Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
“And crazy.”
Amon has always liked Lowyn. Maybe he even had a crush on her back in the day. But she was so out of his league back in high school. Smart Lowyn. Goal-oriented Lowyn. They would’ve never worked.
Amon’s never going to date Lowyn, but still. I’m not gonna stand around and listen to him compliment her. I slam the bathroom door and turn the shower on. I hate motel rooms. I’m already in a bad mood from the whole wake-up confrontation and the thought of spending another day in this room is turning my sour mood into something more like pissed off.
We’re here for a reason and I want to get on with it.
Just as I take off my shirt Amon knocks on the door. “What?”
“Bryn’s outside. She wants to talk to you.”
I open the bathroom door and peek my head out. “How did she even know where to find us?”
Amon smirks. “Guess we know Rosie Harlow hasn’t changed.”
“Tell her I’m in the shower. I don’t need a lecture from Bryn.” I close the door on Amon, strip off the rest of my clothes, and walk under the hot water, trying to put Lowyn McBride’s face out of my mind.
What is she doing? And how come no one told me that she bought our old house? I haven’t seen my parents in over a decade. I haven’t even talked to them in eight years. I knew they sold the house because that’s what we fought about the last time I called them up. But we fight about everything.
Yes, I was pissed when they said they were moving to Florida and if I wanted any of my old shit, I needed to come home and pack it up. Which wasn’t even possible because I was guarding a sheik in Saudi Arabia at the time. We had just made a twelve-day trip through the fucking desert—by camel—to get to this throwback fucking oasis that didn’t even come with a road.
It was Christmas and I had my satellite phone, so I figured, Meh, yeah. I’ll call the parents. Wish them happy holidays and all that shit. Be a good son.
What a joke. Less than five minutes into the convo my daddy was screaming at me, my mama was crying, and I was just way too tired to deal with the news that my entire childhood was about to be packed up and donated to Goodwill.
I actually scoff. Because obviously they didn’t pack it up. They sold it to my ex-fucking-girlfriend.
I’m the bad son. The black seed. The offspring they probably wish they never had. Especially when you compare me to my little sister, Olive. She’s everything I’m not—honest, dependable, friendly, and obedient. The perfect daughter.
I like Olive. Hell, she is my sister so I love her, of course. But she’s nine years younger than me so we never did get to that ‘friend’ stage before I left to join the Marines. I haven’t seen her since she was kid and even now, at twenty-two, she’s still too young for me to have anything in common with. The last time we spoke she was in the middle of her freshman year of university and all she wanted to talk about was frat parties and spring break.
Having never gone to university myself, I couldn’t relate. And since Olive doesn’t know the first thing about elite private security, she can’t relate to me either.
Of course, this isn’t anything new. There aren’t many people anymore who can relate to me.
Just the guys I’m here with, really.
They’re all I have left.
When I come out of the shower wrapped in a towel, Amon is gone, and my bad mood is blossoming into anger.
Lowyn. I almost growl her name in my head.
I grab a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from my duffle on the floor and throw them on my bed. Then I light up a smoke and take a seat at the small table and chairs next to the window, kicking back and stretching my legs out as I pull the stiff blackout curtain aside to check the parking lot.
My eyes wander to the clock next.
I’ve got another twenty minutes to waste.
I’m waiting on Grimm to call me about a deal we’re making. He and I used to be good friends all growing up. Boy Scouts, Midget Football, Little League and finally Eagle Scouts and varsity for both sports. We did all the things. Aside from my eclectic taste in Seventies rock and vintage Jeeps, I was the most disgustingly perfect kid you’d ever meet.
And then… well, New Year’s Eve happened. That one night changed me forever.
Amon and I weren’t actually friends until we joined the Marines together that same year. By the time we were both dishonorably discharged two years later I already knew my old family didn’t exist anymore.