Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
That was news to me. I hadn’t realized that they were doing that.
It didn’t, however, surprise me.
Brenda viciously yanked her purse back up over her shoulder and turned around, only to turn back around and glare.
“You better be careful, Officer Hail. I hear it's bad out there for cops right now.”
With that she was gone.
Audrey, who’d been standing silently behind me, tried to move past me, but I caught her around the waist and yanked her to me. “Don’t,” I growled. “It’s not worth it.”
“She just threatened your life!” she cried out in indignation. “You heard that, didn’t you, Officer Tooch?”
Tooch?
The officer who’d watched Brenda and Ephraim Shaw walk away just shook his head. “I can file a complaint, but that’s really all I can do. You know that.”
His last statement was directed at me, so I nodded.
“Just remember if I call on you as witness, to remember what she said,” I said darkly.
Officer Tooch nodded solemnly. “Ma’am, can I help you up?”
He offered Krisney his hand, but before he could even extend it all the way out, she scrambled to her feet.
Her reddish blonde curls bounced with the movement, and she offered me an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry, y’all.”
I smiled at her, offering her a shrug.
“I know that you can’t control her…or him,” I added. “Don’t worry about it.”
She grimaced. “I told them that I was transferred to a different post, and they flipped a freakin’ lid.”
Krisney was in the military. The Army, to be specific. The same branch that Reed had gone in, and was still in.
I had a sinking suspicion that the reason behind Krisney joining the Army, instead of the Navy like she’d always said she was going to do, had a lot to do with the fact that she was still in love with Reed, despite my brother’s idiotic behavior.
“So that was what that was all about?” I asked.
She sighed.
“I told them that while I was stationed out of the state, they needed to behave. You can obviously tell how that worked out.”
I just shook my head.
“Audrey, this is Krisney Shaw.” I introduced them. “Krisney, this is my girlfriend, Audrey.”
Krisney held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The smile that she gave Audrey was a genuine one.
Audrey took it hesitantly. “You’re Reed’s girl?”
Krisney’s face flamed. “Negative, Ghost Rider.”
I started to laugh.
“You keep telling yourself that, girl. Let me know how it works out for you.”
Krisney grimaced. “See you in a few months.”
With that she walked out and didn’t look back.
“You know,” Audrey started to giggle. “I haven’t really had a chance to get to know Reed yet, but I can already tell that he’s going to have trouble with that one.”
I gave her a look that she couldn’t quite read. “You have no idea.”
Chapter 17
If your girl is having a bad day, then surprise, so are you.
-Fact of Life
Tobias
Life went somewhat back to normal after that day in the restaurant.
I went back to work.
Audrey started her job and continued to live with her brother despite the fact that she was ready to find something else. Though, I had to admit, she was finding fault in every single place she looked at, citing it unsafe, or too small. My favorite excuse had been, ‘it probably has ants like that first apartment.’
The first apartment we’d looked at had an ant. One. Singular. And it’d been on the sidewalk outside the door.
Which started my dilemma.
Was it too early to ask her to move in? Would her brother kick my ass for extending an invitation to move in without asking her to marry me first?
I couldn’t ask her to marry me. Though we’d known each other for over a year, we’d only started showing our feelings for each other a few short months ago.
Although, we did share one drugged up kiss in the hospital room the day that I was shot in the neck.
Audrey fiddling with the vest again had me sighing in frustration.
“You have to wear the vest,” I said to her for the third time since we’d started walking to my cruiser.
She harrumphed. “This is so stupid.”
I laughed at the expression on her face.
“It says ‘civilian’ on it, not dumbass. You can deal with it if it’s going to protect you while you’re riding along with me,” I informed her.
She picked at the heavy Kevlar vest once again.
“Can I wear it under my shirt?” she asked, batting her eyes.
“I don’t make the rules, sweetheart,” I told her bluntly. “If you want to come, you have to wear the vest. No exceptions.”
She sighed, long and loud.
“What are we doing today?”
I nearly groaned at the way that she slumped into her chair like a sullen teenager.
“I have district seven today,” I said by way of explanation. “That means between mile marker…”
I started to explain the districts to her, telling her how each district was separated by which mile markers. By the time I was finished, her eyes were glazed over in boredom.