Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Where are your keys, Rainbow?”
“I don’t know. Maxim?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t feel so good. I don’t like it.” She sounded so pitiful.
“I know. I’m going to help you.”
“Nobody ever helps me,” she said sadly. “Nobody.”
“Well, I am, baby.” And she was breaking his fucking heart right now. He was so used to her sharp words and cutting looks. That sass that didn’t stop. And those secret smiles that could bring him to his knees.
But this sadness . . . he couldn’t take it.
“Keys, Rainbow. Where are your keys?”
“I don’t know. Where are your keys?”
“In my pocket.” He started patting her down. No keys.
She wouldn’t have . . . reaching out, he turned the door handle.
Fuck.
She hadn’t even locked up.
“Rainbow, you forgot to lock your door,” he scolded, picking her back up and carrying her into the apartment. He shut the door behind him.
“I locked it.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“But I always lock it. Safety first. Is there someone in here? Is it him?” she whispered.
“Is it who?” he asked.
“That asshole, Brian.”
“Why would you think Brian was in here? Aston?” he pressed as she didn’t say anything else.
He walked her into her bedroom and, noticing the unmade bed, he set her down on the armchair. Then he kneeled in front of her, grasping her chin.
Shit. Too hot. He needed to get some fever reducer into her and get her back into bed.
“Rainbow?”
“Why do you call me that?”
“That doesn’t matter right now. Listen to me. Why would Brian be in your apartment?”
She gasped. “He’s in my apartment? Is he here to fix my hot water? I don’t have any. And I really want a hot shower. I should have kneed him in the balls. Ew, but I don’t want to touch his balls.”
“You still don’t have any hot water? That fucking bastard.”
“Crusty dick.”
“What? Rainbow?” he pressed. Why was she talking about his dick? “Did Brian do something to you?”
“Said if I wanted him to do anything, I had to do something for him. But I am not touching his crusty dick.”
Fury filled him. “You certainly won’t be. Don’t worry about Brian. I’ll take care of him.” He wouldn’t even breathe the same air as Aston anymore.
She gasped. “Will you cut it off?”
“What?” he asked, distracted. He’d been thinking of all the ways he could make that bastard’s life miserable.
“His dick.”
“What! No.” Mainly because he didn’t want to go near that appendage. “But you won’t have to deal with him again, I promise you that.”
“You’re so good to me, Maxy-Moo.” She patted his cheek.
Good Lord. “You’re welcome. But don’t call me that.” His brothers would just love that nickname.
“Okie-dokie, Maxy-Moo.”
She wouldn’t remember this tomorrow. He hoped.
“Do you have other sheets, Rainbow?”
“Yeah.”
That was all she said. Yeah.
Shaking his head, he glanced at her as she slumped in the chair.
Fuck. How sick was she?
“I should call the doctor.”
“Why?” she asked tiredly.
“Because you’re sick.”
She snorted. “Been worse than this, Maxy-Moo, never been to the doctor.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. Who was taking care of her before? And why hadn’t they done a better job?
“Do you have some medicine? A First-Aid kit? Thermometer?”
“Uh-huh.”
He sighed. She was being extra helpful today. Instead of prodding her for more information, he gave her a stern look. “Stay there.”
She sent him a half-hearted salute. Damn, she was a brat. But a cute one at that. Her hair was a tangled mess and she had to be running a fever.
Walking away, he entered her bathroom and searched through the cabinets until he found everything he needed.
Then he grabbed some clean sheets from the linen cupboard.
Only when he got back to the bedroom . . . she wasn’t fucking there.
“You have got to be kidding me,” he muttered.
She couldn’t have gone far, right? He searched the living area and kitchen, then returned to the bathroom and bedroom.
She wasn’t anywhere.
How hard was it to keep track of one small person?
“Rainbow? Aston, where are you?” Alarm started to fill him. So he moved toward the front door and opened it, looking up and down the hallway, where he spotted her near the stairs. She was slumped against the wall.
Fucking hell.
He ran toward her, worry flooding him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Right. That could have come out in a softer tone.
She looked up at him, tears filling her eyes, and he felt like a complete ass. He hadn’t meant to snap at her. He’d just been worried.
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s all right. Although I did tell you to stay put.”
“I don’t want to be a hassle.”
“You aren’t a hassle,” he soothed, cursing himself as she sniffled. What the fuck was he supposed to do now?
Maxim had to admit that most things came easily to him. He might have lived in his brothers’ shadows when he was younger and might have been ignored by his father. But in a way that had been easier than having his father’s full attention.