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)
“You’re right, you’re right,” Earl conceded with a nod. “And I’ll definitely talk to them because hiding faults from customers is not the way I do business.”
“Just put your foot up their asses like you should have been doing, and you won’t have to waste time with words. If you want, I can do it for you.” Rowdy’s smile was sharp enough to cut.
“No, no,” Earl said with a nervous chuckle. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
“Mmm,” Rowdy hummed, making it clear he didn’t agree.
Oh, boy. I held on to him a little tighter in case he felt strongly enough about it to hunt Earl’s sons down.
“For the inconvenience, I can let the Benz go right now for twenty-two, but I can’t go any lower than that. It’s worth at least twenty-four—more once you rebuild it. Parts should only cost you two or three grand, and we both know you’ll do the labor yourself.”
“Except my time is valuable, and I take no shorts, least of all from myself. Eighteen is my final offer. If I wanted to haggle, I’d wait to bid on it.”
“Listen, Rowdy—“
“I can hear, motherfucker. Clearly, it’s you that has the hearing problem. It’s eighteen or nothing, and by nothing, I mean I go find whichever one of your Blow Pop-head-shaped sons tried to stiff me and light their ass up.”
And as if his words didn’t paint a clear enough picture, Rowdy gently pushed me away before pulling the burner from his waist and flipping the safety off.
Even though it wasn’t me at the end of the barrel of his gun, I still gulped. “Owen,” I started cautiously.
His gaze stayed fixed on Earl. The only indication he’d heard me was the flaring of his nostrils. Feeling Earl’s pleading gaze shift toward me, I sent him an apologetic one back and stayed quiet.
Rowdy’s mind was made up. I wouldn’t be able to save him like I had Ky.
“Eighteen,” Earl reluctantly agreed after a long and silent deliberation that looked like it might end in bloodshed. Rowdy wasn’t known for his patience. Earl held out his hand to seal the deal, which Rowdy ignored as he put his gun away.
“Hurry up and get the paperwork so I can get my girl out of the cold.”
Awww.
Wait…
No.
I should be angry and embarrassed, not swooning.
“I’m not your girl,” I denied as soon as Earl trudged away with his shoulders bowed. I felt bad for him, but there was nothing I could do. I was just as afraid of this psycho as everyone else. I just refused to let my fear win. “I don’t date bullies.”
Even though my knees weakened at the thought of being Owen Wray’s girl, my arms crossed as if that alone could suppress my heart’s desires.
“I didn’t say we were dating.” He shrugged as he pulled out his phone and started typing.
“You told Earl I was your girl.”
He glanced up at me briefly before returning his gaze to his phone to finish texting. “I’m dating your pussy, Atlas. I’m not dating you.”
What the fuck does that mean?
As calmly as I could, I asked him to explain.
“It means once I get up in it, it’s mine,” he told me without shame or remorse. “You won’t be fucking anyone else.”
“But you can fuck whoever you like?”
“Exactly.”
I let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “Well, I have a problem with that, which means my pussy has a problem with that.”
His ignorant ass smirked as if my words didn’t mean shit to him and put his phone away. “Come on.”
Since he was my ride, I reluctantly followed him through the maze of cars again, keeping some distance between us. Halfway across the lot, I decided I wouldn’t speak to him ever again.
Back inside the warm building, the auction that Rowdy had bullied his way out of was already underway. People lingered inside the press box now as a man sat at the microphone calling out bids and descriptions of the cars being driven through the building.
Rowdy seemed perfectly content as he smoked a blunt and quietly scoped the scene as we waited for Earl to return. It was an almost obsessive habit of his that I’d noticed from my obsessive habit of watching him when he wasn’t looking. He tried to offer me the blunt to “perk the fuck up”—his words—but I ignored him.
Thankfully, we only had to suffer the charged silence for a few minutes before Earl returned with the title and other paperwork for Rowdy to sign. If I’d expected him to be bitter at having a gun pulled on him, I was clearly mistaken. His big belly bounced as he laughed at something Rowdy said—no doubt rude—until the older man caught me staring in astonishment and chuckled.
“Young lady, this is Idlewild. This isn’t the first time I’ve been held at gunpoint, and it certainly isn’t Rowdy’s first time pulling a gun out in my establishment. My wife works triage down at Sunnyside General. I keep her and a well-stocked first aid kit on standby just in case Rowdy decides to stop by.”