Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Damn.
Progress.
For Roman Petrov, telling me that much information at once feels like he’s suddenly showering me with details.
I look closely at his hands under the passing shadows, and I notice scars along many of his fingers. A couple of them have tattoos inked over them that only accentuate the raised skin of the scarring. He makes a left turn and his thick torso turns a little with the movement.
Why does he have so many scars?
As the car drives deeper into the forested roads, a new, cold fear slides down my spine, hitting me all at once.
It occurs to me that I haven’t actually spoken with my brother since I got to campus.
I was too angry at first, and then… I got busy.
I just took Roman’s word that he was hired to protect me. For all I know, he could have been lying.
He could be kidnapping me as we speak.
His eyes are narrowed as he looks out onto the road ahead. A calculated stare. We drive further onto a road in the middle of a forest that I’ve never been on before.
I don’t know where I am…
And I don’t know him.
I shift on the leather seat, suddenly aware of how fast the car is going down a winding road with no stoplights. I couldn’t open the door and just hop out. I trusted what Roman said blindly.
Maybe I am as naive as people think I am.
I slide out my phone to text my brother.
Tate
Could have told me you were hiring me a bodyguard.
Luke
I’m sorry. I knew you’d hate it. I was going to tell you, you know. Roman said he’d be subtle, and my friend who referred him swears by him. Said he’s loyal.
It’s okay. Overkill, but okay.
How is Crimson? I wanted to let you get used to it before I asked too much.
I miss the city.
Upstate isn’t so bad. You’ll get used to it. Or you’ll hate it… but you’ll be safe.
Lol, fuck off.
Miss you. I’m going to visit as soon as the start of football season calms down. Lot of press lately.
Miss you too. All the time.
I don’t tell him about the memento left at my door. Or the man who apparently wasn’t Roman who followed me for a while last night.
But I don’t need to worry Luke any more than he already is. The New York Reapers are relying on him this season, and I know he has so much on his plate.
“Okay. I’ll only be a second,” Roman says as he takes a turn off the main road and onto a long, private gravel driveway.
He makes another smooth turn and suddenly we’re in front of a big, modern, beautiful house, with wood and glass, right in the middle of what seemed like forest land.
It’s like a small mansion.
Very impressive, for whoever lives here.
“Whoa.”
“Stay here. I need to speak with my cousins, and I’ll be right back.”
He gets out of the car, leaving the air on for me inside. He walks up to the front and keys in a code before opening one of the big, glass front doors.
I roll down my window a little bit and listen to the sound of the air.
It’s nothing like it is in the city.
I can hear the breeze blowing through all of the trees, the sound of an occasional bee buzzing past, and even the sound of a squirrel who patters by on the gravel, running fast.
I close my eyes for a moment, letting it wash over me.
The wind in the leaves is almost like the sound of the ocean. Everything smells like cedar and pine.
Maybe this is why people live here.
It’s… nice, I guess.
My phone buzzes, and I glance down at it.
Your Guardian Fucking Angel
It will be at least ten minutes.
Tate
Still not going to tell me why we’re here?
He doesn’t respond.
After a few minutes, I start to hear fragments of a conversation floating through the air, through the open window of the car. At first, I can’t make out much, and I realize that Roman and his cousins must be talking with one another in the backyard.
Then I see two figures at the side of the yard. They’re far back, tucked behind a hedge.
Two short men.
And I get curious.
I quietly open the passenger side door, stepping out. I let the car door gently close, leaving it open a crack so that it doesn’t slam shut.
I tiptoe forward, ducking so that I’m hidden by trees and hedges in the front driveway, and step closer to the side of the lawn.
I can hear the whole conversation clearly now.
“You like it up there?” Roman’s asking someone.
I peek past the leaves, seeing that there are actually five men there. Roman and two men who resemble him, probably his cousins. Then there are the two other, shorter men. One of them is bald, the other has close-cropped red hair.