Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
“Sorry I didn’t ask for permission,” I muttered, busted.
He watched me. “Tell me it wasn’t the eight-foot ladder.”
“It wasn’t the eight-foot ladder,” I lied.
A big hand went to his face, and he swept it down over his chin before aiming an eyeball at me as the song inside the garage changed and Amos started playing something different, something I didn’t recognize. Slow and moody. Almost dark. I liked it. I liked it a lot.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you a one-star review or anything over it. It was my fault,” I tried to joke.
Two irises the color of a Weimaraner bore into me.
“I was joking, but really, it was my fault. I didn’t know I was scared of heights until I got up there and….”
He tipped his head to look at the sky.
“Mr. Rhodes, you made my whole day being worried, but I’m sorry I was snooping around your property and didn’t ask for permission, but I haven’t slept a full night in two weeks, and I didn’t want my screams to wake you up anymore. But mostly, I don’t want to sleep in my car again.”
He gave me a side look, and I couldn’t help but laugh, pain forcing me to stop almost immediately. Jesus Christ. How did boxers handle this shit?
His look went nowhere.
And that look made me laugh more, even though it hurt.
“I know it’s stupid, but I just keep picturing it landing on my face and….” I bared my teeth.
“I get the picture.” He dropped his head and his hand. “Where’s this bat house at?”
“In the studio.”
Those gray eyes were back on me. “When he’s done, put it in the garage.” That full mouth twisted to the side. “Never mind, I’ll bring it down when you’re at work, if you’re fine with it.”
I nodded.
“It’ll be too dark today by the time Am is done, but I’ll put it up next chance I get,” he went on in that serious, level voice.
“Oh you don’t need to—”
“I don’t need to, but I will. I’ll go in there and see what I can caulk too. They can squeeze through the smallest gaps, but I’ll try my best.”
Hope rose up inside of me again.
My landlord leveled me with an intense gaze. “You won’t get back up on that ladder, though. You could’ve fallen, broken a leg. Your back...”
He was such an overprotective dad. I loved it. It only made him that much more good-looking to me. Even if he did have that scary serious face. And he didn’t really like me.
But I still squinted. “Are you asking me not to get back on it or telling me?”
He stared.
“All right, all right. I won’t. I was just scared and didn’t want to bother you.”
“You’re paying me rent, aren’t you?”
I nodded because, yeah, I was.
“Then it’s my responsibility to take care of things like that,” he explained steadily. “Am said he thought he saw you sleeping in your car, but I thought he was imagining it and you were drunk.”
I scoffed. “I told you, I don’t really drink that much.”
I wasn’t sure he believed me. “I’ll get it taken care of. If there’s another problem with the studio, tell me. I don’t need or want you suing me.”
That got me to frown… even though it hurt. “I would never sue you, especially not if it was me being stupid. And no one-stars either.”
Nothing.
And here I used to think I was funny. “I’ll tell you if I have any more problems with something inside the house though. Pinky swear.”
He didn’t look all that amused by my offer of a pinky swear, but that was okay. What he did do was nod just as Amos’s voice came through the opened garage door and carried outside. The boy crooned, not all that quietly before he seemed to catch himself and lower his volume.
And I couldn’t help but whisper, “Does he always sing like that?”
He raised one of those stern, thick eyebrows. “Like he’s had his heart broken and is never going to love again?”
Did he just… joke? “Yeah.”
He nodded.
“He’s got a beautiful voice.”
That’s when he did it.
He smiled.
Proud and wide, like he knew just how beautiful of a voice his child had and it filled him with joy. I couldn’t blame him; I would feel the same way if Am was my kid. He really did have a great voice. There was a ring to it that sounded timeless. The rarest part about it was that it was a lot lower than a boy his age usually had. It was easy to tell he’d had some kind of vocal training because he could project… when he forgot to be quiet.
“He doesn’t know it either. He thinks I’m lying when I tell him,” my landlord admitted.
I shook my head. “You’re not. He gave me goose bumps, see?” I lifted my arm so he could see the little pebbles that had set up shop under my skin. My shirt gave him a clear view of my entire arm. I’d forgotten I was wearing a spaghetti strap tank top that showed off a whole lot of cleavage—all of it. Okay, it was all of it. I hadn’t planned on seeing anyone the rest of the day, but Amos’s voice had been the pied piper to get me out of the garage apartment.