Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 80176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
I’d had this ability since I was young.
It was just something about a man or woman that made me feel what kind of person they truly were, and Evander hadn’t struck me as bad.
The women to my left, however, had all struck me as bitches from the moment that I’d met them with Trixie.
I’d hated them on sight, and I hadn’t made any attempt to get to know them, even though I took my nephew to practice at least once a week.
The coach, however, he’d always struck me as being an inherently good man.
He was a mechanic at the one and only shop in town and had also been in the Marines for nearly a decade. Now, I’m not saying that all men that are in the military are good men, but the majority of them are. And Boone Trent was one of the good ones.
And now that I thought about it, he was also part of the Hail crew that everyone in town was always talking about—the same towing/auto recovery company where Evander’s tow truck was from.
Small world.
“Where do you want me?”
Evander’s voice brought not just mine, but every woman’s head in a thirty-foot radius of him, up.
We all stared.
“Just go over by the dugout and toss them the weighted balls,” came Boone’s distracted reply. “I’m going to throw each kid a bucket of balls, and you can have the ones on deck. When I’m done, I’ll call for the one you’re working with. Okay?”
He grunted something in reply, and then started walking to the balls that were on the ground.
The red ones that were the size of normal balls, but they were squishy and weighted so that when they were hit, they didn’t go very far.
He picked them all up in his hand.
All freakin’ five of them.
Sweet baby Jesus.
I could pick up two. Two!
He picked up five!
Those hands had to be the size of dinner plates they were so big, but the one and only time I’d felt him touch me, it’d been a soft touch. One that had been just a brush against the skin of my arm.
Dear God.
I needed to get a grip.
But did I stop watching him? Hell no, and I wasn’t the only one, either.
***
Two hours later, DJ, my nephew, and I were walking toward the truck.
He was in high spirits due to hitting a ball over the fence—a home run. I, on the other hand, was still torn in two.
My sister had cancer.
Jesus, this had to be a nightmare.
Maybe tomorrow when I woke up, it’d all be a dream.
However, I knew it wouldn’t be. I wasn’t that lucky.
“Thank you, Coach!”
I was startled to look up and see not the actual coach, Boone, but Evander standing beside me, handing DJ a ball.
“Went and picked it up after the last batter was up. Good hit.”
Then he left, leaving me staring after him.
“Jesus, that man is big.”
I looked over at Edith and offered her my best smile.
“Have a good night,” I called out with false cheer.
Edith grimaced. “You, uhh, too.”
Bitch.
The drive to Trixie’s home was enough to nearly break me, and when I tried to come inside, she stopped me.
“I need to talk to my family, Kennedy,” she whispered, looking away. “I haven’t told the kids yet. We’re going to tell them here in a minute once everyone’s cleaned up for the night.”
I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her.
“Okay, Trix. Call me if you need me, okay?”
When I pulled away, her face was wiped of all expression.
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”
Then she closed the door carefully in my face and locked it for good measure.
A feeling of dread washed over me.
This wasn’t right.
Something else was going on here, but without forcing my way in, I couldn’t really do anything about the feeling without seriously pissing her off.
I knew my sister. I knew that she had a short temper and was quick to jump to conclusions.
I wouldn’t force her to allow me to stay if she didn’t want me to, but I would come back tomorrow.
And then, I’d force her to talk.
Chapter 5
If you don’t like chickens, you can stay outside.
-Welcome mat
Kennedy
Other than my sister being on my mind, there was one other person who was in my head and wouldn’t go away.
If I wasn’t worrying about my sister, I was worrying about him.
Why, I couldn’t tell you.
I’d had all of four encounters with the man, but each time I did see him, even if from a distance, it was enough to send shock waves through my body.
I wasn’t the only person that watched him, though.
Yesterday, when I’d been at the grocery store, Evander had been there, also.
He’d been two people ahead of me in line and everyone had stared. The checker that’d been ringing up his food. The security guard who was getting the money for the security place that deposited the money for them. The manager had his hand on his phone like he was ready and waiting for Evander to go off and start shooting people.