Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 92368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
“Are you speaking from experience?”
“No. I’m just smart.” He grins, and I smile. “Look, don’t let some mean girls put you off from doing something you want to do.”
I stare up at him. Not many guys make me feel small and girlish, but he does.
“You’re right,” I tell him.
“I know. I usually am.” Another half-smile. “And, anyway, you won’t be alone this time. I’ll be with you.”
My eyes narrow a touch. “You’re not going to try to murder me on the Ferris wheel, are you?”
Another burst of laughter from him.
“It wasn’t on my agenda for tonight, no.” His eyes are shining and flickering like blue flames.
“And you’re not gonna try to cop a feel?”
“Nope. I’ll be the perfect gentleman.” He lifts his hands up, palms facing me.
“Okay then, let’s do it.” I nod. “Ride the Ferris wheel, that is.”
“You got it, Dove.”
“Dove?” I blink up at him.
“Yeah. Doves represent peace because they look beautiful and appear gentle and fragile. But they’re actually feisty as hell. They have more fight in them than people realize. Just like you.”
Beautiful. He said doves are beautiful. Does that mean he thinks I’m beautiful?
Calm your jets there, Cam. Just because he said that does not mean he thinks you’re beautiful.
I give him a look of amusement. “Wow. You got all that from a five-minute conversation?”
“Nope.” He shakes his head, a smile in his eyes. “I got all that from the way you hit the bag.”
He sets off walking. I fall into step beside him.
“So, how come you know so much about doves?”
He slides me a look. “I don’t. I just saw it on a nature show once.”
I let out a laugh, and he grins.
We walk to the Ferris wheel in comfortable silence, and I muse to myself at how things are so different from when I was walking away from this ride not so long ago.
We join the line, which is much shorter than before. And there are no mean girls in sight.
Zeus insists on paying for me, which is really sweet.
We walk up to the car. The fairground attendant holds the door open for us.
Zeus gets in first. Then, he holds his hand out to me to help me in.
I hesitate for a second, and then I slip my hand into his. I know this is going to sound cheesy and cliché, but I swear, the moment my skin touches his, it’s like everything changes.
The world suddenly looks a lot brighter. The noises a little louder.
Like I was experiencing life in 2-D, and I’ve just upgraded to 3-D.
I sit next to Zeus, letting go of his hand, and the attendant shuts the door, securing us in.
We move up for the next car to be filled. Going up and around as each car fills for the actual ride. Dusk quickly turns to dark.
Then, we’re moving.
“So, you live with your aunt?” Zeus’s voice moves through the dark, making the hair rise on my arms in the best possible way.
“Yeah. My mom died when I was three, and my dad wasn’t around, so my aunt Elle took me in. She’s great.”
“She sounds like it. Sorry about your mom.”
I shrug. “I don’t remember her, so I don’t remember losing her. But I don’t remember having her either, which is what sucks most.”
“Yeah…” His voice sounds pensive. “But maybe it’s not such a bad thing—not having to feel the pain of losing her, you know.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Anyway, sorry to bring the mood down.” I turn my face to him.
“You haven’t.” He gives me a gentle smile.
“What about you?” I ask.
“What about me?”
“Parents? Brothers and sisters?”
He stares ahead. “Dad. My mom died last year.”
Ah.
His solemn observation makes a lot more sense now.
“Shit. Sorry.” I wince.
“Don’t be.” He shrugs. “She had been sick for a long time. Cancer.”
“Fuck cancer, right?” It’s all I can think of to say, but it must be the right thing because he looks back at me, a small smile touching his lips.
“Yeah, fuck cancer,” he agrees.
“What about brothers and sisters?”
“Two brothers. One sister.”
“Wow. That must be awesome.”
“That’s not the word I’d use.” He chuckles.
“I would love to have siblings.”
“You can have mine if you want.”
I laugh. “If only. Tell me about them.”
“Ares is two years younger than I am.”
“Like me.”
“Yeah. Like you,” he echoes. “And the twins, Apollo and Artemis, are twelve.”
“You all have Greek gods’ names,” I say and then cringe. “And I’m clearly on fire tonight with my blatant observations.”
He laughs, and I realize that I really like the sound. A lot. And I want to keep on hearing it even if at my own expense.
“So, any reason for the choice of names?” I ask him. “I know some parents call their children names like River and Grass because they’re hippies.”
“My parents met in a Greek mythology lecture when they were at college. My dad’s lame pick-up line was that, if he and my mom had a kid together, they should call him Zeus ’cause with my mom’s beauty and brains and my dad’s size, their kid would be godlike. Clearly, she fell for it because here I am.” He spreads his arms.