Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
There was a pause. “I’ll do just about anything if you step away from this door and act like you’ve never heard me in here.”
I grinned. “See you soon, Kisa.”
I left her there, wondering how the hell this feeling in my chest—the feeling of such rightness—had taken root without my knowledge.
After explaining what was going on to my family and Brecken’s, I headed out of the house and down the stairs.
The drive to my place was uneventful, Dallas traffic cooperating for once, and I made it home in time to follow three more police officers up to my front gate.
I pulled off to the side, unable to get through my front gate due to the two random cars I imagined belonged to Gabriel Stone and his family and got out.
There were two police officers talking to Stone and his family.
The two that’d just arrived stood back and observed.
I stopped next to them and said, “What’s going on?”
One looked at me, and I inwardly winced.
Haze Hopkins. Detective Haze Hopkins.
Fuck.
Haze Hopkins was hard to read.
I’d met him upon moving to the area, and it was almost as if he’d known who I was without a single introduction.
And let’s just say he’d hated me on sight.
“We’re here to figure that out,” Haze said as he dismissed me and moved toward the small crowd.
I caught Artur’s eyes from the guardhouse and jerked my chin at him, getting a chin nod in return.
As soon as I arrived slightly offset from the group, Gabriel turned to me, narrowed his eyes, and said, “Give me my baby!”
What kind of self-control do you have to have to work at a packaging bubble factory?
—Brecken’s secret thoughts
BRECKEN
After a fight for my life in the bathroom, I’d arrived in the kitchen to find all of Shasha’s family gone, and my brothers on the couch watching a soccer game.
My sisters were in the kitchen putting away leftovers, and I joined them, helping them clean up.
“They are all gone?” I asked.
“You were gone for an hour, honey.” JJ side-eyed me. “You expected them to stay that long after dessert with the one man that tied them to this place gone?”
“No.” My shoulders slumped. “I hate my body sometimes.”
“You know, you could also try this novel idea…” McCoy started.
I flipped her off. “Listen, none of you have any idea how sucky it is to give up cheese and milk. Eggs and whatever else makes my stomach hate me. You guys only have a mild version of this. It’s nearly impossible to give up everything that you love. So don’t judge me on it if you’re not going to try to do it yourselves.”
“She has you there,” JJ pointed out.
“Why are y’all cleaning this up when there are four capable men on the couch in there that didn’t cook at all?” I asked as I took over the pot washing from McCoy.
“Because they suck at washing dishes and leave food behind, and you know how I hate that,” McCoy explained.
“That doesn’t mean that they couldn’t be in here putting the food away,” I pointed out.
“The last time they put the food away from one of our family dinners, all they did was stick the pot in the fridge instead of putting it into Tupperware,” JJ said as she licked her finger clean after condensing pies into one pie pan.
She handed me the dirty pie plates and I got to washing those next.
“Weaponized incompetence is bullshit,” I said. “One day, they’ll meet a great lady, and then where will they be?”
“Up Shit Creek.” McCoy’s eyes gleamed. “Hey, do you want to go out to the barn with me?”
I grimaced. “Actually, no. I want to go find out what, exactly, is going on at Shasha’s place. Do y’all remember me telling you about the teacher that was being abused?”
“Yes,” they both answered at once.
I gave them a quick rundown of the situation, ending with, “And now he’s at Shasha’s house, and I really want to figure out why.”
“Take the farm truck,” McCoy suggested. “I’ll get the new ranch hand I hired to give me a ride to it tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. “I’ll see you guys later. You killed it with dinner tonight. Even though it killed me.”
And might still kill me later.
But I hoped that wouldn’t happen.
Sadly, sometimes it did…
“Love you,” they both said as I gave them quick hugs.
In the living room, I jumped over the side of the couch and landed on Tibbs and Bronc, causing them both to let out whooshes of air.
They’d seen me coming, though.
I’d learned my lesson when I’d snuck up on them accidentally, then tried to jump on them much the same way that I’d just done, only for Ryler to throw me three feet in the air and Tibbs to body slam me to the ground as if they’d planned it.