Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 157162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
He was seeing me for what I really was. Which was a good thing. I could only pretend for so long. But I suddenly felt cold, no longer basking in the sunlight of Elliot Shaw’s gaze.
I was on my phone the second I got in my car.
“I need you to find someone for me,” I said when he answered.
“It’ll cost you.” I swore I could feel the cold smile stretching across his handsome face.
He wasn’t one for pleasantries, nor was he one to do anything for nothing. Though his voice didn’t betray a thing, I knew he’d been waiting for this. For me to slip up, ask him for something, to be in his debt.
And I’d done everything in my power to ensure I’d never ever be put in that position. I’d told myself there was nothing that could make me ask him for help.
Except for a four-year-old girl. Who needed a bone marrow transplant.
“I know.” I gave him the information required.
“No problem,” was his reply. “I’ll be in touch about payment.”
My hands weren’t shaking as I held the phone because I wasn’t that kind of bitch. But my pinkie tremored once I put the phone down and stared at Shaw Shack for much longer than I should’ve before driving off.
Five
Square One — Caamp
ELLIOT
Ihadn’t intended on keeping my date with Calliope Derrick. Not after we spoke about Clara’s illness at Shaw Shack.
Yes, she intrigued me. She intrigued my dick. Was unlike anyone I’d ever met.
Her outward demeanor had amused me, that coldness, that sharpness… As if she were a blade that if you didn’t handle carefully, it would slice you wide open. I appreciated that. Appreciated her being up front about it. I’d had experience with women who led with softness, the appearance of a kind heart before they tore you to shreds. They were much more dangerous.
Calliope Derrick was no bullshit. She put off the vibe that she was tough as nails and took no prisoners, but I couldn’t help but think there was a soft heart underneath. One I very much wanted to get to know.
And yes, one I very much wanted to fuck.
Until she threw up a wall and coldly left in the wake of the conversation about Clara. I tended to give people the benefit of the doubt before thinking the worst of them. Most people weren’t assholes. They’re just late for work or they got bad news about a family member or didn’t sleep well, or were worrying about paying their bills.
People were inherently good.
A belief my father instilled in me and my brother Beau. And one that preserved even after we lost my mother far too soon, even after all the shit went down with my fiancée, and even when Naomi left. Because that was the best thing she could’ve done.
But my niece—my fierce, intelligent, shining-bright niece, battling a burden no child should ever have to know… I’d burn down the world for her. I’d do anything to protect her. And Calliope’s reaction to her sickness made me question all my instincts. Shut myself away from my feelings toward her.
I’d been wrong before, after all.
Regardless of the treatments, the shitty season, the bills to be paid, staffing problems at the restaurant and the general sense of overarching dread I’d been battling since Clara’s diagnosis, I still thought of Calliope.
The strand of midnight hair that had escaped her tight bun and the overwhelming urge I had to brush it behind her ear. The fire in her icy eyes, the ones that I wanted to watch heat up. Her body, full of curves. Her stride, confident and aggressive yet somehow effortlessly sexy. Those bold red lips. Her sharp tongue. All of it and more.
Which made me angry at myself. Thinking with my dick had almost ruined my life once before. I wouldn’t let it happen again.
I resolved to push Calliope out of my mind and focus on my family, on getting my niece healthy so I didn’t have to face the reality of losing her and then my brother. Because I knew in my core that if my brother lost his daughter, he’d set off on a boat and never fucking return.
Naomi turned up out of the blue with a black eye and a test showing she was a bone marrow match for Clara.
She didn’t look happy about it and refused to see her daughter, muttering about getting the procedure, “…over and done with so I’m home free.”
We, especially my brother, struggled with her presence. I knew his first instinct was to protect his daughter by promptly sending Naomi away. We didn’t want her poison anywhere near Clara. But if she was telling the truth, she could save her.
“She’s playing some sort of game,” Beau seethed through his teeth, pacing the room while glaring at the door she’d knocked on a handful of minutes ago. The exchange had been short, her presenting the results, telling him to schedule the surgery, then leaving after giving him a number she could be contacted at.