Page 10 of Primal God

I guess I’ve paid no attention to what he drives. I mean, João has a Nissan that I thought was pretty fancy. But this? This ismillionairemoney.

Dr. Santos looks aggravated as he says, “Yes. Now get in. I’d like to get some rest before my cases in the morning.”

Right. Important orthopedic surgeon.

Carefully, I open the passenger door and slide onto the leather seat. Dr. Santos’ masculine scent fills the air, making it hard to think. He gets in and starts the car before backing out of the garage.

“Would you like to listen to anything?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Well?”

“Whatever you normally listen to is fine with me.”

He snorts softly under his breath, but pushes a button on the screen on the dash. A moment later,Five Finger Death Punchfills the air. I laugh, which makes him look over.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just didn’t expect you to listen to something like this.”

He says, “Never judge a book by its cover.”

“You know, people like to say that, but everyone judges a book by the cover. It’s literally the point.”

“They don’t.”

“They totally do. As for not judging another person based on how they look, well, you and I both know that’s not the case either.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

I glance over at him, debating if I should answer.

Finally, I say, “João told me you ran a background check on me. I get it. He was the sole heir to your empire, and you wanted to make sure I wasn’t some kind of gold-digging trollop or something.” I rush on, “It’s just funny that you didn’t do it when we were just hanging out. No, as soon as I started dating João, boom! Background check.”

My cheeks are warm as I finish speaking. It’s something that’s bothered me ever since João told me. He didn’t think it was a big deal, but it was. Itisa big deal.

Dr. Santos says, “João shouldn’t have told you.”

“That’s all you’re going to say?”

“What would you like me to say? That I’m sorry? Because I’m not. I must do what it takes to protect my family.”

“I guess what I want to know is what is it about me that had you rushing to get a background check done? Is it because I’m a ward of the state?”

He flinches. Oh my god. That’s exactly what it is. He found out that I’m an orphan and didn’t trust me or my intentions.

“What did the background check say?”

“Since you lived it, I assume you already know.”

“Humor me.”

“Your mom passed away giving birth to your younger sister. Five years later, the same sister passed away after being hit by a car. A few months after that, your father passed away.”

“By a self-inflicted gunshot to the head,” I say, anger lacing my tone. “From there, I became a ward of the state where I bounced around foster homes until I was placed with a familywho said they would take care of me until I turned eighteen. But we all know said family only stepped up so they could get the monthly check from the state, and they kicked me out when I turned seventeen.”

They were the worst family out of all the families, too. The husband never used his fists, but sometimes words can hurt just as much. The wife saw me and the other females as a threat. As if we wanted that pig of a man!

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