Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 167257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 558(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 558(@300wpm)
It was yet another truth I would have to take to my grave.
But as I stared up at Rowdy and the growing suspicion in his gaze, I wondered if he knew my secret.
After learning that I’d hit my head on some underwater rocks—which might have explained my hallucination—Rowdy took me to the hospital, where I was admitted for observation. I not only suffered a concussion but had technically died before Rowdy rescued me from the water and performed CPR.
The next morning, when I woke feeling like crap, I still found it in me to smile at the adorable picture Rowdy made bundled up in his Idlewild’s Finest hoodie and thin blanket. He’d been snoring with his mouth open and looked so uncomfortable in his cramped recline on the too-small couch. He had refused to go home, where he would have been more comfortable in his bed.
My smile only deepened when I noticed the flowers and card waiting for me on the nightstand. I’d already guessed they were from him, but I eagerly plucked the card up anyway, my smile dying as I read the words. The light feeling and knowledge that everything would be okay dying with it.
Heard about the nasty spill you took.
That’s what happens to whores who take what doesn’t belong to them.
I have to say, I’m disappointed in you, Atlas.
I thought we were friends.
See you soon.
Love,
Unrequited
I stopped the Hellcat at a light and discreetly checked my phone when I caught the name on the screen.
Sissy: Hey, stranger.
Sissy: Are you going to ignore me forever? I thought we were cool.
I cut my gaze to the right and made sure the coast was clear before texting back. She’d been texting and calling for months, but this was the first time I’d responded. It was as if the moment I made Atlas my girl, all sorts of bitches from my past had come out of the woodwork to test me.
Fuck u want? Where’s yo’ husband?
Her response came immediately.
Sissy: He’s not my husband anymore. Why? Were you jealous?
I deleted the thread without responding and slipped my phone back into my pocket just as the light turned green.
I had better things to think about, such as the grand reopening of Harry’s car wash.
I hid it well, but I was as nervous as fuck.
I’d turned the reopening into a whole event, inviting the entire city out with the promise of a one-time free service.
I’d taken Harry up on his offer and threw in my own stipulation, which allowed him to keep a generous share of the profits for as long as he lived.
After that, those shares would help fund a scholarship of his choice to help keep young Black boys off the street and give them options I never had.
I not only had the wash renovated and expanded, upgrading all of the equipment, but I added both an on-site and mobile detailing service and hired only the best who could handle any job—small or big.
I also changed the name to Harry’s so that his legacy could live on.
Atlas and I were on our way there now, but first, a detour.
I bypassed our turnoff for Harry’s, which hadn’t escaped Atlas’s notice with her nosy ass.
“Where are we going?”
It was her first time speaking since we’d left the house.
Atlas had an attitude because I made her change after she tried to walk out of my house wearing a mini dress so thin it was see-through.
She didn’t put up that big of a fight when I made her change, and I learned why when she returned, wearing a crop top that only covered her tits, tiny shorts that left her ass hanging out, and a smirk.
Realizing she was testing my gangsta, I said nothing and only smirked back as I held the front door open and let her ass walk out like that.
“You’ll see,” I told her when she waited for my answer.
A few minutes later, I pulled into a quiet neighborhood nestled deep in Sunnyside, turning a few corners until I reached the house I’d partially grown up in. I could feel Atlas’s gaze on me and her nervous energy as I pulled into the driveway.
“Where are we, Owen? Whose house is this?”
I killed the engine and made sure to pocket the keys before I answered her. “It’s my parents’ home.”
Atlas’s reaction was about what I’d expected.
She visibly balked. “Your…what?”
This girl is trying me today, I swear.
“I’m not going to tell you again!” I yelled from the front door of my parents’ home. “Bring your ass in here, Atlas!”
“I don’t know what the hell all of this yelling is about,” my mother scolded from the kitchen, “but I know you’re going to stop cussing in my goddamn house.”
I didn’t point out that she was cursing herself since I knew that would only get me cussed out worse. “Sorry, ma.”