Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
“I’m in,” Luna said.
Harlow clapped. “Ohmigod, guys! That would be so helpful!”
“I need to talk to Eric,” I told them. “Henny’s home alone and I don’t want him home alone all day tomorrow. I’ll see if Eric can hang out while we do girl shit. Speaking of…” I looked to Alvarez, who was staring at all of us like we’d just beamed down from our spaceship. “Are we done here? I need to check on Homer and I got a new cat today, he’s home alone, and he needs his mommy.”
Alvarez didn’t answer my question.
He muttered, “I am so screwed,” got right up and walked right out.
A couple of minutes later, a uniform swung in to tell us we could go, and Eric and Cap were waiting to take us home.
By the by, on the way to go check on Homer, Eric confirmed that he’d look after Henny for me so I could help Harlow pack and then go look for nighties (I didn’t tell him that part, just said “shopping,” after which, even driving, his eyes glazed over).
Totally.
He was the best.
The second not-so-fun thing that happened didn’t last as long and wasn’t as annoying (though, it was close, with the annoying part).
What happened was, after we checked Homer was all right and got home to find Henny curled up in one of my throws, sleeping and clearly not traumatized by us leaving, Eric started breaking up the chicken in the Crockpot to get the tacos going, and thinking ahead, I changed into lounge pants.
I was walking down the hall when the hammering came at the door.
I headed toward it while Eric scowled at it, and I said, “One guess. Martha.”
I opened the door and immediately scooted back because my brother stormed in, followed by Javi, who was followed by Titus.
I shut the door behind Titus, looked to Eric and inquired, “Do you think there’s any point to that fancy, new security gate my landlord installed?”
It appeared Eric was trying not to laugh, but otherwise he made no reply.
Suddenly, I only had eyes for Jeff because he’d put the pads of his fingers of both of his hands to his forehead, snapped them out, and shouted, “Have you lost your mind!”
Henny’s head came up.
“Quiet down, you’re upsetting Henny,” I returned, going to my cat, picking him up, cuddling him to my face and cooing, “It’s all right, baby. Uncle Jeff is loud and mean, but we just ignore him when he gets that way.”
“Don’t turn your cat against me, Jess,” Jeff warned.
“Don’t come in here shouting at me, Jeff,” I shot back before I pulled out the big guns. “Or I’m showing him your picture, then taking away his wet food at least three times every morning to condition him to avoid you.”
“Stop joking around, this is serious,” Jeff said low.
I sighed, because sadly, he was right.
“Homer’s fine. We need to buy a couple of folks new tents because they got bullet holes in theirs. And everything else is copacetic. Chill.”
“Chill?” Jeff thundered. “Do you know what your band of badasses did to that crew?”
My eyes drifted to Eric who was calmly whipping up a batch of guacamole.
“I haven’t had a debrief yet. We just got home,” I said to my brother. “Do I care? The bad guys are out of commission. That’s kinda all I need to know.”
I glanced at Eric after I said that, and his attention was off the avocado and on me.
He winked.
My clitoris tingled.
I turned back to my brother to see Jeff was opening his mouth, but then Titus was there, stealing my cat from my arms while murmuring, “Give me this guy.”
I watched as Titus hoisted Henny up to his face, hot guy and cute cat went nose to nose, they came to an agreement, and then Titus cradled Henny in his arms, Henny blinked a few times, closed his eyes and started purring.
“Brother. Not cool. We’re barely in the door, and you made a play for the cat,” Javi groused as he made his way to a stool.
“Snoozing is losing,” Titus said as he went to my couch and assumed it like it was his throne.
“I have a feeling it’s good we cooked all four chicken breasts rather than just the two,” Eric muttered.
I had a feeling he was right.
“What are we having?” Javi asked.
He was right.
“Jess!” Jeff called my attention back to him.
“No, again, I don’t know what they did,” I snapped. “All I know is that all the people who were reported taken were found. Homer being one of them. And he’s back in his tent. He’s discombobulated, but he’s back where he feels a sense of rightness and purpose. And right now, that’s all I need to know. If Eric wants to tell me, I’ll listen. And that’s the end of it. So maybe now we can talk about how the Nightingale men asked for your help, and you refused it so you could horn in on the action…” I put a lot of weight in my pause before I finished, “Easy.”