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)
“He thinks I’m over-protective,” I shared.
A muscle jumped up his cheek.
Mm.
That was hot too.
“I can’t say I enjoyed tonight’s activities,” I told him. “But at least I know he’s okay, I got confirmation Mountain is impressive, I know where I stand.” I lifted my mug. “And I got cocoa.”
“Where do you stand?”
“Far out of my brother’s space.”
“Jess,” he growled.
FYI: I was falling deeper and deeper in love with his growl too.
Even so, I sighed.
“On the one hand, I see how he thinks my looking after him infantilizes him. On the other, he could just tell me that, not disappear for months only to arrange for me to be kidnapped and act like a dick.”
That muscle jumped again (and yes, this sitch was running rampant, because I was falling in love with that muscle jumping as well, especially since it indicated how he felt about me being jacked around, something I obviously wasn’t a huge fan of, and it felt uber-freaking-nice to have someone I cared about so openly giving a shit about me).
“Tell me about Mountain,” he ordered.
“He’s taller than Mace, bigger than any of you, and it’s all muscle, and he didn’t talk much. And I’ll repeat, he impressed me, and that wasn’t entirely about his muscles.” I thought about it and said, “There were at least two guys with him when he snatched me, one who dealt with Harlow, one who drove the car. I think Mountain sat beside me. Also, there was Jeff, obviously, who I don’t think was with them, but I couldn’t tell, because I was hooded.”
His black eyes suddenly blazed hellfire.
Yikes!
Wrong thing to say.
To tamp down the blaze, I hurried it along, starting with a question. “Didn’t Harlow say anything about them?”
“She reported she didn’t even get a first look. He pulled her away, and then he was smoke. Vaporized into the shadows. She said it lasted maybe ten, fifteen seconds, and in that time, she was neutralized, he was gone, and so were you.”
Okay, so maybe the Shadow Soldiers did know what they were doing.
At the very least, they had clean kidnappings down pat.
I returned to my report.
“I didn’t see the car, or either of the other guys. Just Jeff and Javi. Though, important to remind you, somehow they know I’m an Angel. I also was involved in my convo with my brother, so I stupidly didn’t take time to check out the apartment they took me to.”
“That apartment is Javier Montoya’s ex-girlfriend’s place.”
My brows rose. “Javier Montoya?”
“I didn’t connect with you this afternoon because we got a lock on someone who was willing to talk. Montoya is the product of an NFL offensive lineman’s affair with a woman who was not his wife. Because the man’s a motherfucker, he demanded a paternity test and probably breathed a sigh of a relief when the woman and her son started dropping on and off the grid when Montoya was six, and he no longer had an address to send child support to. Since the age of six, Montoya grew up either in shelters, or unhoused. CPS tried to take him from his mother several times, not only due to their living situation, but also because she has significant mental health issues. But he always ran away from his foster homes and found her. And twice, in his teens, he sprung her from state-run facilities that were nightmares and took care of her himself. In the end, they couldn’t find him, and it’s probably because he hid them both so they wouldn’t. Now his mother is in an expensive live-in facility with five-star amenities up in Flag courtesy of Montoya hunting down and then threatening his dad.”
I’d sensed I liked that guy. Good to know I had decent instincts.
Though, his life was heartbreaking.
“And he knows you’re an Angel because he knows everything that goes down on the street,” Eric finished.
Ah.
I slurped some cocoa.
Eric watched, and after I swallowed, he asked, “Have you eaten?
“Harlow and I shared some of Lucia’s nachos. Have you?”
“Grabbed a burger at Protein House.”
He was still holding my hand, but he’d stopped talking, I stopped talking, and this went on so long, it felt weird.
“Is something else up?” I asked.
“I didn’t connect with you because I was talking with an informant.”
“Okay.”
“Now’s the time when you share why you didn’t connect with me.”
Oh.
“Well, first, I was working. Then I was abducted.”
“Jessica,” he whispered.
“I thought you wanted space,” I said.
“If I want space, I’ll tell you I want space. If you want space, it’d be cool you return the favor.”
Hmm.
“Somewhere between gathering intel and getting a burger you could have dropped a line, Turner,” I pointed out. “We were both working that whole time.”
“I did drop a line. I texted you around the time you got off. That being five minutes before Harlow called Raye, who called Cap who was with me, and then we tracked your phone and went after you.”