Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 72561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
“Hello,” I said softly.
Big men had always intimidated me, but he was about the exact same size as the pseudo police officer who’d attacked me.
His build was stocky, and he had muscles that bulged with just the tiniest exertions.
His hair was brown, and his eyes were honey brown in color.
Luckily, his eyes were warm and friendly.
His smile showed me that he was genuinely happy to see me, and I instantly relaxed.
This must be Sebastian. The VP of The Dixie Wardens. The firefighter.
I liked firefighters.
“You don’t remember me from last night, do you?” He asked with a wide smile on his face.
I shook my head, feeling the tail of my hair hanging at my back swish and sway with the motion. “Nope.”
I popped the ‘p’ as I spoke, putting emphasis on the fact that I couldn’t remember a thing about last night other than the events leading up to getting hurt, and when we were just arriving home.
Sebastian and Loki traded that secret look again, making my eyes narrow on the two.
“Why do you keep making those looks to each other? What’d I do?” I asked Loki.
“I,” he said, “will tell you later.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You can tell me now...”
My voice trailed off when Loki’s phone rang, and he handed over the little girl to her father and walked out of the room without a backwards glance.
“Well wasn’t that just convenient,” I muttered to no one in particular.
So much for not leaving me.
The big man holding his daughter snorted. “You can say that again. He’s been avoiding us for months now.”
My attention turned from his daughter to him. “What do you mean?”
“He hasn’t come on a run with us in over six months. Keeps ducking out at the last minute. Doesn’t come by the club. His best friend hasn’t even seen him in weeks now,” he explained.
He sounded like his dog had been run over by a semi.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
I was genuinely sorry for the fact that his friends thought he had changed, but I didn’t really know what to say to that. Loki had been the same since I’d met him. He was passionate about his job. He cared about his community. He was a good man, and an even better police officer. Was that bad?
“Nothing you’ve done, sweetheart,” Sebastian said as we moved towards the kitchen.
He placed Blaise down on the ground.
His daughter followed her parents as we walked up to the granite island. I was left with Baylee and Sebastian both staring at me curiously.
“What? Do I have something in my teeth?” I asked worriedly.
Baylee giggled. “No, we’re just curious. We’ve been wondering about you for a long time.”
“Me? Why?” Surprise laced my voice.
Baylee busied herself with cracking eggs into a bowl as she spoke.
“We’ve heard a lot about you, but we haven’t actually seen you. Loki’s been undercover, and then out of town for so long that we were beginning to wonder if he’d ever pull his head out of his ass and make a move,” she explained lightly.
I watched as she whipped the eggs with a fork, and then poured them into a frying pan.
“Oh, well it was never his fault. It was mine. I have a certain hang up about cops,” I said quietly.
“Daddy! I’m pooping!” A young boy’s voice followed my statement. “Blaise is playing in the shaving cream!”
Sebastian cursed and ran out of the room after the child I hadn’t even seen disappear.
Baylee kept cooking as if the fact that her young child playing in shaving cream was of no consequence to her.
“What do you have against cops?” She asked inquiringly.
Looking around the empty room, I ascertained it was empty before explaining.
“When I was sixteen, I was pulled over by an unmarked police car. Or what I’d thought at the time was a police car. It had the lights, and even the siren. When I pulled over, he stepped up to my passenger side window and asked me to get out. What I didn’t learn until later was that he was impersonating a cop, and he’d already raped three other women in two other parishes. I was his fourth victim, or would’ve been if it weren’t for a few teenagers trying to boost a car a half a block down from us. His fifth victim was killed, and they caught him in Mississippi three days later trying to do the same thing again,” I said quietly.
Why I’d just told all of that to a virtual stranger, I didn’t know. But Baylee was easy to talk to. She just kept cooking her scrambled eggs, and didn’t judge me in the least.
It also didn’t hurt that I knew she cared for Loki, and only wanted the best for him.
I saw the affection in her eyes for him when she’d opened the door.
“Does Loki know what happened?” She asked quietly glancing at the doorway behind me and back to me quickly.
I let my eyes drift to the doorway to find Sebastian leaning against the door jam, his eyes on his feet, and his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides.
Glancing away from his overpowering figure quickly, I nodded in affirmation. “Yes, most of it. I haven’t gotten into the nitty gritty with him, but I have a feeling Cabe let him know everything he knew about it. Or at least I hope. It’s not really something I like to revisit all that much.”
The doorbell rang, and heavy footfalls went from the doorway to the kitchen, through the living room, and stopped at the front door to let someone in.
A cacophony of noises came from the living room, and I got up and edged closer to the door and watched the living room fill with people.
Some wore leather vests, while others wore regular t-shirts; even Trance was there.
But he was in his police uniform, and I immediately stiffened at the sight of him.
“Trance works as a K-9 officer,” Baylee said quietly from behind me. “He’s one of the sweetest men you’ll ever meet, and he loves his wife dearly. Just last week, I saw him pick out baby cowboy boots for his new nephew. Trance’s wife is a twin. I promise, he would not be in this house with my kids if he was a bad person.”