legs threaded. I’m alright to be touched, and he sees. Swiftly, he holds my jaw and I clutch the back of his neck, our mouths a centimeter away. Hard chests pressing together.
Warmth spreads through my body. I breathe and breathe and fucking breathe. Kiss me.
“Hey—”
I instantly break apart from Farrow at Quinn’s voice.
He holds the empty duffel. “I thought you could use this to carry the drinks back.” He nods to the Fizzle machine behind Farrow. “I can help.”
“We have it,” Farrow says, his hand casually planted on my waist.
Quinn rubs the back of his neck. “Okay, so I actually wanted to ask you something alone.” He’s looking at me.
“Alright.” I swig my soda.
“I’ve been wondering if there’s anything else about Luna I should know.”
Once Luna flies back to Philly, her bodyguard has to fly back too. It’ll be the first time Quinn is away from Farrow while on-duty, for longer than a week.
And a couple days ago all the bodyguards bought Quinn a six-pack of beer, toasted to him, and said their goodbyes.
Quinn sets the duffel down. “The team said Luna’s normal day is reading and writing fan-fics, but you’re close to her. I figured you’d know more.”
I stare off for a second. Thinking about my sister. I saw the flying saucer tattooed on her ribs. Donnelly also permanently inked the lyrics Farrow scrawled on her forearm. She called that tattoo spontaneous.
I get that I’m a hardass, but I’m not a prude or her dad.
I’m her big brother. And I’m glad she did something that made her happy. If she could stay on tour longer, I’d let her in a fucking heartbeat.
I almost smile before I refocus my attention on Quinn. “Once she finishes homeschool, I think she’ll want to get out more.”
“Where?” Quinn asks.
“Concerts, coffee shops, bars, amusement parks, I don’t know,” I say honestly. “She’s just ready to experience life like a regular person.” Which is impossible. My gaze hardens at another thought. “She trusts people ten times more than Jane does, than I do. Just watch out for her.”
Quinn rubs his knuckles. “She’s eighteen. I have to listen to her if she wants to hang out with people that…”
“Shit on her,” I say.
“Yeah,” Quinn mutters.
“Be her friend, Oliveira,” Farrow chimes in. “Then she’ll listen to you.”
I give him a look. “Was that your plan with me?”
He rolls his eyes again. “Wolf scout, I didn’t need a plan with you. I wasn’t a green bodyguard.”
Quinn laughs. “Thanks.” He edges back. “I’ll leave you two…to it.” He also leaves the duffel on his way back to the room.