Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Why? So you can better imagine them later?” I stick my tongue out at her before sipping my latte. Sheesh, now it’s cold.
“Humor me.”
“Um, tall? Leather, denim, muscles. One was really big and another had a bunch of scars. The last guy had these really green eyes and was—”
“Missing his hand?”
I frown at her. “How would you know that?”
“Don’t turn around unless you want to find out.”
Crap.
Motion behind me reflects as a shadow at the edge of my glasses. I can sense them looming over me, even when I’m wishing as hard as I can that they’re not.
“These seats taken?” asks Alpha’s deep voice. It must be all that chest cavity to resonate through.
“Yes,” I say. I’m not going to have my comfort lunch ruined by these guys.
Nicky’s eyes are as wide as saucers, and if she wasn’t so loyal, I bet she’d already be pulling out the chairs.
Alpha flips a chair around and straddles the back of it as he sits. I make a point of not meeting his eyes, but Nicky is like a deer caught in his sexy headlights. She makes a tiny noise when the chair creaks under his weight. Ripper drops in on the other side, taking a seat between us. Blade remains standing behind him with his arms crossed over his chest.
“What are you doing here? I didn’t just mean out of my house, I mean out of my life.” I put so much frost into my voice that you could go ice skating on my words.
“Well, that wasn’t completely clear to me,” says Ripper with smooth confidence. He turns to Alpha. “What about you?”
“Can’t say that it was. We got off on the wrong foot and we’re sorry about that, honey. Let’s try this again.”
“Not interested.”
“Out of our hands” says Blade. “We’re here anyway.”
“Put it back into your hands!”
Ripper holds up his stump with a frown. “Is that a joke?”
“What? No! I—”
He cracks up. “That never gets old.”
“You are such an asshole.”
“I’m sorry. Humor is one of my coping mechanisms.” Ripper wistfully glances down at his wrist.
“I…”
“Stop riling her up,” Blade growls. “We’re not here to make fucking friends.”
Obviously.
I tease Nicky about her love of Romance books, but my own guilty pleasures are the ones with dragons, magic and elves sweeping innocent human princesses away on lusty adventures. It’s annoying that if you gave Blade pointed ears, he could cosplay as my current book boyfriend. Strong, but lean, with high cheekbones, long, lustrous black hair and deep, blue eyes. He’s even got the dangerous aura and holier-than-thou attitude down pat, but in the real world, it’s going to take more than great eyes to make me forgive him for jumping me in my bedroom.
“I’m Nicky,” my friend peeps up, looking back and forth between the three of them like a kid on Halloween who just found the house giving out full size candy bars.
“Alpha.” He puts out his hand and she takes it way too enthusiastically.
“I’m Ripper.”
Nicky moves to shake his hand, blushing as she has to switch arms.
Ripper winks. “Just a souvenir from my time in the Space Force. The globnark took my hand, but I’ve got its tentacle mounted over my bed. The buzzkill over there is Blade.”
Blade is standing too far away for a handshake, but he nods his head at her when she tells him hi.
I cut in before she gets completely fooled by their innocent smiles. “Seriously, I talked to Dad last night. I don’t care what’s in that box. Go home.”
Ripper leans in, capturing me with those brilliant green orbs of his. Pure steel hides behind the sparkle of humor he holds up as a distraction. “Sorry, sexy. We’re here until we know you’re safe.”
Nicky practically melts in her seat. “Is Faith really in danger?”
“Yeah, from them,” I grumble.
Alpha shakes his head. “I don’t blame you for not trusting us, but we aren’t the bad guys here.” He puts his elbows on the table and leans forwards, putting his burly shape way too close for comfort.
“Oh really? If you aren’t, then who is?”
“Do you really want to know?” Blade asks coolly. “Or will you be happier letting us get our hands dirty while you pretend to not be a part of it?”
“Look, here’s the fucking deal,” says Alpha. “I bet it seems unfair, but you’re neck deep in a shitty situation right now and we’re here to make sure you don’t drown in it. Giving us the tape isn’t enough. We’re not going any-fucking-where, whether you like it or not, so get used to us.”
I wait for Ripper to crack a joke, but he’s nodding along. As much as I want to hate him for it, I know Dad wouldn’t suddenly send a trio of bodyguards if something hadn’t changed. Something to do with the patch on that jacket that dragged my nightmares straight back to when I was an innocent kid—or as innocent as a ten-year-old growing up in club culture could be—and my whole life changed.