Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“You need to be careful with him,” Teller growled.
I gasped and yanked, but he didn’t let go of my hand.
“Let go!” I ordered.
He squeezed me just tight enough that I knew I wasn’t getting away if he didn’t want me to, but loose enough that he wasn’t hurting me if I didn’t struggle.
“You need to listen to me, Iris,” he ordered harshly. “That man isn’t the nice guy you think he is.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
I tugged again on my hand, and this time he let me go, knowing he had my attention. “I’m trying to tell you that that man you think you like? The one that you let fuck you in front of a window last night knowing I was there? He’s bad news.”
I would’ve rolled my eyes had he not been utterly serious, which made my stomach clench slightly.
What did I know of Callum?
I mean, other than he was nice, funny, sexy, and sweet?
“He’s a killer, Iris,” he said. “Nobody has been able to prove it but… he’s bad.”
Now that I didn’t believe.
“What are you even talking about right now?” I challenged.
“I’m talking about the fact that you are dating a man you don’t even know,” he snapped. “You’re fucking him, and you’re letting this biker into your life, and when you’re ready to scrape him off, he won’t go as easily or as nicely as I went.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, yeah. You sure went nicely.”
He gritted his teeth. “I’m just trying to protect you. I’ve had some things happen at work lately.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
So I didn’t.
“You need to be careful with him,” he urged. “Trust me on this.”
I sighed. “There are a lot of things that I can deal with but made-up shit isn’t one of them.”
“I’m not making anything up,” he promised. “I swear.”
“Then you’re going to have to give me some more concrete evidence than ‘he’s bad. Stay away from him,’” I pointed out. “Because right now, it just sounds like you’re a nut who can’t let things go.”
Teller crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t really care if you believe me or not. But just sayin’, it’s your funeral.”
Then he left, leaving me with way more questions than answers.
Sadly, I didn’t have time to do anything.
I had time to get in my car and drive to my parents’ house.
The two-hour drive, I thought about nothing but Callum.
Even when I turned on the radio, every single song reminded me of him.
Meaning, when I got to my parents’ house and found it completely devoid of people, despite the copious number of cars in the driveway, I wasn’t happy.
I’d just spent two hours driving, on my one day off, and they weren’t there.
Not to mention that I had a whole lot of things that I could do at my own place.
Like the laundry that I hadn’t touched in a week, or the bills that were piling up, waiting for me to pay.
I was a check girl.
I didn’t put any of my information online—and that included paying bills. So, like my paranoid father, I made sure to always keep as much of my life off-line as I could.
Which meant the inconvenience of writing checks and sending stuff snail mail.
“Where are y’all?” I wondered as I started to move through the house.
I found all of their stuff—my sister’s suitcase, and my mom’s Kindle e-reader that she was never away from, and my brother’s car keys.
But no family.
That’s when I pulled out my phone.
We had an app that we used when we couldn’t find each other.
Pulling it up, I waited.
When it finally loaded, I looked at everyone’s location and felt my stomach drop.
My mom. My dad. My sister. My brother. And even my brother’s wife were all at one of my favorite restaurants. Without me.
Irrational hurt swept through me, but I decided to try to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Bringing up the home screen on my phone, I cued up the group text and thought about what I was going to say.
I realized eventually that I wasn’t going to get rid of the anger and decided to just write what I wanted to write to the group text that I had going with my entire family.
Me: Where is everyone?
Anderson: Eating.
Me: Where?
Anderson: why are you asking?
Me: Because the house is empty, and I literally drove two hours, and I can’t find y’all. Even though y’all were the ones to invite me over.
Mom: Um, we didn’t think you were coming.
Me: I come every Sunday, Mother. Why would you think I wasn’t coming?
Dad: Because it was getting on noon, and you weren’t here yet.
I was getting angrier by the second.
Me: Maybe because I had to work yesterday, go home, and grab a spare change of clothes before coming back? And it takes me an hour extra to get here when I have to work the night before, remember?