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)
“Maybe they have electric ones,” Harlow retorted.
It was hard, but I managed not to bust out laughing at the thought of an EV Hummer.
Personally, I didn’t care what it was.
We’d had three months of chill.
I was down with that.
Henny was settled in.
Eric and I were settled in.
I’d mastered the perfect burger (yes, the Dijon, Worcestershire sauce and garlic was the ticket).
Eric had heard through the grapevine that Savannah had abandoned her plans to open a restaurant in Phoenix, and even better, he hadn’t heard a single word from her.
Javi, Jeff and Cody were all deep into training with the NI&S team. And they’d also recruited Jacob.
Even so, men from the Denver team were still cycling through as they got the new guys trained, so we’d all come to know Lee, Luke, Vance and Hector, as well as their respective wives, Indy, Ava, Jules and Sadie, pretty well. Fortunately, Daisy also came down on the regular, as did Ally, Lee and Hank’s sister, and another Rock Chick. So we’d met Daisy’s hubby Marcus, and Ally’s man, Ren.
Shirleen and Moses had moved to the Valley of the Sun, and Moses had joined the team, taking over managing the control room.
Roam had found a pad, and he was all moved in too.
Tex and Nancy had sold their place in Denver, but as yet had not found a home to buy in Phoenix, because apparently, (always full of surprises) Tex was picky. This meant they, along with all their cats, were living with Mace and Stella, in the casita at their massive compound in Paradise Valley.
But even as awesome as all this was, we needed a case.
What could I say?
I hadn’t known him long, but I missed Titus.
And doing deeds to stop people from suffering was a serious high.
Raye swung into the storage facility.
But it was Luna who whispered, “Whoa,” when we all saw Shanti standing outside her car that was parked outside our units.
Raye parked bumper-to-bumper with her vehicle, and we all got out.
“Hey, girl,” Raye called guardedly to Shanti. “What are you doing here?”
Shanti looked confused. “I don’t know. You texted me and told me to meet you here. You said it was urgent.”
“I did?” Raye asked, which meant she did not.
Though, somehow, Arthur did.
Seemed we had a new recruit.
The question was…why?
We met up with Shanti and huddled around her phone.
Sure enough, there was a text from Raye asking her to meet us there. Urgently.
“Does this have to do with Willow?” Shanti asked.
Uh-oh.
“Willow?” Luna asked in return.
Shanti nodded, and it was then I remembered Shanti and Willow were super tight.
“She’s got a bad ex,” Shanti explained. “He’s a supreme dick. He comes and goes out of her life, leaving a mess in his wake. She hasn’t said anything, but she’s acting weird, so I think he’s back.”
We looked among each other.
“Has she talked to you guys about him?” Shanti asked.
“Ummmm….” Harlow didn’t answer.
No one else said anything because she hadn’t.
This lasted a long time, so to end it, I made a decision.
“Raye, open the door and let’s see what’s up. We can explain to Shanti after.”
“Good idea,” Raye said and turned to the lock.
She unlocked it, threw up the rolling door and hit the lights.
“Holy…what?” Harlow breathed.
None of the rest of us uttered a word or sound.
We just stared into the unit that had thick, white carpeting throughout. At the back, there were two gold standing lamps on either side of a curved red couch with black piping that faced a baronial black desk, which had one thing smack dab in the center of it.
An old-fashioned speaker.
The walls had been paneled and covered in wallpaper that was a swirl of red, pink, orange, and black on a white background, that would normally seem too much, but somehow, it totally worked. Though, the wall behind the desk had a large, built-in screen.
There was a delicate secretary desk angled toward the unit close to the door, on top of which was a keyboard, and in an arched display along the outer edges were four computer screens.
Opposite that, there was a life-size marble statue of a woman in a Grecian gown with two slits up her legs. She had gold leaves adorning the front of her gown and her hair. She had gold angel wings at her back.
But she was not angelic.
Exactly.