Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
"I always thought Dick-Ass would run off to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity," she says, triggering laughter from Nate and me and a hint of a smile from our older brother. Honor was always so clever, making my brothers and me laugh even on the hardest days.
"I'd love to see him doing manual labor," Ky says. "Rush him along to a heart attack."
"Where are you living these days, Honor?" Nate asks, steering the conversation back into neutral territory.
"For the next several days, she's living in room twenty-eight, on her knees," Kylian says before she can answer. "Drink up, everyone. Time's a wastin'."
"I have an apartment across town," Honor says, ignoring him. "What about you?"
"We're still at Montgomery House. None of us particularly like living there, but the estate was in our mother's family," Nate explains.
Honor nods. "So one day it will be yours. Sooner if you can bring about that heart attack," she says with a glance at Kylian. "And how about your work? Family business, I suppose?"
"Among other things," Nate says as Honor's purse vibrates with another incoming call.
I wonder if it's a boyfriend. As beautiful as she is, I can't imagine her not having a boyfriend, but I hope she doesn't. Besides, no decent man would allow her to do what she's doing with us.
It's been on the tip of my tongue to ask her why she needs the money from the auction, but I don't want to push her away, not when we seem to be starting to get along. There must be a dire reason because the Honor I knew as a child never cared much for material things. She was the exact opposite of spoiled; she always seemed content with what she had. Could she have changed in the intervening years?
I'm sure we all have to some extent, but she seems so much like she was as a girl—same smile, same quick wit, same laugh. I really want to see her smile and laugh more.
I was miserable when she left us. I have to label it as what it was—love. I loved her, and now here she is, back in our lives, seeming so familiar, even though everything is different between us.
Am I stupid to think there could be something more than a financial transaction between us?
Ky is grinning again in response to something she's said, and Nate is laughing. When have I last seen them in this way? Honor always was the shining light in our lives.
Her phone vibrates again. "Do you need to get that?" Nate asks.
Kylian reaches across the table and grabs her purse from where it hangs. Buzzing phone in hand, he swipes across the screen and brings it to his ear. "Who the fuck is this?" he snarls.
Honor reaches for it, but he stays out of her range.
After a pause, Kylian says, "And why are you calling?" He's silent for a moment before biting out, "I'm her family. Her brother." His eyes are on Honor, roaming over her body as he listens to whoever's on the other end of the call.
Her brother who spends his nights tying her up and fucking her.
"It's nine o'clock on a Sunday. This is harassment." Kylian clicks off the call and tosses her phone back in her bag.
"Who was it? What's going on?" I ask.
Honor snatches her purse back from my brother and stuffs it behind her on the chair as if she can regain the privacy he's violated.
She stares daggers at Kylian, but when he doesn't answer my question, she turns to me. "Bill collectors," she says.
"From…?" What kind of trouble has she gotten herself in?
"Hospital bills," she says, a mixture of sadness and disgust in her voice.
"From your mother," Nate clarifies, and Honor nods.
"Even though she wasn't sick for long, her doctors tried several aggressive treatments. Bills started coming from providers I wasn't even aware of, and even though I set up payment plans for all of them, I couldn't stay on top of things. Even the social security payments don't make a dent."
"That's fucked up," I say. At least now I know why she auctioned her virginity, though knowing the reason makes me feel even worse about our arrangement.
We've been taking advantage of her desperation.
11
NATE
SETTLING DEBTS
Honor is waiting on the sidewalk in front of the Club when Lyle and I pull up at nine-thirty. Lyle hops out of the front seat and holds the door for Honor. She looks demure today, with her hair wrapped in a loose bun at the back of her neck. Her white blouse is under a pale pink blazer. The matching skirt shifts when she climbs into the SUV, giving me a glimpse of her creamy thighs.
My cock stirs at the memory of those thighs wrapped around my waist last night, but that's not what today is about. Or, at least, that's not what this morning is about.