Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
However, I didn’t see him for the rest of my shift. Finally, at half past eleven, Reed came to the bar, and after asking how things were going, he let me go home early. Paige had told him I wasn’t getting much sleep, and he took pity on me. I didn’t argue. It was a sweet gesture, and I didn’t want to appear ungrateful.
After stopping at the office to get my purse from my employee locker, I grabbed my bus pass and the lanyard with my pepper spray and a pocket knife for protection and went out into the night. I started toward the bus stop a few blocks away from the club. As I walked, I thought about the man from the club. I didn’t know why I couldn’t get him out of my head, but there was something about him that my mind refused to let go of. It was something more than the fact that he reminded me of Bennett. I just couldn’t figure it out.
A strange feeling clawed up my spine as I walked. I was being watched. Or followed. I wasn’t used to living in Los Angeles, where there was some terrible news story on TV every day. The bus stop was just a few yards away, but the feeling clung to me even as I stepped underneath the covering, bathed in light from the streetlight above.
I scanned the street but didn’t see anyone coming from either direction.
All of a sudden, a voice burst through the silence. “Tori!”
My heart stopped, frozen in place, but my feet started going like something from The Flintstones, and I rocketed down the sidewalk. I had no idea where to go. The bus wouldn’t be by for another ten minutes. I didn’t know if I could run that long. Did the man have a weapon? Should I scream for help?
“Tori! Wait!” the voice was even deeper, more frantic this time.
Fuck! They found me. Someone from the stupid Sanderson mob had finally tracked me down! Oh, fuck! And now they were here to take me out! I had to get away! I reached into my pocket as I bolted and hurried to dial 911.
“Tori! It’s Bennett! Stop!”
I stopped so abruptly that my heart jumped up to my throat. I whipped around and saw the man from the club. Paige’s eye candy.
“Bennett?” I choked out over the hard lump in my throat, so quiet there was no way he could hear me.
He jogged to catch up to me. “Yeah…it’s me, baby.”
I couldn’t believe him. Each second slowed to a crawl as I stared at him. He had the same nose, jaw, and lines around his eyes. But…no. It couldn’t be him. It had to be one of them. There was no way this man was Bennett. “No…it can’t be. You can’t be Bennett.”
“Baby, I swear it’s me. Come on,” he said, reaching for my hand. “I’ll tell you everything, but we have to get off the street before someone sees us.”
CHAPTER TEN
Tori
“I still don’t understand.”
Bennett had explained everything, but I was lost. My mind was moving too fast to fully process what he told me. One thing was clear, it was him. He was back in my life. I just didn’t know how. Or for how long.
Once I agreed to go with him, Bennett, AKA Eric, had taken me to his hotel. It was just a simple suite at one of the smaller hotels in the heart of Hollywood. He’d made me wait until we got to his room before telling me anything.
“I know it’s a lot to take in, especially since I can’t tell you all the details,” he replied.
I was sitting on the sofa, watching him pace back and forth. He hadn’t stopped since we entered the room. He was nervous. Agitated. But I didn’t know why. He approached me—not the other way around. I would have never figured out who he was.
He stopped abruptly. “Tori, do you have any idea who these people are? They’re all tied together—”
“—who? What people? Reed?”
“No, not Reed—or at least I don’t think so. Maybe he is, but I’m more worried about Richie Dalton. He’s the head of the Sanderson crew, and the guy you put away last year is his Uncle Paul Sanderson.” He paced a few steps and stopped again, glaring at me. “Do you have any idea what you walked into?”
I shook my head. “Oh my God, Bennett.” I wrapped my arms around myself and rocked, trying to calm my stomach. These were the guys I was trying to get away from, and now? I was fucked. “What am I gonna do?”
“Right now, nothing. How long have you been working at Parkston’s?”
I thought back to my first night at the club. It was hot and breezy. Summertime. Or early fall. “Like nine-ten months. Why?”