Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 184867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 924(@200wpm)___ 739(@250wpm)___ 616(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 924(@200wpm)___ 739(@250wpm)___ 616(@300wpm)
Crystal
“Happy? Those two?” Blaine interjects as he places his hot cocoa on the bar and sits beside me. “Darling, those two don’t know the meaning of that word.”
Ares shoves him, nearly making him spill his hot cocoa.
“Hey! These are Ralph Laurens, can you not?” Blaine scoffs.
Ares raises a brow. “Watch your tongue, or I’ll force it down his ass next time we have play time.”
Blaine grins with slyness and giggles. “Well, that’s one way to get me to never shut up.”
“Well, you all seem to get along nicely,” Penelope muses, throwing her arms around my neck. “The game’s about to start. Are you coming?”
I look over at the gang. Lana, Felix, Kai, Milo, Dylan, Nathan, and Alistair are all sitting in a circle in front of the fireplace of the cabin we rented while Felix sorts the cards.
“Pass,” Blaine mutters. Everyone looks at him. “What? Games are not my thing.”
“What is your thing exactly?” Penelope asks him.
“Books. Books. Books. Hmm …” He taps his finger against his chin. “Books.”
“Wow, you got yourself an actual book nerd,” Penelope mutters, squeezing my shoulders.
I snort, but Blaine seems offended.
“Excuse me, reading does not constitute being a nerd. It’s called sophistication. Something your lot obviously lacks, judging by that one over there nearly lighting this whole place on fire.” Blaine stares at Dylan, playing with his lighter near a bottle of rum.
“Point taken,” Penelope says, laughing it off.
“Who’s talking about me?” Dylan scoffs.
“No one,” Penelope yells back.
Felix grumbles as he places a deck of cards in front of everyone. “SIT!”
My brows rise. “Is he always this domineering?”
Penelope laughs. “Pretty much, yeah.”
Everyone chuckles a little.
“Guess we’ve been summoned.” Penelope snorts before she leaves.
I hop off my stool and sit down with the rest of them while Blaine and Ares drink at the bar and talk with each other.
“Who goes first?” Alistair asks.
“I’ll go first,” Kai says, placing down a card.
“That’s not how it works. We all gotta throw the dice,” Dylan tells him.
“Says who?” Kai retorts, narrowing his eyes.
“I do,” Felix barks. “Now shut the fuck up and play this game like normal people.”
Everyone’s quieted.
“Yay for no more fighting,” Milo murmurs, twirling his fingers around in the air.
Nathan pulls out his knife as he eyes Felix. “I’ll give you something to f—”
“No knives!” Lana warns, giving everyone a death stare. “Can’t y’all be nice for one evening?”
“One?” Alistair raises a brow.
“Thought you said we were going to do this more often?” Milo asks.
“Not if you guys keep trying to kill each other,” Penelope says.
“Exactly,” I say.
“So … you’re part of the Death Gang now?” Milo asks me.
“The what now?” Kai asks, frowning at him.
“Well, you know, we murder everyone who crosses us. She kind of helped us kill people. To save Ares, of course,” Milo explains. “Death Gang.”
“I’d be honored,” I say, snorting.
“Welcome to the Death Gang, apparently,” Alistair says, rolling his eyes.
“What the fuck?” Caleb mutters. “No.”
“What’s wrong with Death Gang?” Milo asks.
“It’s corny as fuck,” Caleb adds.
“Guess we finally agree on something,” Nathan says.
“What about Murder Maniacs?” Milo suggests.
“Oh God.” Kai rubs his face.
“I’m trying not to associate with these fuckers at all,” Felix growls.
“Well, you’re here.” Milo shrugs. “So I guess that failed.”
Felix raises a brow. “You think I’m here because I want to be here?”
“You’re here because I want you to be here,” Penelope interjects, and she looks around the circle. “All of you.”
“That’s right,” Lana pitches in. “And if you guys don’t start behaving, we won’t hesitate to punt you out.”
All the men look in the other direction like they don’t want to fight with their girls.
“Wow. Should call them the Girl Boss gang,” I say, folding my arms.
“You mean the Pussy-whipped gang,” Dylan says, snorting, and Felix smacks him in the head with a stack of cards.
“Your fucking turn,” Felix growls.
“What game are we playing?” Dylan asks as he leans back.
“You’re asking that now?” Nathan makes a face. “We already started.”
Dylan shrugs. “Didn’t want to kill the vibe.”
“I’ll kill something else soon,” Kai mutters under his breath, and Lana throws him a death stare. “I didn’t say what.”
“Save the murderous intentions for later. We’ve still got plenty of targets to kill,” Alistair says as the boys each place down a card.
“What do you mean?” I ask, placing mine down.
“Remember that woman who tried to sell you?” Lana mutters. “She sold a bunch more girls to the Bones Brotherhood too, who then sold them on to rich folks. She’s a real nasty one. Guess what? We’ve tracked her down.”
My eyes widen. “Oh my G—You’re going after them all, aren’t you?”
She winks and leans in to whisper, “Why do you think we rented this remote cabin in Priory Forest? That woman lives nearby, down the mountain slopes, near the road. And we’re gonna make all of these fuckers pay for what they did.”