AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Something in me begins to shake, come undone. I know… I know he rescued me for Smith because the man couldn’t be bothered to do the job himself, but is Orion still working for him?
My mouth fills with something nasty that tastes like a truth I don’t want to acknowledge.
“What the fuck have I told you about breaking into my place, Smith?” Orion asks, walking into the apartment and tossing his keys onto a table. They make a loud clang that rattles my ears.
I follow him because… what else am I supposed to do?
“I’m not sure what your packing is going to harm me.” My father narrows his eyes, barely looking at me. I curl my hands into tight fists. Story of my life. “Unless, of course, you were thinking of fu?—”
“Watch it. Or I will get my gun and finish you. Got it?”
“Not going to beat me to death?” Smith asks.
“I’d rather shoot your smug, asshole face,” Orion says.
Smith doesn’t seem bothered by the threat. He picks up a drink and sips it. I turn to Orion. Beneath that cold stone is something I don’t like, something fractured. Orion’s uncomfortable.
“Thought I’d check in,” Smith says, his eyes finally resting on me a moment. “Since I asked you to watch her and you haven’t so much as reported in.”
Orion stalks over to him. “You’re not my boss.”
“No. But I have more power.”
“I don’t care.”
I edge away. The testosterone starts to smoke as an undercurrent of a fight brews.
Stepping away, I take in the surroundings. The living room’s decent. The place is a little too close to the train for me, but then again, it’s a perfect position for someone like Orion whom I think likes to hide in plain sight and doesn’t seem bothered by the frills of money.
He has money.
I’m almost positive he has a hell of a lot of it. There’s something about how comfortable he is in high-end places, how the suits were nothing more than a show for me. He’s the type who’s so comfortable with money that he doesn’t try.
Smith is beyond loaded, too. But he wears it like old money, like a man whose nature it is to buy the very best, and he uses it to cover all the dark secrets—like me. And I bet the world never sees beyond the understated taste and surface-level respectability.
But what kind of man pays off a friend to raise his kid? What kind of man doesn’t even try to spend time with that kid? Uncle, family friend, it really doesn’t matter because he’s been none of that to me.
Alejandro was, and is, a great dad. I don’t know how he even knows Smith. Or how he can stand him.
I don’t care.
I glance back up at Orion. His back is stiff as he glares at Smith and my head trips back to his past.
I care about him. A lot. And this place… it’s him.
He probably owns the building.
The furnishings aren’t flashy or high-end designer, but they clearly cost plenty.
I study Orion a moment. The more I see of him, the more fascinated I am. Which is why I wanted to come here. I told him I loved him. Someone more worldly than me would have kept that to themselves, but the words just blurted out, and it was like my heart couldn’t hold them captive anymore.
Christ, he must think I’m a ridiculously immature child.
Suddenly, I stop breathing. My actual breath won’t come.
What did Smith say?
“Orion?”
