Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Not gonna happen. I’ve always kept Catalina a secret.”
“But are you going to continue to be the Skull King?” Balto asked. “Now that you got what you want with her, how is that going to work?”
“It’s going to work exactly the way it did before.”
“But you were a secret before. Now this is real, right?”
I shrugged. “Honestly, she and I haven’t talked about it, but yes, I assume so.”
“Where is she?” He looked over his shoulder, as if she was standing right behind him.
“With Damien, actually.”
He faced forward again and nodded. “I’m just saying…you can’t have both.”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Because your woman will always be in danger.”
“Not if I never admit she exists.”
He got that annoyed look on his face, the same look he’d worn since we were kids, like he was frustrated with my simplicity. “You’ll see what I mean…”
“Not every relationship is the same, Balto. Your retirement was the right decision for you and Cassini. But Catalina and I are different.”
He turned to me, his blue eyes still. “What if she asked you to step down?”
“Today? This very moment?”
“Just in general.”
I hadn’t really thought about it. Our future had been so hazy since the beginning. Even now, I wasn’t entirely sure where we stood. She wouldn’t have rescued me unless she wanted to be with me, but I wasn’t sure if she’d changed her mind about marriage. “Depends.”
“On?”
“If it was going to last forever, I guess I would.”
That seemed to be the answer Balto wanted, so he dropped the conversation. “I’ll keep this up as long as you need. Take your time getting better.”
“I’ll be as good as new in a couple weeks, so don’t worry, it won’t be long. I’m sure Cassini is worried sick.”
He didn’t answer.
“I appreciate you doing this for me.” I didn’t say sappy bullshit often, so a thank-you was all I could extend.
“I know you do.” He turned his gaze back to me, playful. “Asshole.”
I grinned. “You liked my note?”
“Who writes two sentences when they’re about to die?” he asked incredulously.
I shrugged. “What? You expect me to write you a love letter?”
He snapped his fingers as if he’d realized something. “I just remembered you can’t read or write—that makes sense.”
I rolled my eyes at the taunt. “I’ll get you for that…eventually.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Catalina was gone for a long time.
So long, I almost called her.
But I suspected that conversation with her brother was intense, and the last thing she needed was my call making her phone light up and vibrate on the table while they tried to talk. Yeah, he was a dick for what he did to me, especially since I made it clear it was never a fair fight, but I didn’t want to weaken her relationship with her brother.
I understood how important he was to her.
Because Balto was so important to me.
My relationship with my brother was a little different because we were both men, and also, twins. We shared a connection that was a step above typical sibling love because our brains were the same, our souls were the same. Looking at your brother and seeing yourself was a unique experience. Not too many people could say the same. We’d swapped places all our lives to either trick people or to get something we wanted. I was terrible at interviews, so when we were young, he helped me get my first job by interviewing in my place. I was better at math than he was, so I’d taken a test for him a couple times.
If I ever lost him…I would lose myself.
It was past ten when Catalina walked inside.
I rose from the couch and turned off the TV. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey.” She set her purse on the counter and immediately went for a bottle of wine. She poured a glass, her lipstick marking the cup. Her eyes were down, like she was trying to hide the puffiness of her cheeks, the redness in her eyes.
I came toward her slowly, wishing I could enjoy that wine with her, lick it off her, all kinds of things. With one hand on the kitchen island, I watched her, watched her try to hide her feelings from me. “Didn’t go well?”
“It was just…a long conversation.” She drank from her glass again, her eyes still averted.
I grabbed the glass by the stem and pulled it away. “Look at me.”
She sighed like that was the last thing she wanted.
My fingers moved under her chin, and I lifted her gaze, forcing her to look at me. “Talk to me.” My hand slid to her cheek so my thumb could feel her soft skin, move across the single freckle close to her nose.
She closed her eyes at my touch, turning into my hand so she could kiss my palm.
My thumb traced her bottom lip, getting so lost in her exquisite beauty that I forgot what we were talking about for a second. Instead of her tears being a turn-off, she looked more beautiful with wet eyes, puffy cheeks. There was something about her sadness that turned me on—even though I never wanted her to be sad.