Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“I told West don’t bother coming down yet,” he went on. “We’re just waiting for the next surgery.”
“Okay, but I wanna see her today.” I picked up Ellie’s hairbrush from the floor and tossed it onto her bed in her room. “Have the police stopped by?”
“Aye, a little while ago,” he answered. “They might be back. She couldn’t give many answers.”
Yeah, I bet.
Once I was in the kitchen, I put on coffee. I’d been warned by Liam last night that they’d set shit in motion hella quick, and yeah, then he’d called in the middle of a sexy-as-fuck dream about West choking me out with his cock. But instead of waking up to turning that dream into reality, I had to get my shit together because Liam and Finn were on their way over.
When life was bad—like now with Mom—I needed two things. Sex that distracted me and dark humor. Now I’d been cockblocked twice in as many days. I was over it.
“But what answers could she give?” I pressed. “Anything about what the attacker looked like?”
“She did mention a mark on the guy’s hand,” he replied. Now we’re talking. “Apparently not a tattoo, but maybe a stamp of some sort.”
“Like from a nightclub?” I trapped the phone between my ear and shoulder, and I grabbed a notepad from the first drawer.
“I don’t know. She couldn’t make out what it was, just that it took up a big portion of the top of his hand. And, uh…” He blew out a heavy breath. “Um, he was about six feet tall—burly, she said—and he wore a bandanna or something to cover most of his face. And he had an accent, Russian or Eastern European.”
I jotted it all down and felt a spark of energy. Like we were finally heading somewhere. The accent, the mark—good shit. Anything to narrow things down, unlike six feet tall like half the male population.
“By the way, why are you and West smoking again?” Dad asked.
“One thing at a time, old man,” I replied. I was still busy writing notes. “Did Ma fight back? I tried to teach her how once and where to strike if she was ever attacked.”
“She did.” Something in Dad’s voice grew gentler. “She was mumbling some kind of chant that sounded like IBS first, and—”
“L-B-S,” I chuckled. “Liver, balls, skin.”
“That’s the one,” he murmured. “I think—I didn’t understand all of it, but I think maybe she couldn’t reach the liver…? I mean, if he was, you know, pressing down on her… And I don’t know if she managed to scratch him up. I sure hope she did.”
I clenched my jaw and nodded to myself. They had to die. They had to suffer.
“She did get him in the balls, but I don’t know how forceful that coulda been,” he finished.
Maybe not enough to create a perpetrator walking around with a limp, in any case. But that was still good. Good for her. The liver was a forceful strike in self-defense, so were the balls, but scratching the skin was for the authorities to collect evidence. DNA under the nails.
“Aight. Um, someone might come by later,” I said, clearing my throat. “Liam said we’re gonna talk to a detective, so don’t protest or mention it to the other cops, just in case.”
“I’m not known to chitchat with cops.”
No, but he was known to protest.
Three sharp knocks on the front door saved me from circling back to why West and I were smoking again, so I wrapped up the call and told him to let me know when I could visit.
For the record, were we really smoking again? Trip and Ellie didn’t know. And we were at what, three or four per day? Bitch, please.
I unlocked the door and opened it. “Oi. Come on in.” I noticed Finn and Liam weren’t alone. They had someone I didn’t know with them.
Finn frowned at me. “Why are you always opening the door shirtless?”
I snorted and draped an arm around his shoulders. “To give you a reminder, cousin. This is what abs look like.” I smooched his cheek before I backed off.
“Piss off.” He walked farther in and shrugged out of his suit jacket. “I’m sorry to hear about your ma.” He gestured at the other guy, who strode into the kitchen with a device—wait. Was he checking for bugs?
Liam smacked me upside the head. “I don’t need the abs reminder. Put on a shirt.”
I smirked and shut the door.
It was good to have them here.
“So, uh…” I gestured vaguely at the no-name guy.
Finn didn’t respond until the guy offered a nod and left something on the table. It was another gadget, something I couldn’t even guess what it was.
“Okay, we’re good to go,” Finn said.
The guy left again, and I raised my eyebrows.
“Seriously?”
“It’s not you.” Liam clapped me on the shoulder. “We’re just careful.”