Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Then Lemon asked a question I hadn’t been expecting. “Did you ever flush out the rat in your club?”
I sat on the bed with Lemon in my lap, my brows narrowing as I tried to see where she was going with this. “No. Crush and Byte have been working on it off and on for over a year. Since right before you came with Scarlet to pick up Sunshine and Rainbow. We’d kinda came to the conclusion Hammer was fuckin’ with her.”
“Are you sure? I mean, really sure? If this Gina wanted Hammer, maybe she’ll want revenge like he did.”
That pulled me up short. Surely to fucking God I wasn’t that fucking stupid. “No. No way. It’s not in her nature to even think about harming a child, let alone threaten or, God forbid, carry through.”
“That’s what I thought.” Lemon wiggled until she got out of my lap. I was so dumbfounded, I let her. “Take me to Effie. I want to see her and I want to talk to this Gina.”
I sighed. “The only reason you’re gettin’ your way this time is because I believe you have a good reason to be concerned. I think you’re wrong, but I’m willing to concede we hadn’t considered her as an actual suspect.”
“Why not?” The woman was determined. I couldn’t blame her. Scarlet was Lemon’s best friend. It was because of Lemon’s interference that Scarlet made it out of her situation alive. Lemon had proven many times over that she took friendship seriously.
“Like I said, it’s just not the way Gina is.”
“Whatever,” Lemon muttered as she shoved her feet into her flops. “Come on. Take me to Effie.”
Chapter Nine
Lemon
The visit with Effie went surprisingly well. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but the subdued young woman patiently looking after Effie wasn’t it. When we first got there, a man not much older than me opened the door. Rocket called him Byte. He didn’t talk much.
“Lemon!” Effie bolted from the couch and threw herself into my arms. I caught her, hugging her back, if a bit awkwardly. I wasn’t a hugger.
“Hey there.” I tried to put her down, but the kid wrapped her legs around my waist to go with her arms around my neck. She wasn’t getting down any time soon. “You OK?”
“Yes. I’m OK.”
“Good. That’s good.”
“Gina made me cheeseburgers. I ate three, and she didn’t mind!” The kid sounded so excited I couldn’t help but laugh. She reminded me of a younger version of Apple in a way, though I hadn’t been around her long enough yet to really know.
“Three? Where the fuck’d you put em?” I poked at her thin belly, trying to distract her from me dropping the F bomb. If I was gonna be ‘round her much, I’d have to watch that. Maybe. Fuck it. It was a fucking word. “There ain’t room in there for three cheeseburgers.”
Effie giggled as I tickled her lightly. “Are you taking me home with you now?” She looked up at me with big, trust-filled eyes. Like she fully expected that’s what would happen.
“Well, I thought you’d want to go home. You know. Back to your mom who says you need to read.” The second I mentioned Effie going to her mom, the girl’s face fell, and I knew I’d said the wrong thing.
“Uh, why don’t you go back to Gina, Effie,” Byte said. “She’s still got half the story to go.”
“But I wanna stay with Lemon.” Effie wrapped her thin arms around me once more. Tightened her legs too.
“How about this,” Byte said, meeting my gaze warily. “I need to talk to Rocket and Lemon. I’ll bring her back to you when we’re done. OK?”
Effie wrapped her arms tighter and whimpered. “I want Lemon.”
“Hey.” I turned my back so I faced away from Gina and moved away from Byte. At this point, I didn’t trust anyone. Well, except maybe Rocket. And that was a hard maybe.
“Look at me, Euphemia.” When her attention was focused solely on me, I spoke softly, for her ears only. “Did anyone here hurt you?”
“No.” She whispered. “But I think something’s wrong with Gina. I think she’s afraid of Byte.” Effie glanced around behind me. “But I like Byte. He’s nice.”
“OK. I have to talk to Byte and Rocket, but we’ll do it here. I’ll be just outside, then I’ll come back and get you. Can you let me do that?” She nodded. “Good. Go on back to Gina and let her finish reading your story. I’ll be just outside the front door. I’ll even stand in front of the window so you can see me.”
“All right.” She gave me one more hug, then climbed down and went back to Gina. Gina looked nervous, glancing from Rocket to Byte several times before her gaze darted back to me briefly. She shuddered slightly, then ducked her head and began reading softly to Effie.