Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
This wouldn’t end well.
It couldn’t.
LUKE
I lay in bed, thinking back on our trip. I thought about the afternoon and how one thing quickly led to another—nothing was ever consistent with her, and I had a feeling it never would be. I was fascinated by her, with every part of her… from her hair to her eyes to her face and her lips.
Her mind.
Body.
Heart.
Which she so desperately tried to hide from me.
My phone dinged with a text, and I reached over to my nightstand. I didn’t have to wonder who it was, making me immediately smile when I saw her name. I swiped it over.
Duchess
Hi.
Luke
Hi back.
Duchess
What are you doing?
Luke
Lying in bed, thinking of you.
Duchess
That was about the cheesiest thing you could reply. Do I get a poem next?
Luke
I’m not much for poetry.
Duchess
Try me.
Luke
Roses are red, violets are blue, you’re so beautiful, and I can’t wait for you to sit your pussy on my face.
Duchess
Shakespeare ain’t got shit on you.
Luke
I wrote it just for you.
Duchess
Tell me something nobody knows about you.
Luke
If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.
Duchess
If I go missing and the police pull my cell phone records, they’re going to see this text, so this is my fail-safe.
I laughed so hard my head fell back.
Duchess
Crime documentaries are my vibe.
Luke
Why doesn’t that surprise me?
Duchess
Are you alone?
I called her, and she answered.
“Are you alone?” I questioned before she spoke.
“Mm-hmm…”
“I wanted to hear your voice. It’s a nice voice.”
“Is this your way of avoiding my question?”
“Says the woman who won’t answer any of mine.”
“Fine. Ask me anything.”
I thought about it for a second. “Tell me something you’ve never told anyone.”
She admitted in the same neutral tone, “I see dead people.”
“Cute.”
She giggled. “I thought so.”
“Try again.”
She was silent for a couple of seconds, and I knew she was contemplating what she was going to reply. It felt like an eternity passed before she finally confessed with…
“I have nightmares most nights.”
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
LUKE
Listening intently, I asked, “What’s haunting you?”
“Too many things to count.”
I was surprised she admitted that to me, thinking she’d revert the questions back to me like she usually did. I needed to know more. I wanted to know everything.
Unable to resist, I dug a little deeper into the pot I was trying to stir.
“You didn’t have one this weekend.”
“Yeah… it’s the first time I haven’t in years without taking sleeping pills.”
I tried to play it off unfazed, not wanting her to shut me out again. I was aware if I kept pushing, she’d hard stop on me.
Instead of continuing this interrogation, I decided to lighten the moment.
“We can have a slumber party anytime you want.”
“I’ll remember that. So what are you wearing?”
I grinned against the phone. “Briefs and a smile.”
“Well, that’s a deadly combination.”
“What are you wearin’?”
Seconds later, she FaceTimed me, and I accepted, seeing her pretty little face on my screen.
“Hi,” she greeted, lying naked in her bathtub.
I could faintly see her nipples through the bubbles in the water. She must have leaned her phone against something because her hands were free.
“Midnight baths, huh?”
“It helps me sleep or at least settle if I don’t want to take my sleeping pills.”
“You take them every night?”
“When I actually want to sleep through the night. They knock me out, but it’s Ambien, so you know how that goes.”
“That shit gives me wicked dreams.”
“It’s a side effect sometimes. I try not to take them more than a few times a week.”
“You don’t like to sleep through the night?” I teased.
“I don’t like to depend on anything except music.”
“You have quite a gift there, darlin’.”
“Thanks.” She played with bubbles in the water, avoiding eye contact as she continued, “My mom loves music. I guess you could say I get it from her. She had me listening to the classics when she was pregnant with me. I have a huge record collection because of her. I even own a Life of Debauchery Album and a few Skyler Bell ones too.”
I smiled. “You a fan?”
“Of your niece being the daughter of a legend and your aunt being an icon, of course.”
I smiled again. “That’s good to hear.”
“Do you have a close relationship with them?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Cash McGraw was my sister’s best friend growin’ up. They were always together, drivin’ my old man wild.”
“I bet. Your sister is stunning. The press loves her.”
“They always have, but I guess when you’re married to a retired NFL quarterback, that’ll happen.”
“What’s it like growing up in the limelight?”
“It had its ups and downs.”
“I bet.”
“Enough about me. I want to hear about you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Tell me—”
She swept her fingers along her pouty lips in such a seductive way that rendered me speechless. I didn’t have time to contemplate where she was going with this because she slowly started moving her hand down her chest. She sat up, and I could see her completely topless now.