Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 127941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
I glance up at Grayson who’s busily playing on his phone. “You can do background checks, right?”
He holds up the phone. “Already on it.”
Rachel looks between us, her brows furrowed and clearly wondering how the hell Grayson is capable of doing background checks on her patients.
“So, your number?” Corey continues.
There’s a short silence before Ember’s voice is lowered. “Where’s your phone? I’m Ember by the way. My friend, Winter, is in here somewhere. You haven’t seen her, have you? Hot as fuck with an attitude, probably giving the nurses a hard time.”
“Oh, yeah, I know the one,” he says, the amusement loud and clear in his tone. “You’re talking about the chick with all the dudes, right?”
“Sounds like my girl.”
“She’s in the room directly across the hall.”
“Thanks,” she says in a chirpy tone. “I uhh … I guess I’ll see you Saturday.”
“I guess so.”
There’s a long silence, but when Ember’s pretty face doesn’t show up in my doorway, I let out a groan. “EMBER, STOP HOOKING UP WITH THE PATIENTS AND GET YOUR ASS IN HERE.”
“WAIT,” a guy from down the hall calls out. “THAT HOT, LOST CHICK IS HOOKING UP WITH PATIENTS? CAN I BE NEXT?”
A long, familiar groan from across the hall sounds out before I hear a door closing. Two seconds later, Ember’s flushed face appears in the doorway staring back at me. “Seriously? Did you really have to ruin that for me? I was two seconds away from screwing the guy up against the bathroom door.”
Rachel clears her throat beside me, and Ember twists around, her face dropping in horror. “I swear, I’m not a whore,” she rushes out.
Rachel just rolls her eyes and walks out the door, pointing toward the small mini fridge that Cruz brought in here late last night. “There’s Jello-O and ice cream in there,” she tells Ember. “I have a feeling there will be none left by the time I’m kicking you out tonight.”
I can’t help but laugh. I think Rachel and I are going to get along just great.
The door closes behind her and Ember steps up to the end of my bed. “Seriously?” she grunts, her face a complete mask of disappointment. “You went and got yourself shot? Do you have absolutely no awareness of self-preservation?”
Grayson chokes back a laugh, keeping his eyes down at his phone to avoid my wrath. I glare at Ember, while also needing her carefree comments more than she could ever know. “Really? You think I went and did this on purpose. I mean, does ‘hey Carver, I’ve been dying to know what it feels like to get shot. Show me what you can do with that gun,’ sound like something I’d say?”
Ember laughs and walks around to the side of my bed, dropping into King’s favorite spot on my right. “I mean, there’s no telling when it comes to you. You’ve always been a little fucked up in the head.”
“Screw you.”
“No thanks, I have a new guy to screw on Saturday night.”
“You’re not going out with him,” I tell her, grinning at the disbelief crossing her face. “At least until we get a background check done on the guy. We don’t need a repeat of last time.”
“I was so close to tearing you to shreds just now,” she says, leaning back in the chair and propping her feet on the edge of my bed. “But you’re right. This world is already too fucked up to have to worry about new players in the game.”
“Tell me about it.”
“So, what’s the latest? Cruz said something about your mom, but like … she’s dead right? I mean, I don’t intend on being insensitive or anything, but I kinda thought that was a cold, hard fact.” She laughs to herself before her eyes go wide. “No pun intended.”
The door barges open and King, Cruz, and Carver come striding in, somehow making the massive room feel tiny and cramped. “We all thought she was dead,” King says, beating Cruz to the seat on my left, and leaving the boys to squish onto the couch beside Grayson.
I look to Cruz, knowing he’ll be the easiest to break. “So, what’s the plan? We need to somehow figure out where my mother is and find the motherfucker who set off a bomb during the ball.”
“Not to mention, some fuckwit head of Dynasty is responsible for the cyanide attack.”
Cruz shakes his head as King, Carver, and Grayson all look at each other with shifty eyes that makes me suspicious as fuck. “Babe, we’re not discussing this,” Cruz insists. “We can work out the plan and figure out all the bullshit in a few weeks. Until then, all we’re doing is waiting for your guts to heal. There’s no reason to put you at risk. It’s too dangerous.”
I shake my head. “Spill. What the fuck is going on?”