Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Big fucking surprise there. She was always wanting to comment.
And knowing Tori, her comment would be heavy on the attitude and one I wouldn’t want to hear.
I liked her just about as much as I liked Kali or the redheaded one who worked occasionally. They were all sweet, but Tori could be mouthy as fuck. If she had an opinion on something, she shared it, and it didn’t matter how many fucking times I told her I didn’t want her giving said opinion. She still gave it. Especially if it involved someone she cared about.
If it had to do with one of her girls, Tori was getting involved.
Well, fuck her suspicions. This wasn’t Tori’s business. It wasn’t J.R.’s business either. It was mine and Shayla’s. She was asking me to follow her, not them.
And everyone who wasn’t involved could butt the fuck out.
Scowling to convey that opinion, I watched Tori’s eyes narrow in challenge before I looked away, yanking the door open to the lounge.
I stepped inside and locked that shit behind me, and wouldn’t you know…
The door rattled, then a knock sounded with a heavy fist. “Shay!” Tori yelled, still yanking on the door. “You say the word, and I’m grabbing the ax we keep hidden and busting in there!”
Shayla finished shoving her coat in a locker before slowly turning her head, curiously looking from the door to me.
“Didn’t know if you wanted privacy or not,” I explained, gesturing at the lock before drawing my arms across my chest. “Your girl likes getting up in my shit, so…” I shrugged.
Nothing else more to say about that. Facts were facts.
Shayla’s mouth twitched before she hollered out, “I’m fine, Tori! And…I don’t think we have an ax, do we?”
I heard a growl through the door. “You aren’t supposed to tell him that. What’s the matter with you?”
“Shit. Sorry!” Shayla laughed.
“You’re good?”
“I’m good, T.”
“All right, well, I won’t be far, so if you need me, I’ll be sharpening that ax we absolutely do have. You just forgot about it.”
I glared at the door, then turned away when I heard the slam of a locker.
“We don’t really have an ax. She’s just playing,” Shayla told me, smiling a little as she tied on her waitress apron.
“And she wouldn’t really be gettin’ in here. Not unless you wanted her to,” I shot back.
Shayla blinked and stood taller, losing her smile but looking like what I’d just said meant something big and important to her, then she took a seat on the bench, opened the red folder in her lap, and glanced over at me like she was expecting something.
My brows furrowed. Expecting what? What did she want me to do? I’d followed her in here, didn’t I?
Shayla smiled, then patted the spot beside her.
Oh.
She wanted to talk. That’s why we were in here. But she didn’t just want to talk. She wanted to talk with us sitting close.
Not sure that was the best idea, but nobody was telling my feet that.
Huffing out a breath, I moved around the bench and sat down, leaving about an inch of space between our hips. I gripped my thighs, digging my fingers in so I wouldn’t move.
My muscles were locked stiff.
We had stood close outside but not this close. I wasn’t used to this. Even when Shayla would lean into that kitchen window and drop her voice, telling me something she didn’t want anyone else to hear, there was still a good amount of space there. And being surrounded by the food I was cooking, I had no fucking idea what she smelled like.
That was not the case now. I knew exactly what she smelled like.
Honey.
She smelled like sweet fucking honey. Her hair. Her skin. Both, I wasn’t sure. And no fucking way was I getting any closer to make that distinction.
“So, um, here’s their schedule,” she said, holding the folder between us so I could see the calendar she was pointing to. “Dominic, that’s the older one, has his tutoring today, like I said. It’s at his school. Um, Hyde County Middle…do you know where that is?”
I didn’t, but she didn’t need to know that. She’d worry I wouldn’t find it, and I’d find it.
I jerked my chin.
“Okay, great. His tutoring should be done around four-thirty, so if you could be there a little before, just in case he gets done early, and bring him to, uh…” She flipped the calendar over and read off the back. “Patterson Field. That’s where I’ll be with Eli for his practice. I have directions here, if you need them.”
I didn’t. I’d find it.
“You keep those. I got it.”
“It’s not going to be an issue with work? You can leave?”
I met her eyes when she pulled them off the paper, and noted the worry there. “With J.R. here, it ain’t a big deal. I can step out,” I said, squashing that worry.