Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I close my eyes and allow myself to listen to the birds call out to one another. This is almost as enjoyable as the time I spent with Kid on the dock at his friend’s house. The only thing missing is the lapping sound of the water against the shore.
An unfamiliar ding startles me before I realize it came from the new phone Snatch gave me.
I pull it from my pocket and notice a text message.
Emmalyn: Where are you?
Me: Back porch
I wait for another message to come but it doesn’t, so I place the phone on the table in front of me and close my eyes again. Mere minutes go by and the back door opens.
I roll my head on the back of the chair and look over to see Emmalyn making her way out to the porch.
“I love it out here,” she says sitting in the chair directly across from me.
“I didn’t even know this was back here. I’m glad I found it,” I tell her.
“It’s perfect when it rains,” she says reclining further in her chair. “The roof is tin and it sounds amazing.”
“I’ll have to remember that next time it rains.” I look over at her. “What are you doing today?”
She smiles brightly. “The girls and I are going to Bull’s.”
I gasp. “You’re going to a female strip club?”
She laughs. “Not exactly. Wednesday is ladies’ night. Male strippers come over from Albuquerque and dance all night.”
I laugh at her excitement. “Sounds like a blast,” I say but shake my head no. “Kincaid is okay with this?”
“He’s not doing backflips at the idea, but I’ll find a way to make it up to him,” she says with a wink.
I love how easy things are with Em. She doesn’t seem to see me as a child. If she did, she wouldn’t have just implied she’s going to do sexual favors in exchange for her fun tonight. I feel like a grown up around her, and that’s exactly what I need.
“Well, you ladies have fun.”
“We will. I wish you could go.” She scrunches her nose. “Next time we go you can join us. They won’t let you drink, but the show should be just as fun sober!”
“Yeah,” I say softly. “Not really my thing.”
“We’ll see,” she says with a quick wink.
“I’m sure the guys are going to order in pizza and sit around the living room bitching about the women being gone, so you may want to stay out of the line of fire.”
“Are you saying it’s not safe out there with them?” I feel a wave of unease come over me knowing I’ll be here alone with all of the guys.
“Oh, God no!” she says quickly. “You’re perfectly safe. There’s not one man in this clubhouse that would ever cause you harm. They’re protective and chivalrous to a fault. I’m just saying you probably won’t want to listen to them bitching. When we first talked about it a couple of weeks ago, you would’ve thought we said we were all running off and eloping with men we don’t even know.”
“Seriously?”
She nods and a wide smile crosses her face. “I can’t complain though. I got one hell of a private show from Kincaid after that.”
I laugh as she opens the back door to go back inside. “Too much information,” I tell her and shake my head.
“Yeah, okay,” she says with a mischievous smirk. “Like I didn’t listen to your mutual masturbation story yesterday morning.”
“You practically hounded me for that information!” I exclaim.
“I did, and believe me Diego loved it when I did the same thing with him this morning.” I shake my head at her. This woman is nuts. “Later,” she says with a quick wiggle of her fingers.
Maybe it won’t be so bad here while Kid is away.
Chapter 24
Kid
“So just four years in the Corps?” Bryan asks as we cross the New Mexico state line.
“Yeah. Believe me that was long enough.” I look out the window and watch as we pass the red dirt, rock formations, and sage grass on the roadside. “I honestly went in thinking I’d make a career of it, but I found out real quick that shit wasn’t for me.”
“You like what you’re doing now?” He knows all about the work we do with Kincaid. Shadow knows him from when Blade was at Walter Reed years and years ago.
“Love it. Just an all-around better fit for me.”
We ride in silence for a while, which I’m fine with. My head is trying to work through everything that has happened since I pulled Khloe off the edge of that bridge. I can’t seem to pinpoint the exact moment when she got under my skin. It almost feels like she’s always been there.
“So you and Khloe, huh?” I sigh loudly. I knew he’d bring her up eventually. I may have been at the table with her this morning, but I still saw the way he watched us, as if what we were doing was wrong, and on some level it felt wrong to me too.