Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 40113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Ezo looks down at his lap. “I’ve been selfish. I never should have pushed to come here.” Then he looks back up at me, resolute. “We will leave. Now. I won’t allow anything that makes you so upset.”
Awww. He’s so sweet. And it really does mean a lot to me that he’s giving me an out. I reach over and squeeze his hand. “This is hard but it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. Because you were right. They are my family, for better or for worse. And this time I have something I didn’t have before.”
“What?”
I smile at him and this time it’s genuine. “This time I have you by my side.”
He doesn’t smile, his features only become more fierce. “I won’t let anyone harm you. You will be safe at my side.”
I nod, feeling safer and more secure than I have in a long while. “I know you will.” Then I take a deep breath, look out at my family house and all the cars parked, clogging the street up and down. Everyone I’ve ever known will be here. Plus plenty of strangers.
Ezo starts to open his door but I put a hand on his forearm to stop him.
“There’s one more thing you should know before we go in. I don’t want someone to say something and it catch you off-guard.”
“I will always be on guard.”
I nod, but my smile dims as I say what needs to be said. “The man my sister is marrying…he used to be my boyfriend.”
“He was your friend?” Ezo asks, obviously confused as to why I’m bringing this up. Boyfriend must be another one of those terms he’s not familiar with.
How do I put this delicately? “For a while—a very short time,” I hurry to add, “I considered him as a potential mate. That’s what boyfriend means.”
Ezo’s eyes narrow to slits and his nostrils flare. “How long is a short time?”
I cringe. Then again, Ezo is hundreds of years old so maybe it won’t sound like that long to him after all. “A year.”
Ezo sits back in his seat and I can see that all his muscles are tense.
“How long ago was this?”
Another cringe. “Eight months ago.”
His head snaps in my direction. “Do you still want to mate this man?”
“No!” I say explosively and he seems to relax a little. I grab his hand and he doesn’t pull away. Thank God. “Look, I’m only telling you in case somebody in there says something. I have no more feelings for Brian at all. He never loved me and he dumped me the second my sister flitted her eyes at him. I do not want Brian. I want you.”
He nods and expels a harsh breath. After another long moment of silence, he squeezes my hand back. “Then I suppose it’s time to go inside. If this man is part of your family, I must learn to live with him.”
That’s very mature of him. My solution to this problem has been to hide away and never see any of them again but I know that’s unrealistic. And what I said earlier is true. Facing them with Ezo by my side is probably the only way I’ll be able to get through this.
Before I can second-guess myself again or press my foot on the gas and speed the hell out of here, I shove my door open and step onto the street.
In mere moments, Ezo is by my side, my arm in his. Together, we approach my childhood home.
The house is huge. Built in the era of the McMansions, it was always far too much space for just the four of us. But my parents were always far more interested in status than practicality.
Four huge decorative white columns flank the front doors but actually support…nothing. There’s even a random turret on the far left side of the house because…who knows? My parents like to throw misbehaving servants up in the ‘tower’? They never even let us play up there when we were kids because the stairs were so steep. Seriously, nothing about the architecture of this house makes sense. It’s all ridiculous ostentation for ostentatiousness’ sake.
When we get to the stoop, I ring the doorbell. It feels weird, but it would be stranger to simply walk inside. This place hasn’t been home for a very long time.
My mother is grinning her politician’s wife smile as she opens the door but it drops as soon as she sees me. “Oh, it’s just you.”
My teeth grate but I still managed to get out, “Mom, this is Ezo.”
“I am her mate,” he states confidently. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Mom looks at him, a little bewildered, and her eyebrows go up. “You’re her what now?”
“He’s my boyfriend,” I say before he can open his mouth again.
She nods but looks distracted, something on the other side of the room catching her eye. “Laura! Hi! I haven’t seen you since the Senator’s luncheon.”