Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 167257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 558(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 558(@300wpm)
“Yo, you’re tripping,” he told me after I listed my favorite movies. “Die Hard is not a Christmas movie.”
“Yes, it is!”
“How, Atlas? Tell me one thing that made it a Christmas movie?”
“It happened during Christmas. Duuuuh!”
“Okay, two things,” he said. “Name one more reason, and I’ll believe you.”
“How about three? It snowed the entire time, like every Christmas movie. It brought a family together, like every Christmas movie, and the soundtrack has Christmas songs, like every Christmas movie.”
“All right.” He nodded. “I’ll give you that.”
“Thank you.” I smiled gently at my small victory. “Just because it dared to be different doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve to be included.”
He cut his gaze my way as he turned onto a new street. It didn’t seem like he had a destination in mind, and he seemed in no hurry to end our “date.” “You think you’re deep, huh?”
I shrugged. “I’m sure any new perspective will seem deep when you’ve been swimming in shallow waters.”
“Yeah?”
“Yup.”
“So, if I’m shallow, why did you agree to have dinner with me?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think you’re shallow, Owen. I think the company you keep—the woman you choose to fuck—are shallow, and it’s made you a selfish, entitled, emotionally-stunted jerk.”
I almost regretted my words when Owen Wray, the lion of Idlewild, honest-to-God flinched. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“I just did.”
I watched the muscle in his jaw jump as he strangled the steering—most likely imagining it was me. “Okay, Atlas.”
We didn’t speak again as we let Lil Baby’s album drown out the tension. After my little admission, Rowdy drove me straight back to the motel, and while I couldn’t say I was shocked that he wanted to get away from me, I was surprised by my disappointment.
Oh, well.
No matter which path we chose, we always ended up here—on opposite sides of understanding.
Maybe it was God telling us we weren’t meant to be, and all we had to do to be happy was listen.
“Thank you for dinner,” I said as I unbuckled my seat belt. He nodded but didn’t say a word, nor did he get out to open my door like he had each time before. Well, fuck you, too. “Good night.”
With his head down, he ignored me as he responded to a text on his phone.
I’d planned on leaving his presence with grace, but that option flew out the window now that he’d gone back to treating me like one of his hoes. I got out and slammed the door hard enough to make the glass rattle, but if I thought that would be enough to get a reaction out of him, I was sorely mistaken.
I could feel his eyes on me as I stormed to my door.
Key in hand, I stopped just short of inserting it into the lock.
The door was already ajar.
I’d barely had time to interpret the danger before Rowdy was at my side, gun drawn and wearing a scowl on his handsome face as he pulled me behind him.
“Go wait in the car,” he told me with a look that warned me not to argue.
I gave a frantic nod before hurrying back to the safety of the Hellcat. My heart stopped as I watched Rowdy disappear inside the dark motel room, and I felt my skin crawl at the thought of him walking into an ambush. I chewed on my nails for a few minutes before I forced myself to stop fretting.
Fuck this.
Keeping my ears open, I searched the interior of his car until I found a spare gun in his glove compartment. I had no idea how to use it, but I didn’t give myself time to worry over it as I grabbed his piece, hopped out of the car, and rushed across the parking lot.
I paused at the door, but when I didn’t hear signs of a struggle, I pushed inside in time to see Rowdy walking out of the bathroom. It was scary how quickly he had his gun pointed at my head until I gave an embarrassing squeal that had him shaking his head and dropping his hand.
“Is anyone here?”
His expression was cold and blank as he stared at me. “I told you to wait in the car.”
“I found this,” I confessed, showing him the gun. “I thought you might need backup.”
His brows shot up. The first real emotion he’d shown since I—well, I guess I’d hurt his feelings? It was trippy to think about. “Yeah?” He inched closer as he tucked his gun back into his waistband. “And what was you planning to do with that, Atlas? Shoot them in their kneecaps?”
I lifted my chin. “If I had to.”
I could see the beginnings of a smile on his lips. “Oh, so you’re hard now, huh?” he teased. “You think you gangsta?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I just don’t want to lose any more people.”