Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Another message from Bodhi said that he would bring dinner when he got off at ten. And yes, he knew that was late, but we could stay up and watch movies.
I called him.
“Hey,” he said, his voice all sultry like it hadn’t been in years. “I––”
“There’s someone outside.”
“What?” That fast, panic replaced the desire.
“If it’s Brodie, he might have a jammer, so––”
The line went dead.
Darting around my bed, I saw that my alarm was armed but flashing because the Wi-Fi connection was gone. Of course Bodhi had armed it when he left; he would never leave me unprotected. Plus, I was sure he’d been even more confident leaving a wolf in my house. And yes, Chickie did have some wolf in him, no matter what other breeds Ian rattled off to account for his size and the thickness of his coat.
Punching buttons on the alarm, I first put it on silent mode so it wouldn’t make any announcements if the Wi-Fi came back on, then disarmed it. Whoever was out there, I wanted them to come inside.
The house was built like a Craftsman, just over a garage. So when you came in the front door, you walked into the living room, and you could see into the kitchen and straight back into my bedroom. A second bedroom came off the kitchen down a short hall, and before it was a half bathroom. That meant that whoever came into my place, I was a sitting duck in my bedroom.
Walking out, with Chickie right behind me, I didn’t move straight through the house but instead crouched down beside the couch so I could see the front windows. Chickie—again, because he was a wolf and wolves didn’t do stupid things like bark or growl at intruders because that would alert them—stayed silent, shadowing me, and stood beside me in the dark.
I saw Gabe Brodie look inside, and a hundred things went through my head starting with, if I touched my phone, it would light up. I couldn’t overpower him; he was stronger than I was at the moment, and I certainly didn’t want to send Chickie out the door because I didn’t know what Gabe was carrying and I wanted to keep the dog safe. I settled on what could be believable and what I knew he didn’t know because only Bodhi and I could have.
I rushed to the door, silently opened the dead bolt, then the lock on the knob, counted, took a breath, then threw it open and lifted my gun at the same time. Gabe Brodie, looking more like a lumberjack and less like the marshal he’d been, held a Sig Sauer on me.
Instantly, I lowered my gun, holding it by my side. “What the fuck, man, are you trying to give me a goddamn heart attack?” I griped at him, turning around and stepping back into my house, turning on the light by the door.
Chickie was dancing around, thinking it was a game. Brodie had been to Miro and Ian’s house for various parties before he was fired, so even if Chickie didn’t know him like he knew me, I was fine, so Brodie must be as well.
In my kitchen, I put my gun down on the counter and then went to my refrigerator and got a bottle of water out for me and one for him. Then I waited.
Brodie walked in slowly and closed the door behind him, which didn’t lock because I’d made sure it wouldn’t.
“The hell are you doing here?” I grumbled at him.
He replaced his gun in the holster under his jacket and only stared.
“Hello?”
“I didn’t expect you to be here.”
“Why wouldn’t I be home?”
He cleared his throat. “I thought you and Bodhi went on a trip.”
I nodded. “You saw the news?”
“Yeah, Jed, everyone saw the news,” he said, moving closer.
I held out the bottle of water for him, and he came forward, on guard, and took it quickly from me. “As you can see, I’m busted up, but Bodhi’s getting married, and being with his future family… Let’s just say I had two days too much of that shit.”
He smiled suddenly. “Rich, I heard.”
How had he heard? What kind of tabs had he been keeping? “Beyond rich, man. Like, you should’ve seen that house. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
“So you came home and he’s still there?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you talked to anyone?” he asked softly.
“I talked to Miro, what, not yesterday, day before? I told him I was coming back, and I knew he was looking for someone to watch the dog. He must have had someone else drop him off because Chickie was just sitting out there on my porch when I got home this morning.”
“When you talked to Miro, you just talked about the dog?”
I squinted at him. “Yeah. Why?”
“Nothing else?”
Pointing at my shoulder, I shot him a look like he was stupid. “I’m on leave, man. What am I going to tell him about, how crappy my trip was? And then what, when Bodhi gets back, he tells him? Like I need that shit.”