Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
He looked at me pointedly.
Which, apparently, Cora missed.
“What’s that?”
I felt my lips twitching because I knew exactly what was coming next.
“SEAL,” I guessed as to what she was asking just as Luca said, “Navy SEAL training.”
Cora’s eyes widened. “You think you can be a SEAL?”
Then she burst out laughing.
I felt my lips twitching.
Luca only looked annoyed.
“I can be a SEAL,” he growled with a roll of his eyes. “You’re the only one who thinks I’m still a child.”
“Well…” Cora hedged. “You are kind of my baby brother. I’m allowed to think of you as such.”
True.
However, he didn’t look like her baby brother. He looked like a grown ass man. A man who was damn near just as intimidating as her father was.
If I hadn’t been who I was, a former drill sergeant and military man myself, I might’ve been intimidated by him.
All the glaring he was doing would’ve rocked someone else.
Not me.
But…somebody.
He’d make a good SEAL, despite what his sister had to say about it.
The drill sergeant that I would always be could see that kind of thing. When I came upon a batch of wanna-be soldiers, I could literally pick out the ones who wouldn’t make it. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I was right.
The other one percent were the ones that only passed because they hated me so much.
Which I counted as a win in my book.
And this young man had the determination that it would take to get through BUD/s training.
“Whatever you say.” Cora grinned. Then her eyes narrowed. “What’s Katy think about this?”
Luca looked away. “Let’s just say…she’s not happy.”
My brows rose. “Who is Katy?”
“Katerina,” Cora answered when Luca sighed in exasperation. It was very clear that he did not, under any circumstances, want to talk about this Katy girl. “My brother’s on again, mostly off again girlfriend. Apparently, they’re off at this point.”
My lips twitched, but I didn’t reply. I was hardly one to talk about the decisions one made regarding their love life. I’d made the completely wrong decision time and time again. The only right one I’d ever made was allowing myself to entertain the thought of Cora and me.
This kid, though? He looked fucked up. As if whatever was bothering him was something that cut him deep. This Katy chick was going to fuck him up while he was out there putting his life on the line. In high-risk jobs like the one a SEAL did, relationships tended to not work out.
I hoped that they were the one of the small percentage that did.
Just as I was about to bring up a different subject, my phone rang.
I looked at the phone and frowned.
“Who is it?” Cora questioned, catching the look on my face.
“The mechanic who pulls parts for me on the weekends, I had him take a look at a few trucks I picked up at the auctions,” I answered. “Give me a minute. He never calls unless it’s an emergency.”
Cora patted my thigh as I got up, and I walked to the kitchen and turned so that my ass was leaning against the counter.
“Hey, Joaquin, what’s up?”
“Yo, boss.” Joaquin hesitated. “I was taking a look at the trucks like you asked, and kind of got carried away and moved to the car in here, too. Whose car is that?”
I frowned.
“My girlfriend’s, why?” I asked.
He hesitated, and he was breathing really hard. So hard, in fact, that I could hear him fairly well despite the air compressor going in the background.
“Joaquin?” I pushed.
“I think…I think we need to call the cops.”
For Joaquin, who was a convicted felon, to say that I needed to call the cops…it had to be something huge. Fucking massive.
Because he wouldn’t usually be caught dead anywhere near a cop, the police department, or anything that even hinted at authority.
***
I had my arms crossed, and I was watching the bomb squad go into my place of business and remove what they suspected was a bomb from Cora’s car.
A. Bomb.
A goddamn, motherfuckin’ bomb.
What. The. Fuck?
What in the absolute fuck?
Needless to say, I was not in a good mood.
Cora, luckily, had stayed behind with her brother.
Though he’d sensed there was something wrong, he hadn’t objected to me asking him to hang with his sister while I went and took care of something at the yard.
Though I suspect if he’d known exactly what was wrong, he’d have come, and I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.
I’d called Gabe once Tyler Cree had taken a look at the trunk of Cora’s car, and now we were all waiting for the bomb squad from two counties over to take care of what everyone suspected was enough C-4 to blow the entire town sky-high.
“Who was the last person to have her car?” Gabe questioned.
“Me,” I answered. “I had it in the parking lot while we were at dinner. After dinner, Cora went home with your son while I took it over here. It was in the parking lot for about two hours. Parked in the very back of the lot next to a brick wall because that was the only place that I could find that would fit a truck and trailer as big as mine.” I paused. “And the trunk was empty when I put it on the trailer. I witnessed Cora cleaning it out myself, and transferring almost everything she had into the truck she just bought at auction.”