Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Leaning down, I bring my lips to his ear. “You’re going to be buried right beside your mistress.” I shove him back and leave the room, wiping my hands down on my suit pants.
“You a’ight?” Val asks from behind, handing me my packet of cigarettes. Eyes all shift to us as we make our way back through the casino, no doubt with Billy looking disgruntled not far behind us.
“No.” I snatch the packet off him and continue until we’re back at the lobby and outside, waiting for my car.
“You want me to take you somewhere?”
I blow out a cloud of smoke, watching as it thickens against the cool air. “Not tonight.” Tonight I need a fucking drink, a cheeseburger, and my best friend to calm me down before Wolf wakes in the morning. Nothing to do with dick.
I walk into the house, dropping my keys into the stone bowl near the front door and removing my jacket. Slipping off my shoes, I carry the brown paper bag into the sitting room, where Betty is relaxing, reading a book.
“You know, if half of these characters actually just sat down and spoke to one another, there would be no mystery to crime.”
I drop the bag onto the coffee table as she squeezes her book between the couch and grabs a bottle of tequila from the bar cart near the bookshelf. It’s cold outside since we’re moving into Christmas, but the house is always warm because of the multiple fires and heat systems. I need it. I’d cry if not.
Betty places two glasses on the coffee table beside an ice bucket and a bottle of tequila. “Wanna talk about it?”
I dig into the bag, taking out the fries and popping one into my mouth. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. It was just a weird day.” She pours us both a drink and hands me mine before digging into her food.
“Well, you know that I’m here if you ever want to. Which! By the way… I need to tell you something.”
“Mmmhmm…” I smirk up at her, my cheeks burning. “I figured as much.”
“I’m leaving him.” She sucks down her drink before pouring another. Betty goes through this once a month. Her husband is a piece of shit, sure, and I will always be here for her when she does decide to leave him, but from last I checked—and that was when I threatened his balls—he wasn’t going to cheat again. Why anyone would cheat on Betty is beyond me. She is beautiful, charismatic, and has a way of making people feel better than how they were before her.
“Okay. Well, you can take the rooms here.”
She smiles, biting into her burger. “I love you. I don’t want to involve the parents yet.”
“I love you.” I chew on my cheeseburger. “There’s a new bar open in town. Shall we check it out this weekend?”
Betty’s eyes widen, her smile stretching on her face. “Like you have to ask! What’s it called?”
“L’artisaniant.”
We both finish up our burgers and I tidy up the room before slugging my ass upstairs. Cracking open the door to Wolf’s room, I smile when my heart warms in my chest at his little body wrapped in blankets. Closing the door, I quickly head down to my bedroom, scrub through a shower, and toss my clothes into the dirty hamper, before slipping into some PJ’s. Putting my phone on charge, I head back out of my room and back into Wolf’s, turning his projector light down that has dinosaurs and cars patterning the ceiling. Pulling back the covers, I slide in behind him and pull his little body into my chest.
“I love you.”
There were two kinds of people in the world. I learned this very early on in my life and I think the more that I really thought about it, the more obvious it became. There were people like my papa, and people like Mama. Somehow, I got stuck between two of them.
Mama always wanted to do what was right. Her moral compass never faltered. But Papa? Well, Papa had none. He did what he needed to do at all times, regardless of what that looked like to other people. He did what he needed to protect the family, and not just ours, but our extended and others in different outfits too. I wanted to be just like him. I knew that, he knew that—my mother unfortunately knew that.
My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since six a.m. Fucking six a.m. And if it’s Billy or Camitro, I might actually end up killing the both of them.
Cutting up the piece of toast into squares and moving watermelon and grapes around his plate, I place it on the table, kissing Wolf on the top of his little head. He reminds me so much of him. The eyes, smile, and dimple. “Be right back, baby. Mama’s got a call with Santa!” Snatching my phone off the table, I head out of the kitchen and down the hallway before swiping to answer.