Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Alice’s eyes sprang to him. “I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?”
McKees pointed at Jaycee. “She charged me double for gas. And it overdrew my account. I’d like a refund, today, and a promise to pay the overdraft fee.”
McKees kept only so much in his bank account. He was a weirdo who thought banks were evil—I was fairly sure that he’d hidden his millions somewhere in his backyard—and he went out of his way not to put too much cash in there.
Hence the overdraft fee.
“Oh.” Alice shook her head and went behind the counter.
It took her ten minutes to fix everyone’s problems and start pumping gas in the middle of it.
All the while, Jaycee played on her phone in the corner of the room as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
I sent a quick text to Etienne, explaining the situation, and got a reply back that made me snort.
Etienne: She’s a little bitch. I’ve had the displeasure of meeting her twice now. I’d go out of my way not to have to talk to her ever again.
Etienne, along with KD, Bain, Aodhan, Wake, and Kobe, had turned into the greatest of friends ever since we had each other’s backs in prison.
It was funny how Wake, Bain, Aodhan, and I had found each other in prison. What were the odds that all of us would get anywhere around each other? I mean, it was weird that we formed a bond so tight because we lived so close to each other before prison.
It is never a coincidence.
My mom’s words in my mind made me sad.
I missed her every day.
I missed all of my family, actually.
I missed them so much that sometimes, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
But the Gator Bait MC—a group of bikers that had formed an unorthodox motorcycle club due to Wake’s wife, Dutch, making us cuts with the MC’s name on it—had picked up the slack where my family left a void in my heart.
“Your food is free today,” Alice said to the last person that was in line before me.
“Thanks,” the man muttered and headed out with his bait and his Red Bull.
Alice’s gaze finally turned to me.
She saw the bait in my own hands and the Dr Pepper, and shook her head. “You shouldn’t drink Coke so early in the day.”
I jerked my head toward the guy that just left.
“That guy is drinking a Red Bull, and you didn’t say anything to him,” I pointed out.
Alice rolled her eyes, then hit the enter button before reading me my total.
“You didn’t charge the guy before me,” I indicated. “And I’ve been waiting just as long, if not longer.”
“I don’t dislike the other guy,” she pointed out as she took the twenty-dollar bill I was holding out to her.
She quickly made change with the twenty, then held it out to me.
I grinned at that and pocketed the change she handed me with a scowl.
Shit.
She was cute.
Her eyes narrowed at my look, and I could see the wheels turning in her head.
Why is he smiling at me like that?
I gathered my belongings and jerked my head toward her sister.
“One hundred percent, I can’t stand her,” I said. “The guy I was standing with when you came out here? McKees? He’s an ex-therapist. He agrees with you. Though he had a much fancier word that he used.”
Her head tilted as she looked confused for a few seconds. “What?”
“Weaponized incompetence,” I said. “Her acting like she has no idea how to do it. That’s what she’s doing, or the more PC—politically correct—term. She’s doing it on purpose because she knows that you’ll always come and fix it for her.”
She sighed. “Joke’s on her then. I’m about to call my dad and tell him exactly what happened. He promised me this wouldn’t happen. He said she could handle it when I went full-time last week. And seriously. A call with the mayor. I can’t believe she would do that.”
The mayor she was on the phone with had to be the one in Accident, not Blue Ridge. Because Blue Ridge didn’t have a mayor, the last I was aware.
Blue Ridge was about forty minutes down the coast from Accident, where I now lived. Yet, I drove this way every day for work, and at this point, I should’ve just found a place to live here.
I was already using an old houseboat as an office base.
Hell, it was big enough to live there, and I’d save about five hundred bucks a month on the rent of a room. The rent of a room that was shared with two other men—Kobe and KD.
Though, I rarely ever saw any of them due to the hours that I kept. I had enough time to drive home at night, crawl into bed, get up in the morning, shower, and head back out.