Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Julia Ennis had been Kyle’s CIA partner. Because very few people in her family actually did real military time. Nope. They found out someone was connected to Ian Taggart and got the Agency invite real damn quick.
She was counting on it.
“I don’t understand the connection. Is she an old girlfriend? I asked Dad and he said it was classified.”
It was always good to have intel. Her parents had taught her information was a form of currency. Of course, she would never use it against Coop. She gave him everything for free. “He worked with her when he was with the Agency. From what I’ve pieced together she was actually a double agent for this group called The Consortium. They work for really rich people. Like an Illuminati organization. Anyway, Kyle found out and tried to kill her, but he didn’t do a great job. He also asked her to marry him, but that was before he found out she’s a traitor.”
“Shouldn’t she be hiding?”
Kala shrugged. Who knew why psychos did the things they did? “I think she’s doing what abusive shit men do. I think she believes Kyle belongs to her, and no one else can have him. Huh, when you think about it, it’s kind of feminist.”
Cooper’s eyes rolled. “No, it’s criminal. Kyle loves MaeBe. I think if he tried to kill this Julia person, she should want to break up. She sounds…intense. I feel bad for your cousin.”
Something seemed to be making him anxious. “Our dads will take care of it. I’m pretty sure Kyle’s moved Mae into the club. They’ll be safe there while the ’rents work things out.”
“Sometimes I think there’s not a lot to work out,” Coop said enigmatically. He looked over the pool, the ghostly lights making him seem oddly distant. “Sometimes it doesn’t work and you have to make the choice to save yourself.”
The last thing she wanted was distance between them. Distance wasn’t what tonight was about. She moved into his space the way she’d seen her mom do to her dad a million times, putting a hand on his chest. “What’s wrong? Did something happen today? We don’t have to worry about my cousin and MaeBe. Dad won’t let anything happen to them. He likes Mae and he always tells me no matter how dumbass a family member is, it’s still our duty to ensure they don’t die.”
There was something grim about Cooper, but she could ease whatever was making him worry. She might think her parents going to a sex club every Saturday night was gross and unbecoming to persons of their advanced age, but they’d taught her how to take care of the people she loved.
He sighed, and his hand came up to cover hers. “Nothing really happened. I had practice and then I went to the movies with Mom and Hunter and Vivi. Dad was working on something at Sanctum. I’m pretty sure it’s the Kyle/MaeBe problem.”
Their dads had been close since they were kids. Alex McKay had been Ian Taggart’s best friend for the majority of their long lives. It only made sense she and Cooper would form an attachment—different but every bit as meaningful.
He was so gorgeous. It made it hard for her to focus. But she was a woman on a mission. She stepped back, sitting on the chaise lounge and leaving room for him to join her. It was a breezy night, a hint of fall in the air. Homecoming was a couple of weeks away, and this year she wasn’t going with him as a friend. “I’m sure the screwed-up Kyle situation is part of it, but my dad headed out with his tool kit, so something broke down. Dad likes to multitask when he can. I’m glad he has your dad since he’s not actually great at fixing things.”
Killing things was an entirely different story. Her dad was great at that, hence the possibility of the body under the pool.
One day she and Coop would have a place to bury their own bodies. Not their own own. The bodies of the people they were forced to take down in the course of their exciting careers as international superspies.
Unless, of course, Coop ended up playing pro sports, and then she would have to figure something out because she wasn’t going to be apart from her husband for weeks at a time. He was the only person in the world she would give up her plans for. She’d come to accept he was the dream. Turned out for all her smarts and surly demeanor, she was just a girl who loved a boy.
Coop sank down beside her. “You don’t want to go in?”
Usually they ended up in his room, playing video games and listening to music or watching movies on his laptop and making out. It was how they’d spent every Saturday night for the last three months. It had been perfect and she cherished it, but it was time to move the relationship forward. High school would be so much easier once she and Coop settled things between them. “I do, but I thought we should talk first.”