Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
“I’m not sure I have any choice,” she bitched.
Eight smiled. “Good we’re on that same page.”
She glared at him.
Eight turned and said to the men, “Right, let’s get this shit rollin’.”
Hugger started to move to the door, which was through an opening that led to a room that had nothing in it but a long, white dining table (with blue upholstered chairs), a built-in bar and a glassed wall that held a walk-in wine cooler.
She clearly inherited that with the pad, because there wasn’t much wine in it.
“Hugger,” she called.
He stopped and turned to her.
“I’m starting dinner,” she stated. “We eat in an hour.”
Was she serious?
“If I’m not here, eat without me,” he said.
“And how’s Suzette going to get to know you if you’re not at dinner?” she asked.
Fucking hell.
“Like Eight said, I’ll be about an hour.”
“It’s rush hour now. That gets hectic in Phoenix.”
“Then make something that keeps warm, woman, ’cause I don’t have control of traffic.”
“Fine,” she snapped.
“Great,” he said. “Can I go now?”
She shrugged. “Sure.”
Christ, he wanted to bang her.
Shit.
He scowled at Eight, who grinned in return.
Then he got the fuck out of there.
4
LIKE THESE GUYS
Diana
“Oh my God, Diana, how could a completely untenable situation get more untenable?” Nicole demanded to know in my ear.
Yes, Nicole had once been my father’s PA.
Yes, Nicole had been the only one of them who’d achieved the aim of earning a ring and a trip down the aisle to exchange vows with a man who had no intention of keeping them.
Yes, Nicole had been Dad’s PA when Dad was still married to Mom.
Yes, in the beginning, this was a big issue for me.
And last, yes, Nicole had won me over along the way, because she was just that awesome.
Part of that awesome was owning her shit, learning life’s lessons when they slapped you across the face, sharing that knowledge and being there for me even, I hated to admit it, in the important times my mother wasn’t.
Like when I started my period, when I went on my first date, when I needed the perfect prom dress, and when my first boyfriend broke my heart.
FYI: all of that happened after Dad scraped her off.
Including, obviously, when she was there for me after I was sexually assaulted on a study date.
I lost Mom to Dad’s betrayal and her spiral afterward that she never pulled herself out of (and I could say that even if she currently lived what she took pains to show was an idyllic life in Idaho, though she was doing this with an alcoholic asshole who had a side coke habit and a Neanderthal’s take on the role of a woman in society—but he had money, Mom had three Birkin bags, so for her, it was all good).
But in all that, I gained Nicole.
I never tried to figure out if that balanced the scales.
It was just what it was: my life. So I lived it.
And in the end, Nicole always gave me the steady when I was never sure of my footing with a father who expected things from me I wasn’t certain he should expect, but nevertheless, I constantly fell short. Also, when I had a mom who I adored, but who my father broke beyond repair.
Needless to say, Nicole, who I told everything, was not a yay vote on me wading into Suzette’s situation.
And she was not a yay vote on all I’d just told her, including me visiting Dad for the first time in a decade by hijacking his office, me laying the unblemished truth on Janie, and me accepting the assistance of a bunch of bikers I didn’t know from Adam.
“You need to talk to that Detective Scott again,” Nicole advised.
“Suzette doesn’t trust him,” I reminded her.
“I’m sure the police know just how bad a man this guy is. They want him out of commission, and they’ll do everything they can to keep her safe so she can testify.”
“I agree. But she doesn’t trust them.”
“Diana…”
Uh-oh.
She said my name in that brace, I’m about to impart wisdom tone.
I was all in for wisdom, but sometimes getting it wasn’t a lot of fun.
“…I could verbally flay Nolan for hours for the way he mishandled what happened to you at school.”
Yep.
She was about to impart wisdom.
“But that can’t be changed,” she went on. “Not by him. And also, sweetheart, not by you.”
I was in my bedroom. I’d retreated there after the men left so I could call Nicole and get my head straight before I started dinner and tried to coax Suzette into coming out to help, even though Muzzle was still there, and then coax her to staying out when Hugger returned.
The thought of Hugger returning made a little happy wiggle dance in my belly, something I staunchly ignored.
To aid in that endeavor, I moved to the wall of windows that led to the small balcony, rested a shoulder against one, and stared unseeing at the courtyard.