Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Bad.
“Fuck.”
Turning on my heels, I headed for the closed door, only just now aware that Rome and Liner had followed my stupid ass inside.
They moved out of my way silently, not saying a word.
But I’d caught the look on Rome’s face as I did and he wasn’t happy with me either.
My hands were shaking as I made my way out of that room.
What I’d heard would haunt me for a long time to come.
The moment that I was out of the surveillance room, my eyes scanned for her.
But…she wasn’t there.
***
Reagan
“You’re not acting like yourself,” my father murmured.
I shrugged.
I wasn’t acting like myself because I’d just had my heart ripped out of my chest and stomped on by the man I loved, but my father didn’t need to know that.
Why didn’t he need to know? Because I didn’t want him to hurt Tyler and he would.
My dad would do anything for me—as long as it didn’t hurt me.
And, to be honest, that would hurt me. Seeing Tyler hurt in any way, even if he deserved it, would break me.
“It’s okay, you know,” he murmured. “I realize something else happened, but you need to tell me, or I can’t fix it.”
I didn’t want him to fix it.
Honestly, I just wanted to eat my hamburger, drink my extra-large sweet tea and dip my fries in my milkshake while I ignored my troubles.
“You haven’t done that fry in the milkshake thing since you were a kid,” he said, watching me lift a fry, covered in strawberry deliciousness, up to my mouth and devour it.
I shrugged. “Sometimes one just needs comfort food. I feel like it’s the perfect way to commemorate getting arrested for the first time and, you know, losing the scholarship that was paying for my education so you didn’t have to.”
He winced.
“Don’t worry, Daddy. You won’t have to pay—I do have a job, after all,” I told him.
“I know,” he murmured. “But we had some money set aside for you for college. When you got the scholarship, we decided to just leave it there to pay for your wedding someday, but if you need it now, I’m more than willing to…”
He trailed off when someone caught his attention.
“What?” I asked.
His eyes went wide. “That’s Rome…Rome Pierce. He is…was…the tight end for Longview’s professional football team. Holy shit, he looks different.”
My mouth went up at the corners as I saw my father staring obviously at Rome as he walked across the room toward us.
I frowned.
What was he doing here?
“Shit,” my dad sighed. “I gotta go to the bathroom.”
Then he was up and moving, stopping in front of Rome as if he had every right to.
Then again, that was my dad.
He was larger than life—my own personal hero—and he didn’t see people as better than some or worse than others. He saw everyone as equals.
So, he’d see no reason at all that he couldn’t go up to a professional football player and ask him for an autograph, because in his mind, they were both just two men, one who played ball and one who was a cop.
Luckily, Rome felt the same way.
Even though I had a feeling he wasn’t here to sign autographs for my father—something that was proven correct moments later when he came to a stop next to our table.
Without asking, he took a seat and stared at me with unblinking eyes.
“You look like shit.” His words came out so softly, that at first, I didn’t understand them.
It didn’t take me long to process them and when I did, I remembered all over again why I looked like shit.
I hunched my shoulders and wished my dad hadn’t gone to the bathroom.
Keeping my mouth shut, I kept my eyes on my lap and refused to say anything.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out why he was there.
I had a brain, after all. After today, it may not have been as smart as it should be, but it was what it was.
“You did me a favor,” he murmured. “Now it’s time I do you one.”
I blinked.
“One thing you should know about Tyler,” he muttered. “He’s passionate.”
I snorted.
“Give me a minute.” He held up his hand. “And I’ll explain stuff to you.”
I waited.
Rome, just a few hours ago, was in the exact opposite position that I was now.
Plus, he’d been very careful about letting me finish, so I gave him the same courtesy even though I wanted to stand up and walk right out of there.
But even I wasn’t that stupid.
With Dusty out there, unaffected by what he’d done to me, there was no way in hell that I was walking out that door and into the open air without at least making sure that I had someone watching my back.
Dusty’s parting words to me were enough to make me freeze in terror: until next time.