Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 94205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Suck up.
Butch wished he’d thought to do that.
“A long time ago.” Nicole had been the love of his life. And it had taken him what seemed like forever to get over her. Maybe he still hadn’t, and that’s why he’d never found someone who had measured up.
They’d been young, and when her dad had taken a new job overseas, she’d gone with her family rather than stay with him. That had shattered him. Even though he understood it now, he’d said things to her that he regretted.
“Were you telling him about our encounter with Lara?” Tanner reached for a chocolate chip cookie only to get his hand slapped.
Butch grinned as Tanner gave Mia a wounded look. She was used to their antics.
“Yep.”
“Did you know she’s staying at the Crabapple motel?” Tanner demanded.
Butch frowned. “Really?” Maybe he’d misjudged her. He’d just assumed she had money. “Just for last night while they were out on the town for the bridal shower?”
“Doesn’t seem so, since we dropped her back there this afternoon,” Flick said casually as she stuck a spoon into a jar of Nutella. “After she nearly got run over.”
“What?” He stood up straight. “What do you mean she nearly got run over?”
“I had to rescue her,” Tanner said. “Pulled her away just in time. The asshole got out of his car and started yelling at her.”
“What? Who? They nearly ran her over and then yelled at her?” His hands were clenching into fists as adrenaline pumped through him.
He’d kill the bastard.
“Well, it was more like she stepped out in front of them,” Flick said, eyeing him with interest.
“What?” Why wasn’t she looking where she was going?
“Yeah, she was talking on her phone and not paying attention,” Tanner said, popping a grape into his mouth.
What the hell? If she were his, he’d have put her over his knee for that. His hand was itching to do just that. She needed to take more care.
“What was she thinking? You’re sure she wasn’t hurt?” he asked Tanner.
“Didn’t seem to be. She was shaken up, though. That’s why I drove her back to that motel.”
“That place is a dump. Why didn’t you take her somewhere else?” Guilt filled him as he realized he should have asked her where she was staying last night.
“I wanted her to come home with us,” Flick told him.
What? He wasn’t sure how he felt about that . . . except it would be better than her staying in that motel.
“She shouldn’t be staying there,” he said.
“It’s her choice, I guess,” Tanner said.
Her choice? When it was the wrong one? When it was probably bad for her health and safety? He didn’t think so.
“You seem very upset about someone you just met,” Flick pointed out as she tried to smear a piece of cheese with Nutella.
“Who isn’t your type,” Mia added.
“I just . . . I’m not upset . . . I mean, I am. She could have been seriously hurt today, and that motel isn’t safe. And she’s a nice person.”
“Who you don’t really know, but agreed to go out with,” Mia added.
“We’re not going out. I’m just pretending to be her boyfriend while she goes to her sister’s wedding. I need to go.” He turned to stomp out.
“You going to see her?” Tanner asked.
“No!” he called back. They were little more than acquaintances. Where she stayed and what she did was none of his business.
Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, man.
“That’s a shame. I wanted to know how her rat army is going.”
He spun back. “Rats? There are rats?”
“Where are there rats?” West asked as he walked around him and into the kitchen. “Baby, what the hell are you eating? That can’t be good for you.” He walked over to Flick and tried to pull away the jar of Nutella.
But she held it against her chest with a growl. “Mine.”
“Flick—”
“No, mine! Anyone who tries to take this from me will suffer the wrath of the gods!”
West stepped back with his hands up. “Fine. You eat it, baby.”
Wise man.
Butch walked away.
He wasn’t going to see her. It wasn’t any of his business where she was staying. Or that she’d put herself in danger.
Nope.
No way.
8
“I’m bringing a date to the wedding,” she blurted out.
Everyone stopped eating and turned to stare at her. She could feel the animosity rolling off Emily as she sat across from her. Chandler was at the head of the table and her mother was sitting between Lara and Chandler.
She couldn’t believe she was back in Devotion, let alone this house. It was awful. Her stomach was tied up in knots so severely that she couldn’t even eat the perfectly cooked salmon. And it had been so long since she’d had salmon.
Why had she gotten into the car her mother had sent? She could have just left the motel. Walked away.