Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Unable to resist, I stepped into her room, pulled her close, and pressed my lips against hers. I could feel the beating of her heart against my chest as she inched closer. She moaned against my lips as I delved deeper into her mouth, relishing in her taste, her warmth.
Absolute perfection.
There was no denying it. I was lost in her touch, like a man under a spell, and for a brief moment, everything around us stilled. The moment didn’t last long, but it gave me a much-needed reprieve. When I got back to the workroom, I sat down at my desk, and I was about to get to work when Big asked, “She okay?”
“Yeah, she’s good.”
Big knew me well, so I wasn’t surprised that he knew I’d gone to see Elsie. But Big being Big, he didn’t give me hell about it. He understood how I felt and left it alone. We both got back to work, and it wasn’t long before we started to compile an intriguing file of information—like the fact that he’d worked on a hundred or more cases but only made a handful of arrests.
I felt like we were on the right track when the workroom door flew open, and Stitch and Cotton stormed into the room. “Sorry, guys, but you’re gonna have to stop what you’re doing and pull up the camera feed.”
“Why?” Big asked. “What’s going on?”
“This is what’s going on.”
Stitch opened his hand, and the second Big saw the small camera resting in the center of his palm, he growled, “What the hell? Did you find that here?”
“Afraid so.”
“Where the hell was it?”
“At the front entrance,” Cotton answered. “We need to check the cameras and see if we can figure out who planted it.”
“That’s gonna take some time.” Big turned back to his computer and pulled up the security. “Any idea where we should start?”
“I figure we need to go back to New Year’s.” Stitch stepped closer as he said, “Need to see anyone and everyone who’s come in or out of that door.”
“That’s a high-traffic area, brother.”
“I’m aware, but it’s gotta be done.”
Big nodded, then started going through the feed. It was a slow process. There were hours on end of the footage, and it didn’t help matters that there was so much movement in that particular area. There was no missing the frustration in Stitch’s voice when he growled, “This is taking too fucking long.”
“Maybe there’s a faster way.”
“Whatcha got in mind?”
I stood and walked over to them as I said, “We don’t need to look through every second of footage. We just need to focus on times when outsiders are around, especially when they hit that front door.”
“Yeah, but we’ve already talked about this. We haven’t had any outsiders since New Year’s.”
“Do we know that for certain? Cause I have my doubts about it.” He shook his head as he grumbled, “Hell, we all know Rooster and the boys bring chicks over here all the time.”
“We won’t know until we know.”
We started going back through all the footage, only slowing down when we noticed anything unusual, but it was slow and aggravating. The tension in the room was growing by the second, and we were all about to reach our limits when I spotted Elsie in that damn mini-skirt and a long, cable-knit sweater. It was the outfit she’d worn on the night of her date.
I could still remember how pissed I was about the thing. I didn’t want her to go out with him. Hell, just the thought of it had me spiraling, but I couldn’t say shit about it. I hadn’t claimed her, and like it or not, she was free to see whomever she wanted. I watched as she made her way down the hall, and not long after, Rooster and I gave her and her date a hard time.
Rooster was reaming the guy pretty hard, and Elsie, too. They both looked pretty rattled. I almost felt bad for them, and then I noticed that he had his hand behind his back. I stepped closer as I told Big, “Go back a bit.”
“Why? Did you see something?”
“Yeah.” I pointed to the screen as I said, “Check out the guy’s hands. Is it just me, or is he up to something?”
“It definitely looks suspicious.” Big zoomed in, giving us all a better view of his hands, and there was no doubt that he’d stuck something on the wall. “I think we found our guy.”
“So, who is he?”
“Pretty sure he goes to school with her.”
“We’re gonna need more than that.” Cotton walked over and opened the door, then called out, “Yo, Torch. Go get Elsie. We need a word with her.”
As soon as he closed the door, Stitch turned to me and asked, “You gonna be good with staying for this or ...”