Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
He stared back, his expression completely unreadable, he didn’t even blink. “Why what?”
“This.” I pointed at his motorcycle, it was a Ducati, had red and white stripes and I often wondered how pissed he’d be if I just set it on fire, it was loud, I hated loud noises that made no sense and honestly, I hated him so that actually did make sense. “Why do I have to get on this to go to college with you when I know full on you would probably crash on purpose just to injure me? This isn’t safe.”
Most motorcycles were safe when sane people drove them, clearly Ivan did not fall into that category. Ever. He was reckless in a way that didn’t protect people, he literally didn’t give a shit if dead bodies were littering the street. Some people just had no souls. Besides, everyone left early that morning, so I had nobody to complain to except for the younger cousins since the older cousins and my sister were all getting ready to do their jobs, you know, save the world from crime—haha, funny joke and nobody was in my head or the garage to hear it. Damn.
“Ah safe.” He smirked, the dimple on the side of his right cheek deepened like it knew I would stare for at least a second, making it impossible to look away. “Yes, because that’s what the mafia is, safe…” He tossed me the black helmet. I caught it with one hand and pulled it close to my chest. “Put it on, grab your backpack, strap on your heels and stop complaining. I actually want to participate in school and in the Family business, you can go to Hell for all I care.”
I hated it when he talked down to me like I was the trophy wife of the mafia, when my only goal one day was to be called boss and crush my enemies with the latest designer heel.
“You can suck shit!” I yelled, ready to throw the helmet at his face and see how much blood I could gain from that one small action. He had to know how much he set me off in every single human way.
Ash came out of the house and shoved his hands into the pockets of his black trousers, his matching jacket and shirt just made him look even more like the devil. His lip piercing and tattoos on his neck made a person wonder if he actually sold his soul to the devil to look like a tatted-up vampire, sometimes he looked more like Nixon’s son than Chase’s then other times when he dressed up he looked like a dirty politician with way too much money and time on his hands, well that and blood, always blood. “Do I need to find the bucket your dad used on you? Because it looked fun, and I woke up a bit… bored.”
“Yes!” we screamed in unison. Ivan narrowed his eyes at me, and I flipped him off down by my hips so my cousin couldn’t see.
Ash took a deep breath, like he suddenly needed the patience of every saint in the world. “You need to behave, remember the rules, don’t make me come over and put the fear of God into that school—again. No fighting on the lawn—Serena and Junior already took care of that a few years back—be nice, pave the way for your other cousins and stop being such spoiled little shits.”
He yelled the last part.
I winced.
Ivan looked away; it was the first time in months I’d seen a flicker of shame in his body language.
Ash turned around and slammed his hand on the side of the wall. “Seriously. So ungrateful.” He lowered his head like he’d failed us somehow and started walking off, only to turn back around and jab a finger in our direction. “Do you realize the empire we’ve built for you? The safety the last few years have created? And you’re arguing over helmets and motorcycles. Grow up and grow a pair.” He said that last part with fervor toward Ivan. “I’m serious, otherwise neither of you are going to inherit anything. We talked about it last night at our weekly meeting. You both get nothing if you can’t figure out at least a mild friendship. I’m not asking you to cure cancer, I’m asking you to be actual humans, which should be easy, but apparently after the last few days, you’d think I was praying for a miracle.”
Ivan started shifting on his feet. “Ash, I just want—”
“I literally give zero shits what you want, Ivan. I know you can do better, and I know Bella makes you want to jump off a cliff, same as I know Bella wants to provoke you to the point of driving you insane, but this business doesn’t call for your stupid games. It calls for seriousness and dedication, loyalty—”