Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
I waved a hand for him to go ahead.
He disappeared, walking through the house at a fast clip.
I walked to the sofa and took a seat, my hands resting between my knees as I waited for him to come back.
He did, and moments later, he placed my bear into my arms.
Emotions welled up immediately, and the tears filled my eyes seconds later.
“God,” I breathed. “Is it possible to kill someone with only your thoughts? Because if it was, Joseph would definitely be dead right now.”
He chuckled as he said, “It was in your office. On the top shelf.”
“Of course it was.” I squeezed my eyes tightly shut to curb the tears. “I swear, the man likes to torture me.”
“He had to have known you’d never find that on your own,” he growled.
“He knew I wouldn’t,” I agreed. “Pretty much, I don’t even bother to put anything above face level.”
“You ever need anything else,” he said. “And I’ll handle it.”
I tucked the bear into my side and stood up. “I appreciate you helping me.” I felt my shoulders deflate. “I hate being defective,” I moaned.
I didn’t hear him move.
He was just there.
His hand wrapped around my ponytail and yanked my head backward. “Don’t you fucking dare talk about yourself like that.”
The man’s cool, deep voice surprised me.
I liked how it sounded.
“I-I won’t,” I stuttered.
Butterflies started to take flight in my belly at his nearness.
He was so close I could smell his breath.
Mint and beer.
I kind of liked it.
“You could, uh, stay if you wanted,” I offered. “I was about to watch some Bones. But we could watch…”
He was already letting me go. “Can’t.”
“Why not?” I pushed.
Then I wanted to slap myself for sounding so desperate.
He was silent for a long second before he said, “I’m not safe.”
I frowned, my fingers clenching into a fist. “What do you mean you’re not safe?”
Gee stayed still for a long moment before saying, “Not even my family knows this—well, no one but my older brother, Quinn.”
My brows rose. “Okay.”
“You know I’m a police officer, right?” he asked.
I nodded.
The moment he’d mentioned his occupation, I remembered my parents had shared that information with me at the hospital, along with Gee’s checking in, as a sort of morale boost every day.
They’d stayed in touch for a solid month until I was out of the hospital.
I hadn’t heard that they’d talked to him lately, though.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Are you still a police officer?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m a K-9 officer now.” He paused. “But before…once upon a time, I used to be undercover with my twin brother, Gable. That was who was with us that day I found you on the mountain.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“The entire undercover operation went sour, and I was stabbed,” he said. “It wasn’t until they dropped me off at the hospital, and I almost died, that they realized that I was undercover due to the media coverage. When they’d dropped me off at the hospital, one of the rival gang members had stabbed a doctor. The two of us almost died. I would have had the fiancée of the stabbed doctor not taken care of me. It wasn’t found out until later, when my brother came in—he was head of the gang division at the time—and identified me that they figured out I was an undercover police officer.”
My belly was in knots. “You’re okay now, though.”
He hesitated long enough for me to worry.
“Physically, I’m fine,” he finally admitted. “The problem is, there’s been a change in leadership in the Breakers gang that I was undercover with, and to prove he’s legit, he’s decided to put a hit out on my head.”
My mouth fell open in shock. “But you said you had a twin brother, right? How would they be able to differentiate between the two?”
“I have a scar on my face,” he answered. “It’s pretty big and noticeable.”
That was true.
I’d definitely noticed it myself when he was carrying me down the mountain.
I remember it being thick and down to his neck.
“Bad scar?” I asked.
“Definitely,” he answered. “So, that’s how I know they won’t go after my brother.”
My stomach sank.
“So what now, Gee?” I asked.
“Now I see you around, Benny.”
“Benny?” I tried to smile and couldn’t.
“You’re calling me a derivative of my name, so thought I’d try it out,” he teased. “Call me if you need me, darling.”
“I don’t have your number.”
He’d just started toward my door when he came back. “Where’s your phone?”
I licked my lips and said, “On the bed, I think.”
He went in search of it, coming back a moment later before saying, “Code?”
I gave it to him.
He paused when he saw what was up on the screen. “My eyes?”
“I was looking for an app on my phone,” I admitted. “I was trying to find the bear on my own before I made any calls to my asshole ex or my mom.”