Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 79020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
My situation here in Tennessee is slightly different, however. My knife skills have the ability to land me on death row, and that's of course something I'd really like to avoid.
"This isn't going to work out."
Silence fills the line. The man knows me well enough to know that it takes a lot for me to make such a confession.
"It's only been a few weeks," Hound says, his voice even and void of judgment.
"Jericho has cleared four cases. I'd like to walk away before I put Ace in a position to fire me."
"You're not there to compare yourself to any other person working on this team. It's an individual job, and Ace isn't going to fire you. You're working with him, not for him. Kincaid is still your boss."
"Do you know something I don't know?" I ask, suspicion in my tone.
"I know that you're good at what you do. I know as well as you do that there was going to be some adjustments with this new assignment."
I nod my head despite his inability to see me. We had several long conversations working through the pros and cons of joining this new team in Tennessee. I chose to focus more on the pros of leaving New Mexico than anything else, convincing myself that anything would be better than all the damn smiling faces and couples in love.
For the longest time, Kincaid thought Hound was planning on uprooting his family, Kincaid's daughter, and grandchildren, and moving them to Tennessee because Hound asked many questions in team meetings on my behalf because it wasn't something I could do myself. I'd rather rage and flip a table over than be put on the spot, asking questions in front of a group of people.
"You got this, Pax."
I hang up the phone without another word, and I know it won't irritate Hound the way it would most people. He understands a lot of the nuances of my behavior, and I think that's what drew me to him in the first place. Although he kept in touch and ultimately got me the job with Cerberus, we only had a couple of years together with him as my commander in the Marine Corps before he retired.
His plans took him to New Mexico to work with Kincaid, and it only felt right to join him there once I was done in the Corps.
I can't help but feel a sense of failure with how things are going right now.
Chapter 12
Zara
"You don't look very festive," Jersey says, his eyes turned down to his beer bottle as if the brown glass holds answers to questions he's afraid to ask.
"Figured a Santa hat wouldn't go over very well for anyone in here today," I mutter, my tone matching his.
"Sharon left me," he says, resignation in his tone. "Took the kids to her mom's house."
"Finally had enough of your shit, huh?"
I glare at Carlen, another regular to the bar, my eyes saying all the things I know my mouth never will. I may be the kind of person these people want to spill their secrets to, but I'm in no position to give advice, and I'd never voice my judgments even though they run on repeat in my head most days.
"Yeah," Jersey answers, no anger in his tone.
What stage is acceptance? I can't remember.
"Another beer?" I ask the depressed man because that's what I'm here for.
Once again he stares at the bottle, knowing it's probably the root of so many of his problems. I don't think Jersey is a bad man, but any wife and mother would have a problem with practically being a single parent because their spouse spends all their extra time and way too much money at the bar.
"Sure," he says, releasing the empty beer bottle so I can replace it with a fresh one.
"Edith swindle you into taking this shift?" Carlen asks. "She has worked it every year for as long as I can remember."
"I offered," I tell him with a shrug, wiping down the bar in front of him. "Figured she'd like to spend it with her grandkids."
"The ones she's always bitching about being ungrateful little shits?" he scoffs. "I bet she blames you for having a horrible holiday the second she's back on shift."
The idea of this makes me smile. Edith complains quite a lot, but I think it's just part of her personality. The woman never fails to make me laugh.
The front door opens up, pulling all of our attention, but instead of it being another regular here to drink their holiday sorrows away, Owen walks inside, his eyes locking on mine the second he spots me.
"Fucking great," Jersey mutters, but I ignore him.
Instead of giving Owen a hard time like I did last night, I pull a beer from the fridge and have it waiting on the bar before he can even sit down. He nods his head in appreciation, not bothering to look around the bar to see who else might be here.