Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
No, it wasn’t. I needed her to answer me and then point him out so I could make him disappear.
“How so?”
She smirked again and turned to look out over the crowd. “A man did bring me.” She paused and glanced back at me. There was a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. “He bought everything I’m wearing.” Reaching up, she touched the simple diamond necklace around her neck. “Even the jewelry.”
“I’m really hoping he’s your father.”
She laughed. “No. He is definitely not my father.” This amused her. The humor in those honey-and-sunshine eyes was unmistakable.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
She tilted her head to the side and reached out to touch my arm. I fought the urge to cover her hand with mine and keep it there. I’d dress her and buy her jewelry better than what she was wearing now, if that was what it would take. I started to say so, but she spoke first.
“You’re not what I expected,” she replied. “I think we might end up being good friends.”
Oh, hell no. She was not friend-zoning me. When she started to move her hand away, I reached up and grasped it.
“I’m thinking something a little more exciting than friends.”
Her eyes shifted away from me then, and I saw a change in her expression before she turned to look at me again.
“I need to be going.”
“I’ll go with you,” I told her.
She wasn’t running off like goddamn Cinderella.
She sighed, and I could see the battle in her eyes before she lifted them to me.
“Okay, fine. You lead the way.”
Hell yes! I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her close to my side before walking toward an exit. The gala wasn’t doing it for me anymore. Time to change locations.
Just as we reached an exit, my cell started ringing. The ringtone was my father’s. Fucking hell, this’d better not be family shit he wanted me in on tonight. I considered ignoring it, but I knew I’d regret it later. Glancing down at the girl beside me, I debated on it. She might just be worth my father’s wrath.
“You gonna get that?” she asked once we were outside.
With a sigh, I reached into my pocket. “Yeah.”
“Get Saxon. Meet Levi and Kye at their hotel suite. There’s an issue that needs handled,” Dad barked at me.
Motherfucker!
“Saxon?” I asked, making sure I’d heard him right.
“Yes. Kenneth agrees it’s time,” he replied.
Kenneth was Saxon’s dad. He was also part of the family. Saxon hadn’t been on any family business before. He never mentioned it, and I had thought he would just handle the horse racing part of our world. Hearing that Dad was bringing him into the other side surprised me. I wasn’t sure Saxon had it in him.
“Okay.” Irritated, I hung up and turned back to figure out how in the hell I was going to explain this to Gypsi and get her to hand over her phone number.
But I didn’t get a chance to figure it out.
She was gone.
Two
Gypsi
I loved her. I truly did. There had never been a dull moment in my life. When I was sad, she’d spend money we didn’t have on candy, ice cream, chips, and soda for us to eat instead of dinner. If times got hard, she’d turn the small camper we called home into a dance party, complete with hits from the ’90s. If there was a new movie in the theater I wanted to see, she’d flirt with the guy or girl at the ticket counter and convince them to let us in for free. Often, she got a bucket of popcorn thrown in too. Fawn Parker was a beautiful, energetic force of nature. She was my best friend, but she was also my mom.
Understanding my mother’s decisions was something I’d given up on years ago. When she wanted something, she found a way to make it happen. There was no obstacle that she allowed to set her back. She often left my head spinning while I tried to keep up. This was one of those times.
This time, it wasn’t a thing she wanted. It was a lifestyle. The lemon-colored dress she was wearing—which left one shoulder bare while the bow that held the dress up rested on the other shoulder—the ridiculous hat, and the diamond necklace that made me nervous every time I looked at it were stunning with her pale blonde hair she had pulled back in a sleek ponytail. The teardrop earrings matched the diamonds around her neck, and I wondered if it had occurred to her that what she was wearing cost more than what we’d made last year. I doubted it. Her bright smile, which I’d seen reel a man in with its powerful flash, was in place as she stood, watching the racetrack below as if the winner of this race mattered to us. She knew nothing about horse racing, but she lived for the thrill of new things.