Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Incoming,” Athena muttered under her breath.
I looked up to see my brother storm inside the coffee shop and veer toward the table that Sheldon was occupying with what looked like other members of the SWAT team.
There was a certain face that was missing, and it made me both sad and happy.
I didn’t want him to hang out with those assholes.
But also, I would’ve liked to see him.
It’d only been a couple of hours, and I already wanted to see him again.
But not with Scott and Sheldon anywhere around.
Returning my gaze back to my table, I said, “What are you working on that you couldn’t talk until today?”
Her eyes dimmed. “I was trying to find out about my sister and work on my thesis.”
My stomach clenched any time she talked about her long-lost sister, and this time was no different.
“Any leads?” I wondered.
“No,” she fisted her small hands on the table.
Athena was bite-sized, as she liked to refer to herself.
Small in stature, big in attitude.
Her utter devastation had me shaking my head.
“I truly don’t understand you sometimes, Athena.”
Athena, my best friend in the world, rolled her head on the back of the booth and stared at me. “What do you not understand?”
“You have a genius IQ,” I pointed out. “Create an app. Have people upload their loved ones’ photos. Then use the photos uploaded to create what they would look like today. Then, you create a database of all the missing kids’ photos. Maybe you’ll start getting some hits that way.”
Athena was doing a project for her thesis.
Her thesis centered around missing children in America, and what could be done to help.
There was obviously more to it than that, but Athena had a vested interest in the topic because her little sister, Mary Beth, had gone missing at the age of five and had never been found.
It’d hit her especially hard after last year when her one and only surviving brother, Gavrel, had been killed in the line of duty with the Dallas Police Department.
“That’s very…” she scrunched up her nose. “Stupidly simple.”
It wasn’t simple for normal people.
But Athena was a genius, literally.
She’d gone to a school for genius kids. Had graduated high school at eleven. College at fifteen. She’d played around in the working field for a couple of years, then decided to go back to school for her master’s and graduated in a year. Worked more.
Got bored, switched jobs.
Which eventually led us to now, her getting her doctorate.
In the meantime, she was working as a dispatcher for Dallas Police Department because she thought it was fun.
Honestly, my best friend had the smarts to take over the world if she only wanted to.
“Then do it,” I suggested as the door opened, catching my attention.
That’s when the Carters stepped into the house.
My breath hitched, and my gaze went to them as they filed into the door, one by one.
The Roost was a popular coffee shop for cops because it was run by a cop’s wife.
She only served actual coffee in actual coffee cups.
She didn’t give discounts, and she had a time limit of thirty minutes that you could stay, unless you were a cop, or a cop’s family. Then you could stay there for two hours.
Athena and I liked it because it was hard to find good, normal coffee.
Others liked it because it was a good place to hang out near the police station.
That was a downfall for me.
At least, it used to be.
Now, knowing that the Carters came in? I might become more of a regular.
Quincy was first, followed by Atlas. Auden was behind Atlas. Gable, Garrett, Quaid, and Quinn followed up.
All of them went up, paid, and took up a large table right in the middle.
My eyes automatically went to the women who also had their eyes on the Carters.
“They sure do know how to draw the gaze, don’t they?” Athena murmured.
My gaze was settled on one Carter in particular.
And I knew he could tell he had eyes on him, because he kept his face downcast, and his eyes only on his brothers and not the room around him.
Though, I knew that he was very much aware of the people inside the shop.
He was just trying his level best not to attract any more attention than he was getting.
“You should go say something,” Athena whispered.
I was already shaking my head.
My bravado from yesterday was long gone. In its place was the girl who had trouble talking to any boy, even one who showed that he was interested.
“Did you give him your number?” Athena asked.
I was about to answer when there was a loud bang across the room.
I looked up and found that Scott and Sheldon were standing up, both of them with their eyes on me.
“Fuck,” I grumbled darkly.
The romance novel on the table between Athena and me started to feel like a chain wrapped around my wrist.