Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Their bedrooms would always be private. It was one of their rules with each other. He’d simply asked Leah that after she finished cleaning Dig’s room, if she’d help him with his own.
For the most part, he liked to keep a pretty clean environment. It was why his closet had become a nonstop dumping ground for all the shit he didn’t want or need. He’d buy things with the intention of making sure it would be used, only for it to be dumped in this closet. Every time he saw the closet, he’d promise himself next time he’d clean it. He never did.
Now as he watched Leah, he was pleased he never got around to it.
“How are you finding it here?” he asked.
He wanted to make conversation and get to know her.
The smile she gave him was enough to make him melt. “I love it here.”
“You do?” He shouldn’t sound so shocked. He knew this place was awesome. They weren’t exactly keeping her prisoner, even if she couldn’t leave or do anything else.
“Yes. I’ve never had so much fun. I do love it here. I love being in the kitchen. I know, a woman’s place.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t mind it. My last apartment, I only had enough room for a small stove, and it didn’t even have an oven. Just two working eyes, and then a tiny fridge and the smallest counter ever.” She showed him the size with her hands. “I swear the building had mice as well.”
He wrinkled his nose. “I can’t stand mice.”
“It was all I could afford. I’d been there after I left foster care. I saved up some money from work I did waitressing. I took as many jobs as I could just so that I could be away from that place.”
“Was it that bad?”
“I hated it. It wasn’t a good place, and if I ever have kids, I’d never send any of them to such a horrible place.” She gave a little shiver. “Way too many predators, or at least where I was, there were. What’s your story if you never ended up in the system? I know Tank did.”
“And Trick, he was in the system as well. His parents died in a car accident when he was twelve.”
She pressed a hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, he was as well. He believes it has defined who he has turned into as a man. No one was around to take care of him. So, he ended up in the system, and being a teenage boy, not a lot of calls for them.”
“Yeah, the older kids do struggle a lot. I figure if I never have kids, I might foster myself. I’ll go to the kids that have never been picked or something. I don’t know. I remember how tough it was there.”
“You’re a strong woman, Leah.”
“You don’t know me, Junior.”
“You’ve survived here.”
“It hasn’t been a week yet.” She winked at him.
“You never know.”
“I see you’re avoiding answering my question. It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me.”
Junior sighed, running a hand down his face. “I actually grew up in a great home. Two loving parents. I even had a brother. An older one who was the shit. I was the screwup.”
“You were?”
“Yep. Bad stuff always found me, or I went out of my way to find it.”
“You said ‘had’ a brother?” she asked.
“He died, and it was all my fault.”
She paused in her folding.
Junior sighed. “It was a swimming accident. I was determined to jump from the highest peak at some lake. Ian was there—that was my brother’s name. He wouldn’t let me jump by myself. Before I could jump into the water, he did. The lake wasn’t deep enough. He died on impact.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I was too much of a fucking coward to join him. I ran from that peak until it was safe enough to climb in the pool. There was so much blood. I screamed for hours for help. Ian was already gone, but I didn’t want to let go just in case. I was hoping for a miracle. After that and his funeral, I was a mess. So were my parents. I fucked up. Got in a lot of fights, and at sixteen when I couldn’t take it anymore, I ran. I heard they died a few years ago.”
He’d never told anyone but his club brothers that story before.
Leah stepped over his clothes, rushed to him, and held him close.
With the feel of her tits pressed against his face, he was really pleased he didn’t have a problem with oversharing.
****
Leah had cleaned Dig, Trick’s, and Junior’s rooms, as well as Tank’s. Now Edge stood in his room and watched as she worked her magic on his space. He didn’t have any intention of letting her do anything, but watching the men each get close to her, talk, share a part of themselves, he’d felt really fucking jealous and he was never the kind of guy to get jealous of this kind of thing.