Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“That’s a good idea,” she decided, pulling away, but doing it so slowly that I knew she didn’t want to. “After Daphne is… better. I think I might have Britney take her home after school for a while. Just for my peace of mind.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
“I don’t want her to be afraid to be home alone. But… I mean… who can blame her right now?”
“Mom?” Daphne called as a nurse moved back into her exam room, making Sabrina rush away again.
I’d been right about it being several hours later before anyone was even drawing up the discharge papers.
Daphne was sitting off the side of the bed with her new light pink cast, her legs dangling, bare feet swinging impatiently.
“Gonna see if I can get you some slipper socks,” I told her.
By the time I came back with them, the girls were ready to get going, clearly sick of being in the hospital.
“Do you want to drive?” Sabrina asked.
“Sure,” I agreed, still having the keys in my pocket anyway.
I stored the wet clothes in the floorboard of the passenger seat as Sabrina climbed in the back with Daphne.
The tension grew in the car the closer I drove to their apartment building.
In the lot, I found that Sully had someone else come and pick him up, leaving the club’s SUV for me.
“You went kayaking?” Daphne asked, looking at the roof.
“In the bay,” Sabrina confirmed. “Then had a picnic on a small private little island.”
The look on Daphne’s face said she was sorry to have interrupted. As if that shit was her fault.
I got out first, going into the SUV to find a big plastic container full of the supplies I’d asked for. And then some. As well as the SUV’s keys.
With that, we moved in a unit into the building, both the girls tense until we got into the apartment.
“Is that fingerprint powder all over?” Sabrina whispered to me after she got Daphne all set up in her room.
“Yeah. They don’t clean up their mess.”
“Do you think they will find them?”
“If they are any sort of lifetime criminals, leaving fingerprints would be amateur,” I told her. “But anything is possible. The ballistics on the spent bullets might come up with something too,” I said, wanting to give her hope.
“What am I supposed to do about the glass?” she asked, looking at the doors to the balcony where two small holes were now shot through the panes.
“For tonight, I can slap some packing tape on it. But I will call someone to come in and replace it as soon as possible. You okay?” I asked when she just stared at me.
“I… yeah,” he said, clearly wanting to keep her thoughts to herself. “Do you need any help?” she asked, nodding toward my pile of supplies.
“Nah. I got this. Wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee, though,” I said, looking out the window. Dawn hadn’t snaked across the sky yet, but it was only maybe an hour or so away.
“Me too,” she agreed, looking at the clock.
“What time do you have to leave?”
“I’m going to call in late. See if I can get in touch with Britney first. Have Daph spend a mental health day at their house. She can go back to school on Monday.”
I would have offered to watch her myself, but from the way it sounded, that Britney woman would definitely do it. And Daph would likely be more comfortable there.
So I got to work on the new locks on the door.
By the time I had a deadbolt and a chain attached, a door alarm set, a camera installed outside of the door, the ladder set up in a case on the balcony for easy access, and had given Sabrina a crash course in how to use the pepper spray and taser, the sun was bright in the sky and Sabrina’s friend was calling her back.
“All set?” I asked when she finished talking.
“She and Sam are both on their way over. They will sit with Daphne until she wakes up then take her to their place for me.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I agreed.
“Callow… I don’t know how to than—“
“Don’t have shit to thank me for,” I cut her off.
“I’ll pay you back for—“
“The fuck you will,” I said, making a strangle little tinkering laugh escape her.
“Okay then,” she agreed. “Maybe we can bake you some cookies as thanks,” she said.
“I won’t turn down cookies,” I said, getting a smile out of her as she walked toward me, wrapping her arms around me with the ease that came surprisingly naturally to her.
The way my arms went right around her too? Yeah, that felt natural as fuck too.
We stood there just like that until there was a knock at the door that had us breaking apart.
“That’s them,” Sabrina said, slowly pulling away from me to go open the door for them, remembering just in time to turn off the alarm first.