Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“That is… very unexpected,” I decided.
“Strong, don’t-need-no-man, gorgeous heroines. Dumbass guys who push their buttons. Loads of tension and comedy. Sex. A happily-ever-after. What’s not to love?”
“Well, when you put it that way,” I said, making my way over toward the couch. “This looks like a teenage girl’s sleepover,” I told him as I moved several unnecessary pillows, then pulled one of the blankets over my legs.
“By all means, if you want to invite your friends over. In their silk pajamas. And have a pillow fight…”
“Typical guy,” I said, whacking him in the face with a pillow.
Sully reached for the remote.
“Brooks is gonna be fine,” he said, voice uncharacteristically serious for just a second before he started to talk about the options we had.
He was good company with his thrown back head laughs, his groans when the characters did something stupid, and his amazing ability to pick out junk food.
I almost forgot that I was supposed to be worrying myself sick about Brooks’s absence.
Especially as the third movie started, and I realized Brooks had been gone at least three hours. If not much longer, since I didn’t know exactly when I’d gone to sleep.
Just when I was starting to lose hope, my mind racing with things like needing to call out of work, or the possibility of losing the last person in the world who felt like home to me, I heard the slam of several doors, making my heart soar up into my throat.
I was out of my seat and on my feet before I even knew what I was doing, the blanket pooling around my feet.
Then, like a dream, Brooks walked in, his whole body tense, his jaw granite, his eyes hard.
I was running toward him before I could even assess the situation.
His hands shot up.
“Stop.” His voice had a sharp edge to it, making me stop mid-stride, my stomach twisting. “I need you not to touch me right now,” he said, voice careful.
“O…kay,” I agreed, trying not to feel like his words and demeanor were slicing into me.
“I need an hour,” he said. Then his gaze cut to Sully. “You. SUV.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but Sully jumped into action.
“Nice hanging with you, pretty girl. But duty calls.”
With that, he was gone as Perish and the twins moved in behind Brooks.
“Showers,” Brooks told them. “Leave the clothes on the shower floor. Scrub under nails. Scrape every inch of skin.”
The men nodded, moving off to do just that. And it was right then that I realized none of them were wearing shoes.
It didn’t take much deducing to realize the shoes were left outside because they might contain evidence on them. And Brooks didn’t want anyone trekking that through the clubhouse.
“Brooks…”
“Baby, I promise. I will talk to you. I just… can’t right now.”
This wasn’t Brooks, the guy I’d had a crush on. Or the Brooks I’d fallen in love with.
This was a side of him I’d never seen before.
This was Brooks, the outlaw biker.
I probably shouldn’t have found it as hot as I did right then.
But, well, he was all bossy and sure of himself.
It pulled at something primal in me.
“Fuck, Cal. Don’t look at me like that right now.”
“I can’t help it. Bossy Brooks is hotter than I could have realized.”
“Baby, shit went down tonight.”
“I… gathered that. By the whole shoeless thing and leaving the clothes in the shower thing.”
“You’re not disgusted by me?” he asked, tension vibrating through him.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I think… I imagined it was always going to end this way,” I said, spotting dark splashes of blood at the hem of his shirt.
“I need to deal with this,” he said, waving at it, having caught me staring.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll be here,” I said, waving toward the couch I’d just abandoned.
Not following him into the bedroom took a lot more self-control than I could have anticipated.
“You okay?” Nave asked, coming out all bleary-eyed. Someone in the clubhouse had gotten some sleep.
“I, ah, yeah.”
“Thought you were having a movie night with Sully.”
“He’s… cleaning the SUV,” I said.
At that, Nave’s eyes cleared. “Right. Right. I’m gonna see if he needs some help,” he said, disappearing into the garage.
It struck me then just how organized they were. How they all knew what to do in a… situation like this.
How often did it happen?
Revenge?
Assault?
Murder?
Perhaps those were the kinds of questions I should have asked Brooks before I went and fell for him all over again. Because it was far too late now. There was no going back.
So I sat there, listening to the far-off sounds of water splashing in showers down the hall and the hum of a vacuum in the garage.
Brooks emerged, making my heartbeat trip.
But he didn’t come to me. He had a black bag trailing behind him, and he made a beeline to the prospect room. He came back out a moment later with the bag fuller than before, heading down into the basements where, I imagined, he was throwing the clothes in the wash.