Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
When we had been there for two hours and I watched as Toby tried to impress her—playing carnival games; buying her cheeseburger egg rolls, which she didn’t seem to like because she only took one bite; and stopping to talk to people they knew, making sure everyone saw them together—I’d had enough. I was tired of her looking at him. I wanted her to put those eyes on me. And see her reaction.
She did.
And the reaction I got was better than I’d hoped.
Except she promptly left. That part I didn’t like. She had run from me. I wanted to think it was because she had thought Halo was my date and didn’t want to see it. But there was the concern that she had been afraid of me and I wasn’t dealing with that well. It had been two months. I hadn’t hurt her or scared her. I had stayed away—well, at least from her sight. She had to see I wasn’t going to hurt her.
Sighing, I started to pick up the empty bottle to toss it and stopped. She might have passed out drunk and could think she just didn’t remember putting the ice cream in the trash and blowing out the candle, but if I did anything else, it would stand out.
After seeing her today and her reaction, this wouldn’t be enough anymore. I was gonna need to see her eyes when they were open. I wanted her to look at me again. I should continue as we were for a while longer, but I couldn’t. When she had left today, I’d felt a franticness crawl through me. I hadn’t been done. I’d wanted to see those dark brown eyes focused on me. Read her expression. That box I had been trying to keep her in did more than open today. It had exploded. Needing to know what tomorrow held for her, I surveyed the area until I saw her phone tucked under her side. That couldn’t be comfortable.
I eased it out, inhaling her intoxicating scent, then straightened to unlock it.
The screen that appeared, however, was filled with images of me. Frowning, I realized she’d been on the web browser. My last name was in the search bar. My first and last name—the latter I had never given her.
Well, well, well, my little investigator, look at you.
I grinned and went to the history to see what all she had found out about me.
My grandfather’s Wikipedia page. She’d searched my full name and found him since he was the first Oz Savelle. She knew my family history—or at least what the rest of the world knew. I continued to scroll through and found Carver’s Bootleg Whiskey. Before that had just been a search for Oz, Madison, Mississippi, which hadn’t given her any leads. I went back to the distillery’s website and wondered how the hell she’d linked me with them.
I thought back, and then it hit me. The fucking shirt. The one I’d given her to wear in Louisiana. I suppressed an impressed chuckle.
Note to self: if I ever need someone to do a little digging for me and Wilder isn’t available, I’ll ask Winslet.
She had found all this while drinking a bottle of wine. What the fuck could she find sober? The woman was in the wrong profession. Private investigation was a more lucrative job than teaching. Not that I’d be able to let her do that. It could be dangerous. As a second-grade teacher, the only things I had to worry about bothering her were jealous bitches taking advantage of her, small germ-covered humans making her sick, and then of course Toby annoying the fuck out of her. None of which were going to kill her.
I went to her text messages. Five unread from Toby. That was it. His tires were going. Tonight. I was over this. Every day he texted or called, bad shit was gonna happen to him until he got the hint to stay away.
Toby
I had a great time today. I hope your migraine is better. If you’re up to it, why don’t we go see a movie?
Toby
There are two new ones that I hear are really good.
Toby
I told my mom about you. She wants you to come to Sunday lunch soon. If you’re up for that next weekend.
Toby
Guess you’re still lying in the dark to get your migraine better.
Toby
Can I bring you something? Soup? Pain medicine?
Holy fucking hell, dipshit. She was ignoring you. Get a damn clue.
Jesus. He had serious issues. And inviting her to his mom’s because she’d agreed to go to goddamn festival with him.
I went to his number, blocked him, then deleted his texts. If she saw that he had sent them last night, maybe she would chalk it up to the bottle of nice wine she’d drunk. I didn’t care. If she wasn’t going to block him, I sure as hell was.