Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
And, I realized as I wrapped myself up in the blankets and got up, that he’d also fed Evander. Which made sense why the little demon cat hadn’t woken me up with his screaming.
“I still wish he’d stayed, though,” I told Evander as I washed out his bowl and set out some more food and milk. “I bet you do too,” I added, rubbing his head.
He didn’t purr for me like he did for Rico, but he didn’t try to swat at me either. It was progress. He also didn’t want to be let out as much lately. I didn’t know if he was just picking up on my desperate mood or what, but his change of heart was breaking mine as I realized I was going to have to leave him behind eventually.
I set up the coffee maker then made my way down the hall to grab some fresh clothes and make my way into the bathroom.
I could still smell him all over me, lingering woodsmoke and cigars. The last thing I wanted to do was wash him away. But, logically, I knew I needed to. I had to get some separation between what we’d done and what I wanted.
Because there was no universe where I could have some sort of happily-ever-after with Rico. The man I was stealing from, for God’s sake.
I needed to keep my distance. Get my work done. Stop letting him walk me home.
In fact, I was going to the Bronx tonight, come hell or high water. And then every other night until I found my brother.
With that in mind, I showered, scrubbing him away. But even as I slathered my own scent on afterward, I thought of him. Of how he said he liked it. How he’d rested his head between my breasts to breathe me in.
Maybe I needed to get a new lotion.
I finished dressing then grabbed the tips out of my purse, adding it to the pile I was going to give to Kyle.
Tips would be picking up with the holidays coming, the shop running sales, and people flooding the streets to do shopping and needing somewhere to stop for food.
My finger was already looking better. And the shower had made the edge of one of the butterfly closures start to pull up. I figured that if I maybe put one of those weird finger condoms on, I could start doing sandwiches again. Get myself more tip money. Not just for Kyle, though. For myself. For Jake. For our escape. If I wasn’t being followed, I could walk up to the ATM and deposit the cash into my account where it would be safe until I needed it.
I hadn’t been hungry since Kyle showed back up in my life, but I forced myself to choke down some instant oatmeal with my coffee before making my way in to work.
Rico was there so I just… did my best to avoid him. Made myself scarce when he was around, made sure that there was no chance for our eyes to meet.
It was all working.
Until he actually called me into his office.
I couldn’t help but feel like a kid being called to the principal’s office, like I was going to get detention or something.
Or, worse yet, he might fire me.
Then what?
What would happen to Jake?
I mean, I couldn’t exactly do what Kyle wanted in the case of a situation like this. Break into the safe. Clean it out. Then take off.
My mind was still on all those things when he grabbed me and sealed his lips over mine.
All the reservations I had flew right out of the window at the feel of him close to me again.
Just once more, I told myself as he placed me on the desk. I could let myself enjoy this one last time.
So I did just that.
Then I put myself back together as best I could—ignoring the ache in my chest that said one part of me might be too shattered to be whole again—and went back to work.
Rico was called off to some other business later that evening, leaving me free to follow through with my plans to go check out the areas I had on my map. Though I had to admit that there was some small part of me that was disappointed not to have Rico show up when I was leaving, ready to walk me home, to spend more time with me.
Luckily for me, hanging out on the streets in the freezing cold was miserable enough to chase away the other kinds of pain I might have been feeling if I’d been obsessing about the situation with Rico.
I stayed out late enough to be reasonably sure that the two convenience stores weren’t ones that Kyle was frequenting. I’d even flashed a picture around at the employees to double-check.