Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Hey, Adrian,” the voice — Garrett — says.
“Is Autumn okay?” Trevor repeats, this time with urgency in his voice. More proof that he has a thing for her, and I can’t blame him. That girl has a mixture of sweetness and sexiness that would be hard to resist.
“What do you know about Autumn’s guitar?” Garrett asks, and from my position across the room, I frown, as do Trevor and Adrian.
“Her guitar?” Adrian echoes.
“Did you see anything strange at her house before you left this morning?” Garrett asks.
“No …” Trevor says, drawing the word out, still looking confused. “We ran into her roommate in the kitchen on our way out.”
“Lindsey?” Garrett asks, and Trevor nods. “Did she say anything?”
“She invited us up to her room,” Adrian says with disgust in his tone. “We turned her down and left. What’s going on, Garrett?”
“You rejected her…” Garrett says this like it’s an important piece of information. “Maybe that’s what set her off.”
His patience gone, Trevor yells at the screen. “Garrett! What the hell’s going on?”
“Someone smashed Autumn’s guitar this morning. Left it in ruins on her bed while she was in the shower.”
Trevor and Adrian exchange a look, their faces all shock and confusion. “What the fuck?” Trevor mutters under his breath.
“Apparently Lindsey slashed some of Autumn’s clothes too,” Garrett says.
If I were a napping dog, the earlier parts of this conversation would have perked my ears up, but mention of slashed clothing has me fully awake and on alert. “What was that?” I say, flinging my towel down and going over to get a look at Garrett’s face.
“Anyway, without a new guitar, Autumn can’t perform at Rusty’s tomorrow night, so I’m going to drive her into Green County after work to get her a new one,” he’s saying.
“What was that about her clothes?” I ask, tilting Trevor’s phone in my direction.
“What?” Garrett stares at me blankly for a few seconds, no doubt wondering why I’m butting in on their call, before he says, “Autumn said the clothes she bought to wear for her show at Rusty’s were slashed and ruined, like someone went at them with scissors. I don’t know if her roommate damaged anything else.”
“Lindsey’s her roommate?” I ask.
“That’s right.” Garrett seems spooked by me, probably because my expression isn’t very pleasant at the moment.
“It’s not safe for Autumn to stay there,” I say, with Trevor adding his agreement.
“I agree,” Garrett says. “I haven’t talked with her about that yet, but I plan to.”
“What time are you going to her place? We’ll meet you there.” My tone doesn’t leave room for objections.
“Around five-thirty. I can text Trevor when Autumn and I leave work,” Garrett says.
“Sounds good.” With a nod, I hand the phone back to Trevor and return to my weight bench, where I hoist the dumbbell with extra vigor. Why do people have to be the way they are? That girl Autumn has probably never given anyone a hard time except herself, and some asshole of a person has to go and destroy her stuff.
I don’t like the sound of the slashed clothing at all, though. That’s the work of someone who would do worse, and Autumn needs to get out of the situation immediately.
The three of us don’t say much about it for the rest of the day, but Trevor and Adrian are both waiting by the door when the time comes to leave.
It turns out that Autumn only lives a couple of miles away in one of the nice older homes on the island. There aren’t any other cars in the drive, but just after we get there, one pulls in behind us.
“They’re here,” Adrian says.
Trevor pulls Autumn into his arms as soon as she gets out of the car. He smooths her hair back and talks to her in a low voice, and when he releases her, Adrian gives her a long hug. The two men seem to have forged quite a connection with the girl in a short time, and it’s obvious that it’s something deeper than just sex.
When they finally let go of her and I get a good look at her face, anger hardens in my stomach. Yesterday, she was fun-loving and lively; today, she looks like she’ll flinch in reaction to any sudden movement. When she looks at me, her eyes are wary and edged with red. Whoever this Lindsey person is, she’s lucky she’s not a guy, because I’d beat the shit out of her without a second thought.
“What are you doing here?” Autumn asks me, sounding not unkind, but curious.
“I work in security. I’m here to make sure you get in and get your stuff safely.”
She looks to Garrett, uncertain.
“The music store closes in about ninety minutes,” Garrett tells me and the other guys. “We need to take care of that before we move Autumn out.”