Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
“You’ve eaten?”
“Yeah, I was hungry earlier.”
She handed him back his cell phone and then pulled away, leaving his office. She wanted to ask him so many other questions, but instead she stayed quiet and slowly made her way up the stairs to their bedroom.
Leah knew she could have spent all day putting her clothes and belongings back in her old room, but she didn’t. She rather liked staying with Cain. Waking up next to him hadn’t been the worst experience in the world.
She smiled to herself as she made her way to their room. There was just something about Cain she couldn’t deny was so attractive, and even though he’d acted that way when he took her virginity, it didn’t stop her from wanting him.
****
“This building is shitty,” Cain said the following day.
He saw Leah tense. “Has anyone told you, you’ve turned into a snob?”
He smiled. “Not to my face.”
She spun around on the steps, and he noticed she didn’t touch a single banister. He was pretty sure he saw a pile of human shit in the corner, so there was no way he was touching anything. It had been a long time since he’d smelled this, and it wasn’t pleasant.
“Fine, you’re a snob,” she said.
“Okay, touch the wall or the banister,” he said.
She glared at him. “I don’t need the help.”
“Now who is the snob?”
She faced the front and began to walk upstairs. Leah was not willing to be talked out of finding this woman.
Many years ago, after he took care of the cop, he asked Frank if he wanted to find this woman. Frank’s answer had been no. He wanted nothing to do with the woman. He was finally out and free, and all he wanted to do was live his life. Cain wasn’t about to do anything to upset him.
Prison hadn’t been easy for anyone. He knew it had been hard for Frank, who had to learn hard and fast to fight first. Frank was a big guy, but he was also not a violent man. Prison had to awaken that part of him. When he finally got him out, Frank asked him to never put him in that position, and he never would.
Frank was a rare guy. And he knew he was not going to tell him about Cameron, unless she was a rare girl. She was currently living on the third floor of this crumbling building. Cain didn’t know how there were still tenants, or even how the building was still standing in its current state. He was pretty sure contractors and health inspectors would have condemned the building by now.
They got to the third floor, and the stench was quite bad. He also saw a pile of used diapers at the end of the hallway. Not good.
Leah got to the third door along. She screwed up the piece of paper in her grip and shrugged. “Apparently, this is it.”
“Before you knock on that door, do you want to think twice about what you’re doing?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Look around you. What if this Cameron is bad news?”
“And what if she has fallen on hard times?”
“I did not take you for being the sentimental type,” he said.
“I’m not being sentimental. People go through rough patches, and I want to see for myself. Where is the harm?” She raised her fist and knocked on the door.
She stared at him and Cain simply watched her. There was so much more to Leah than met the eye. He knew she was going to come and find this woman, even if he did forbid it. She was a law unto herself. This was one of the many reasons he needed to keep an eye on her.
She knocked again, and they waited. Cain was about to tell her not to bother when they heard a feminine call from the other side.
The door opened, and a brunette stood on the other side. She was curvy and had a smile on her lips.
“Can I help you?” Cameron asked.
“Are you Cameron Pierce?” Cain asked.
“That depends on who is asking.”
He watched her tense up.
“You don’t know us, but we have a mutual friend,” Cain said, taking the lead.
Cameron looked from him to Leah, then back again.
“I’ve not long been back to the city, so I don’t know you. I don’t know who we might have in common as a friend, but please leave.”
“Frank!” Leah spoke his name loudly.
Cameron had been about to slam the door, but the name Frank made her stop.
“Frank? That is who we have in common?” Cameron asked.
Cain had hoped to keep that information a little longer so he could get the measure of the woman.
Glancing past her shoulder, he saw that her apartment was in fact perfectly clean. He also saw there were several air-conditioning scents hung around the door and throughout the apartment.