Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
I answered it since it was Ben.
“Your ex-wife broke into my house and stole Finn,” he said without preamble.
Nastya stiffened, hearing the words despite it not being on speakerphone.
“Fuckin’ bitch.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I can’t do anything about it right now. Don’t engage her. I’ll deal with her after I deal with other shit.”
Ben agreed and hung up, but I could tell he was still pissed as hell.
“Julia is a goddamn lunatic.”
“She sounds it.” Nastya smoothed her hand down my side. “Get dressed and tell me about her.”
“My ex was like, I know a spot. Then she took me to the lowest point in my life,” I grumbled as I gathered clothes that I had no clue how they got here.
Shasha was thorough.
She watched me dress as I explained everything there was to know about Julia.
I told her about when we were newlyweds, and Julia turned from the sweet girl I knew during our dating to the crazy barracuda that she turned into during our marriage.
I told her about how, every time I’d be called out for work, she’d accuse me of meeting women and sleeping with them instead of working a crime scene.
I told her about how while I was deployed, she’d send my sergeant letters asking if I was cheating.
I told her about how, when I was a brand-new cop, she showed up at my job and watched me from her car because she didn’t trust me.
In the end, I told her everything and nothing, because I couldn’t begin to explain everything that Julia had put me through.
Nastya’s face became more and more intense, her eyes huge and wide, and getting wider the longer that I spoke.
When I was finished and pushing the time limit that I’d said that it would take me to get to Shasha, she finally called a halt.
“As far as I can tell, you’re nowhere near finished with explaining everything.” She shook her head. “Tell me one more thing, and then go.”
I studied her for a long moment before saying, “When Desi was born, we actually talked about naming her Scarlett. In fact, it was on all of her clothes and everything. But at some point, Julia decided that Scarlett wasn’t going to work. And when I was passed out on the uncomfortable hospital recliner with her, Julia changed her mind and put ‘Desiree’ down on the hospital paperwork. But, what you don’t know, is that Desiree was Julia’s psycho sister that was even crazier than Julia. She was a crack whore who sold her body for drugs. She’d get clean, then fall right off the wagon. Julia brought it up once, but I shot it down immediately. And then, while we were sleeping, she filled out the paperwork and had it filed without my knowledge. Then one day she started calling her Desiree and never stopped. That’s why I call her Desi only. And that’s why Desi won’t answer to Desiree. Ever.”
Nastya opened her mouth and then closed it. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”
I chuckled, then dropped my mouth onto hers. “I gotta go before your brother starts to think we’re doing other things. And though I’d love to do those other things to you, I think he might very well kill me and be able to get away with it.”
She smacked my arm. “My brother would never. But only because he wouldn’t hurt me like that. He knows I love you.”
At her words, we both froze.
“You…”
“Love you,” she confirmed, her eyes still wide. “Don’t say it back.”
I grinned. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to say it out of obligation,” she conceded. “And I know it’s crazy fast, and that I should probably control myself, but after last night…I just can’t. I won’t ever be able to hide and look at life the same way again. And that includes hiding my feelings for you.”
I curled a stray lock of hair behind her ear and said, “I love you, too. Fuck me, but I love you, too.”
Wanna feel wanted, might do 100 mph past a cop later. IDK.
—Nastya to Haze
HAZE
Not even the cloud nine high of having my mama tell me she loved me was enough to keep me in a good mood after seeing Sutton Barlowe.
Seeing her brought everything that happened yesterday back, and with it, the heartache that I’d been repressing since I’d seen my partner’s dead body tossed unceremoniously over a bathtub, his life blood swirling into the bottom of the tub.
Seeing her hollow stare as I walked into Shasha’s office sent my heart spiraling.
“Sutton,” I said softly. “I’m sorry.”
She smiled sadly at me, then patted the seat next to her. “I only have the courage to tell you this once, okay?”
“Tell me what?” I asked.
She turned to Shasha and said, “Play it.”
I closed the door and took the seat she’d urged me to, then turned to Shasha.