Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Not to anyone but me, that was.
Which meant that Ignacia wasn’t telling me the entire truth, and whatever she’d done to Swayze to cause the animosity had likely been her fault.
Yeah, I was seriously regretting the invitation I’d extended toward her, that was for sure.
I didn’t like two-faced people, and Ignacia was starting to really make me think that she was one of them.
Gritting my teeth, I resigned myself to a shitty evening, and leaned back in my chair, pissed off that Bruno was sitting with the person that I really wanted to sit with.
The person that was trouble.
The person that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
“What are you getting?” Ignacia asked.
“Beer,” I murmured distractedly. “You?”
“Oh, I was trying to decide between…” She started to spout off what she was thinking about getting, but I tuned her out as I looked over at Swayze again.
The waitress smiled when she came up to our sides, stopping way closer to me than I would’ve liked.
“What can I get y’all to drink?” she asked, her eyes on me.
They flicked toward the man behind me, and I saw her eyes widen.
She looked at me, then at the tattoos on my forearm and hands, then glanced quickly at my cut.
She took a hasty step back.
I sighed. The thing was, I would’ve never, not ever, thought about harming the woman. But the way she was acting, she fully expected me to blow up at any second, lighting her world on fire.
“Everyone’s scared of us,” Bruno muttered. “Welcome to life.”
“I’ll have a glass of red wine,” Ignacia said. “He’ll have a…”
I rolled my eyes and said, “Beer. Dark. Whatever you have on tap. I’d also like to place an order for cheese sticks, marinara sauce, and garlic knots.”
The waitress hastily wrote that down and started to back away, but I held up my finger. “She wants to order, too.”
The waitress looked over at Swayze and looked like she took a deep breath, finding comfort in talking to someone that wasn’t a felon.
“I’ll have the same thing as him, plus a Dr. Pepper,” she ordered.
My brows rose.
“You’re gonna eat all that by yourself?” Bruno asked, taking a drink of his beer.
She shrugged. “I’m hungry.”
Ignacia snorted. “It’ll go straight to your ass.”
Swayze turned narrowed eyes onto Ignacia. “I’m sorry, but is having an ass a bad thing?”
No. No, it sure the fuck wasn’t.
“I dunno,” Bruno grunted out. “I guess it depends on what kind of ass you have. I mean, I like mine big, but not wid…”
“Don’t you fucking dare.” Swayze narrowed her eyes. “I will shove my fist down your throat.”
So, they were or were not friends?
I couldn’t tell.
Then again, when it came to Bruno, I wasn’t sure that anyone could be ‘friends’ with the man. He was too… distant.
He didn’t like people. I hadn’t even seen him with a woman that he hadn’t offended in some way—just like he was about to do with Swayze—immediately upon meeting them.
When I’d first met Bruno, he’d said all of two words to me.
When he’d helped me get my shit from storage and move into the apartment above the bar, he hadn’t even allowed me to buy him lunch. He’d helped me move, then immediately left.
Even now, a few months after getting out and being around Bruno, I wasn’t sure that I knew him any better.
I also wasn’t sure that I liked the fact that he hadn’t protested in the least about Swayze joining him for dinner.
“…know what you’re eating?” Bruno asked. “Because I have to leave in about twenty minutes.”
“I think that I’m going to get a steak, baked potato, and smothered fried green beans,” she answered.
That actually sounded pretty fucking good.
I decided that I would have the same thing.
Putting up my menu, I looked across the table at Ignacia.
She was frowning hard at the menu.
“Something wrong?” I asked curiously.
“There’s no ‘light’ menu. There’s only fried chicken salads, which might I add, you might as well be eating full fat at that point,” Ignacia commented. “I mean, it’s not like I really dislike fried chicken or anything…”
“I can go ask,” the waitress offered.
“How about you just ask if they’ll give you the salad and then order a small steak to have with it?” I asked. “Put the fried chicken on the side.”
“Steak’s pretty high in fat as well…” Ignacia started.
Swayze sighed. “Just order the damn steak, Ignacia.”
Ignacia offered Swayze a glare. “How about you stay at your table with your date, and I’ll stay at mine?”
The waitress squeaked and left after that.
I looked over at the man at my side.
“She wasn’t scared of me until she saw you,” I grumbled over the small gap that separated our two tables. “Do you know how hard it is to walk into a grocery store and not roll my eyes? Seriously, I was…” I trailed off when I realized what I was about to say.