Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 145088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“I don’t want anything enough to build my self-worth on it.”
That hurt more than Dex’s bleeding cheek. Maybe because it cut too close to home. “You sure you’re not compensating with that massive sledgehammer?” he snapped back, because his patience had reached the gutter.
“You’ve seen for yourself that I don’t need to compensate,” Hammer said with the same infuriating calm as before. What the fuck was up with this guy and why did Dex still find him so hot? The saddest part was that if Hammer pushed Dex’s head down to his crotch right now, bleeding face and all, Dex would happily open up his throat. If he were to go back in time, he’d probably fall for Hammer’s lies all over again just because he wished for them to be true.
He glanced at Hammer. “You definitely don’t. Are we back to flirting?”
Hammer glared at him, and his dimples deepened as he grimaced. “Will you shut up if I take you to a doctor?”
Dex’s heart skipped a beat and he nodded without a single word.
Chapter 5 – Hammer
Hammer’s day had so far gone as smoothly as a slog through a flooded sewer, but with the pictures of Ryker’s doom zipped into his inner jacket pocket, he was able to relax a little bit. Despite his general dislike of Ryker’s entitled behavior and laziness, finding out the disgusting truth about him did not bring Hammer any joy. But the physical proof of those transgressions might just be his key back to normal life, and he had Dex to thank for it.
His gaze darted to the boy’s shoulders as the two of them climbed the staircase of the modern apartment building with a facade covered with wooden planks that would go gray and ugly within a few years’ time. Dex was still a kid, and he sure acted like one, spurred on by whatever impulse was strongest at any given moment, but he had proven himself useful, was a good sport about being abducted, and while Hammer didn’t want to show weakness by thanking him for the polaroid pictures, he knew he should have.
“The lady who lives here will do us a favor so play nice,” he said as they reached the third floor and walked down the hallway, toward door number fifteen.
It would be nice to have Dex calm down about the stupid cut, but Hammer was here to kill two birds with one stone. A doctor did in fact live here, but so did her sister, Stefani. It wasn’t as though Hammer was obsessed with her or in love, but it had been hard enough to establish an ongoing thing, and losing it felt like yet another nuisance. He didn’t want a bitter ex spreading rumors about him either, because those could spiral out of control and scare off potential hook-ups.
“No hospital then?” Despite Hammer’s promises, Dex sounded less than happy, but his expression was hard to read through all the dried blood, and Hammer wasn’t about to dab at him with a tissue. That would have been… too intimate.
“You don’t need a hospital for a cut this small. The lady is a real doctor anyway,” Hammer said and pressed the doorbell. It rang on the other side, and he glanced at Dex, suddenly realizing his companion had hands cuffed at the front of his body. Fuck.
A part of him considered taking off his jacket and hanging it over the bound wrists, or using the bandana, which was still damp from serving as a gag, but both would have been suspicious anyway.
The soft creak of wood came from the inside, and he did the only thing that came to his mind—stretched his firm body by resting his elbow on the doorframe.
Dex looked at him from top to bottom, then cocked his head. “Are you… posing? Is the doc your girlfriend?”
Heat burst into Hammer’s face. “Shut up,” he said as the door unlocked and opened, still secured with a chain, revealing Stefani’s big brown eye lined with dark eyeshadow.
Her long eyelashes fluttered and she was about to slam the door in their faces before Hammer could get a word in, but he’d anticipated this and shoved his steel-capped boot in to stop her.
Stefani’s nostrils flared, and she showed more of her face in the gap. Her pretty lips curled in a snarl. “Get out, or I’m gonna scream. And who is that?” She pointed a long nail at Dex.
The kid smiled but with the blood covering his features like a fucked-up beauty treatment made his even, white teeth stand out in a creepy way, creating an image for Hammer to put in one of his stories. “Hey, I’m sorry we’re barging in this late, but I kinda need some stitches, and we’ll be on our way,” he said as if he had any decision-making rights here.