Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 67757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
I nod. “Kind of, yeah.”
“Good. Maybe it’ll teach you to stop making assumptions about people.”
His challenging words help stop the last of my tears, and a small smile forms on my lips. “So what you’re saying is that you guys aren’t all bad?”
“What I’m saying is that there are degrees of bad. There are people like your father, people like us,” he says with an adorable shrug, “and people like LTC. We make a living doing what we do, but the Reckless Souls, keep Angel Harbor from descending into a shithole that fine folks like the Morgan family wouldn’t dream of calling home.”
I frown. “Why are you being nice to me?”
I’ve been nothing but a stone-cold bitch to him from the moment he landed on my doorstep. Despite this explosion of charm, I’m instantly suspicious.
“Why not? You seem like you could use someone being nice to you, and when you aren’t being a stuck-up bitch, you’re pretty okay.”
“Pretty okay?” I laugh at his backhanded compliment. “Settle down, or I might let my ego run away with me.”
“Too late,” he shoots back quickly.
I let out a sigh and shake my head because the world really must be ending if I’m starting to see my biker bodyguard in a new light. Lucky is still rough around the edges, tough as nails, and has fucking face tattoos, but he’s kind of cool. Or hot—I mean complicated. He’s complicated and nothing else.
“You’re really worried about your old man?”
I laugh. “Would you be?”
He shrugs. “Never knew my old man. He was never around, so maybe I’d worry, maybe I wouldn’t. Can’t say. If it was my brother, I’d burn the whole fucking world down to get answers.”
“You have a brother?”
“Yep. Diesel is younger than me, and there’s nothing he can’t do with an engine.”
His gaze takes on a faraway quality, and his lips curl into a smile.
“My dad and I don’t have the best relationship,” I admit.
“Don’t know too many people with a solid relationship with their old man. Well, except for Letty, and even her shit is complicated.” He shrugs as if it’s just the way things are.
“Who’s Letty?” I ask. And how does he know her?
He doesn’t hear me but says, “That’s sad, don’t you think?”
“Sad? No. Pathetic? Hell yes. The older generation is built differently. They think being good providers is all it means to be a father, and the job is done. We know different.”
His gaze locks with mine, and there’s a depth of understanding there that makes me uncomfortable.
I can’t afford to start looking at this man like a person—or worse, an ally. Yet his words make me feel better, and he’s trying, which is more than I can say for most people. I smile. “You’re full of wisdom, aren’t you?”
“Or full of shit,” he offers with a playful smile and a casual shrug.
“Always a distinct possibility.”
A few minutes ago, I didn’t think anything could make me laugh or forget how upset I was, but somehow Lucky did. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem, Princess. Turns out no one is only one thing.” His big body moves gracefully as he pushes out of the chair and turns to face me. “I’m going to make that call and see what we can find out about your dad.”
“Thank you.”
He nods, one side of his mouth tugging up in a stupidly sexy crooked grin.
“Dinner will be served soon,” I say, grasping for something else to say.
“Well, since I no longer have to eat in the basement with the rest of the crew, I should dust off my tux,” he says with a smirk.
I let out a laugh, “Is everything you know about rich people from Downton Abbey?”
“Like Masterpiece Theater from back in the day?” he chuckles. “Mostly, yeah. My grandma loved all that old-timey shit.”
“It sounds like she’s not the only one,” I say.
He throws a thumb over his shoulder, “I’m gonna go make that phone call.”
“Sure,” I say, feeling slightly disappointed that he’s leaving. “Thank you again, Lucky.”
He nods, and the corner of his mouth tugs into a crooked grin. “Not a problem, Princess. See you at dinner.”
As he walks away, I realize that Lucky is not who I thought he was. I’m starting to see him in a new light.
He’s complicated but not a bad guy. I might be starting to like him…a little.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lucky
“You can have a seat,” Aria says with a chuckle. Her brown eyes sparkle with amusement as I stand in the doorway of the biggest damn dining table I’ve ever seen, staring at all the food on top. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you expecting more people for dinner?”
“No,” she frowns.
“Are Beatrice and Frannie eating with us?”
“No, they usually have dinner in the kitchen. What’s the problem?” she asks with a hint of irritation.
“You make the hired help eat in the kitchen?”
“I guess. They aren’t my rules, they’ve always eaten in there.”