Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
“Are you out without a bodyguard?” I asked.
“I have a stun gun,” she said breezily. “And so does Daisy. And Kai knows I don’t like to be shadowed. Which is why Gabe is lurking in the parking lot. Because Kai saw my car leave the house and sent Gabe after me. I pretend I don’t know I have a detail. Gabe pretends he doesn’t know we made him. Kai pretends he isn’t ticked that Gabe got made.” She smiled. “Works beautifully.”
I smiled back.
Sensing the hard part was over, Daisy slid onto the stool by her side.
“I know we only had lunch two hours ago, but Harlow told me what toad-in-the-hole is and now I’m feelin’ peckish. Wanna share a plate?” she asked Stella.
Stella looked at her watch and then asked me, “I have to go get Tallulah from school and Walsh from daycare in an hour and a half. Do we have time?”
“I’ll fast track it,” I said.
“That’d be awesome.”
I dashed into the kitchen to give Lucia the VIP order, telling her who that VIP was, and in pure Lucia style, she simply nodded and pulled a metal pan of oil out of the oven. She poured some thin batter into it. It started sizzling immediately.
I watched in fascination as she plopped some sausages in it, slid it back into the oven, and with no further ado, got back to work on the order she’d been preparing when I showed.
Okay.
Maybe she wasn’t into rock and roll.
Okay part two.
I was totally making toad-in-the-hole for Eric.
By the time I made it back to the bar, Harlow, Luna and Raye were huddled close to Stella and Daisy.
They were looking at a piece of paper on the bar.
I approached and Raye said, “Glad you’re here. We finally have a lull, so I wanted to go over the stakeout schedule with you guys.” She tapped a finger on the paper. “Cap said that all the people who have been snatched were snatched when it was dark. So we only have to cover sunset to sunrise. Cap cleared this with Mace and the team this morning, and then dropped it by.”
I looked down at the paper.
It said:
5:30–9:00 Luna & Knox
9:00–12:30 Harlow and Brady
12:30–4:00 Raye and Cap
4:00–7:30 Jess and Eric
Although these pairings didn’t say multi-tasking corn-themed snacks girlie time while nailing the bad guys, I was pretty danged thrilled I got to do my stakeout with Eric.
Thus, the schedule seemed perfect to me (I could share my corn theme with Eric). It’d give Harlow some time to chill a bit after work, but plenty of time to get some sleep. It’d give me time to get some shut-eye before I had to head out. And Luna and Raye could get to work on time.
In fact, only Raye and Cap’s allotment sucked.
“We should do a rotation of Raye and Cap’s slot, because it sucks,” I noted.
“Yeah. That’s the worst one,” Harlow agreed.
“Aw, you guys are sweet,” Raye said.
“Why am I with Knox?” Luna demanded.
We all looked at her, though Daisy did it with a mini tinkly bell laugh.
“Why not Knox?” Raye asked, and she did this suspiciously.
“Why not Liam? Or Gabe?” Luna retorted, I will note, without allaying Raye’s suspicions.
“Because Liam is managing the surveillance room since they haven’t found someone to do that,” Raye explained. “And because Gabe is Stella’s officially unofficial detail.”
“Roam then,” Luna kept at it.
“Roam needs to find a house to live in,” Raye retorted. “And get his legs under him here in Phoenix. He’s only been here days. The others have been here months.”
“Then why can’t I have Brady?” Luna didn’t let it go.
“Do you want Brady?” Harlow asked leadingly.
Another mini trill from Daisy.
“No, I don’t want Brady,” Luna returned weirdly heatedly.
“Let’s go back to why you don’t want Knox,” Raye stated.
“I just don’t, okay?” Luna didn’t quite answer.
“Are you keeping something from us?” Raye demanded.
I stared in surprise as pink hit Luna’s cheeks (she wasn’t one to blush) before she narrowed her eyes on Raye and totally lied, “No.”
Now we were all staring at her.
“If I was fifteen years younger and my Marcus didn’t exist in this universe or any other, I’d want Knox,” Daisy said under her breath to Stella.
“Don’t tell Kai, or he’ll pull him from my detail, but I’d pick Gabe. He’s got those Luke vibes going on,” Stella replied.
“It’s in the blood,” Daisy noted.
“It sure is,” Stella responded. “Who would have guessed there was more Stark goodness floating out there? You’d think we’d sense it simply because we have uteruses.”
Another update: Gabe was the second cousin to one of the OG Hot Bunch, Luke Stark. I’d met Luke at the funeral too. And there was more than a mere family resemblance. In a number of ways.
“Luke do it for you?” Daisy asked Stella in surprise.
“The question should be, which one doesn’t?” Stella answered. “And the answer is, none. Though, the caveat is the same, with Kai not existing in this universe or any other.”