Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
My heart started racing. Not because I was scared of this bastard. I didn’t know anything about him other than that he seemed to like beating on women. No. If I ever came face-to-face with the bastard, I’d take him out on the spot. Consequences be damned. What had me on edge was knowing that men like this didn’t tolerate someone getting away from him.
“He’ll be coming for her. Soon.”
“That’s what I’m trying to find now. Where he is in relation to you and Dawn. It’s all kind of complicated, but I’m using a program -- couple of them really -- that Argent Tech scrapped as a breach of privacy. Giovanni still has it, but it’s on lockdown. Took some doing to even get to it. But it tracks literally everything hooked to the net or a satellite. City cameras, cell phones, ATMs, any security system that operates on a cloud… all of it. It uses things like official ID cards, driver’s licenses, and passports with facial recognition to pinpoint anyone anywhere as long as there is a positive identification on record somewhere. Me and Zora have it searching for him. If he’s on any camera anywhere in the world, this program will find him.”
“Good work, Suz. Keep me posted. And Suz? If Giovanni calls in a rage, apologize and swear to never do it again.”
“Not sure that will work this time, Cliff. I promised that the last two times I did it.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah. You’re right. How about you don’t answer the phone.”
“Great idea!”
Once I’d ended the call with Suzie, I headed back to Dawn. I didn’t like being away from her when there was danger nearby. While we were relatively safe where we were, the storm was a big fucking danger. Every protective instinct I had was screaming at me to get back to her. Probably the combination of the storm and what I knew was a danger from Almond. Hopefully, we’d be safely on the way to the Bane compound or, better, the Bones compound before he got on her trail. Then I could form a plan of attack and not be on the defensive from the get-go. I had the upper hand simply by knowing who he was and his background and that he was coming for her.
“Everything all right?” Dawn looked up at me with a soft smile. I could tell she was nervous. Likely because of the worsening storm and us having to move from our room.
“Yes. Suzie’s looking into finding Almond. Granted, she’s using less than ethical means, but if she gets the job done, I could give a good Goddamn. Giovanni’s gonna be pissed, but he’ll get over it.”
Dawn smiled. “Dad gets a kick out of hearing Suzie hacked the great Giovanni Romano. Especially since she keeps doing it no matter what he does.”
“I know. I get why Cain was always equal parts amused and exasperated when she got caught. ‘Course, there’s been plenty of times she didn’t get caught, but no one’s ever pointed that out.”
We passed time in silence. She ate and I kept watch over her. I kept us away from the light as much as possible. I was on edge and wasn’t sure why, but one of the best things Cain had taught me was to listen to my instincts. Better to be wrong and prepared than the other way around.
I got us a couple of blankets and pillows and gave them to Dawn so she could make herself a nest to rest comfortably. She preferred to rest her head in my lap. Which, I admit, gave me all kinds of naughty ideas.
When my cock became too much to ignore, Dawn turned her face into my lap. I sucked in a breath.
“Jesus, Dawn!” I hissed. “What’re you doin’?”
“Well, if you don’t know, I must not be doing it right.” I couldn’t see her in the dark, but the amusement in her voice was clear.
Even in the middle of a hurricane, in a public place with only a blanket to hide us, I was considering letting her play. Was it a good idea? Not in the least. But how the fuck was I supposed to turn her down when we had literally nothing else to do but wait? It was after midnight and most everyone was asleep. So when she unzipped my fly, I let my head fall back against the wall and just enjoyed.
At first, her touch was tentative. Careful. She wrapped her soft palm around my dick and stroked with a slow up-and-down motion that soon had me panting. I thought she glanced up at me a few times, but I couldn’t see her clearly. Though the security lights had come on when the generators kicked in, hotel personnel had turned most of them off to conserve power and to let us rest. The lights out in the hall were still on and there were people monitoring the water but really. What were the rest of us going to do?