Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
When the crowd begins to dwindle, I head over to Kid’s table. He’s kept an eye on me all night but made sure to sit in one of the other waitress’s areas, giving me some room to breathe. His waitress left for home a few minutes ago, so I make my way over to see if he needs another beer before last call. He’s been nursing a few all night, and that is another reason I’m comfortable around him.
Whether it is Diego’s orders or the fact that he just cares, he’s not going to put me in a position where I’m forced to either ride home with him intoxicated or insist on driving myself. This is a consideration Bobby would’ve never given me. Countless times I had to practically carry him out of my place of employment and drive his drunk ass home.
“You need another?” I ask Kid and angle my head to his empty beer bottle.
He shakes his head no and just watches my face. I’m not uncomfortable with him looking at me, but I do feel pressured to speak.
“This situation is familiar,” I tell him pointedly. He hitches an eyebrow up in confusion. “A man watching my every move while I work.”
His lip twitches as if he’s annoyed that I’d compare him to Bobby. He leans in closer to me before he begins to speak. “I’m here to protect you, Emmalyn, not look for reasons to punish you.”
I nod my head in understanding, feeling guilty for even implying he was anything like Bobby. I begin to lower my head in shame because Kid has done nothing but treat me kindly and make sure I’m safe.
“Besides,” he begins, “Kincaid would have my balls if I let you get so much as a scratch on the beautiful body of his… I mean yours.”
I snap my head up and glare at him. He holds his hands up as if he may have to protect himself any second. “Don’t look at me like that! Those are his words, not mine.”
I narrow my eyes at him, but smile ear to ear as I walk back to the bar to throw his empty beer bottle away.
Chapter 18
Kincaid
The last two weeks have been absolute fucking torture, in more than one sense of the word. The mission took a nasty turn when after we had acted on some bad information, we discovered that we were within hours of rescuing Constance, but something tipped the traders off and they moved the group of captives.
We know, as of twelve hours ago, Constance was in Johannesburg with a group of about fifteen other women. When we made entry into the house, the only thing we discovered was evidence that they were holding a large number of people in a very small building.
We also found the body of a girl that could be no more than sixteen years old. Proper authorities were contacted after that gruesome discovery, and hopefully, they could get that poor soul back to her family; at least their grieving could start in earnest now.
We have eyes and ears all over town, and now the worst part of any mission begins, the waiting. We wait and hope that we’re paying the snitches more than the traffickers, and they call us first when the group we’re tracking gets settled again. We’re days away from the World Cup, and there is no way the traffickers will leave the area without getting the biggest payday they can. It means they will be situated near the stadium grounds, making it easier for travelers to have access to the girls.
We all hit the makeshift beds situated in a small room in a rent-by-the-week motel hoping to get some sleep, so the waiting doesn’t seem as fruitless. We’re all exhausted. We’ve been at this for almost two weeks, and we seem to be just hours behind them with every move we make.
It’s not uncommon. Traffickers are known to be skittish, moving the women with just the slightest hint that someone may be lurking around the corner. They don’t have to only worry about recon forces such as myself catching them, but they also have to worry about other groups of traffickers coming in and poaching the women they’ve spent so much time and money getting here. No honor among thieves and all that.
I shoot Emmalyn a quick text before closing my eyes. I wait for a few minutes for her return text, but it never comes. I look at the time on the cell phone and realize that it’s four in the morning. I close my eyes, knowing she’s asleep and feeling like a jerk for sending a message that could’ve woken her up.
***
I’m livid at whoever it is that’s shaking me out of my dream. Nothing is more important to me right now than the arms I had wrapped around Emmalyn as we lay on our sides holding each other. I grumble and reach for the last few tendrils of sleep, doing my best to stay with her.