Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Well, she guessed that was fair.
“All right. Thank you.” She coughed, her throat feeling scratchy.
Oh, this wasn’t good.
She rarely got sick, and when she did, she wasn’t very good at taking care of herself.
“Well, he’s just down there.” She gestured down the road. “Thanks.”
She stepped away, trying not to rush and look like she didn’t want to be around him.
“You’re welcome, Nyx.”
Jilly stiffened, tripping once more. How had he known she was Nyx? Kimmy’s friend . . . the guy who’d been making out with her last weekend? Trick, no Trent, no Trip!
But how did he know she was Nyx with her hoodie up?
It didn’t matter.
He didn’t know her real name. And why would he care?
Pushing the worries from her mind, she climbed into the Uber car. Too late, she realized she probably should have gotten into the front seat in case he was watching.
Urgh.
There was no fixing that now.
20
Regent was heading home when his phone rang.
With a sigh, he saw it was Anne. He raised the barrier between himself and Jose in the car and answered the call. He lit a cigarette, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder.
He didn’t smoke often, but when he was stressed the hit of tobacco calmed him down.
Victor was sitting beside him and turned to give him a querying look.
“Hello, Anne,” he said coolly.
“So you’re upset with me too. I knew it. I’m such a blabbermouth!”
His irritation eased at the clear distress in her voice.
“I’m not upset with you.”
“You are! And I can’t blame you. Jilly still isn’t answering my calls. Oh, I wish I hadn’t called in the first place. Always sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong. Jilly and Frank tell me that all the time.”
“Anne,” he interrupted.
“Yes?”
“Was there something I can do for you?”
Victor was looking out the window, but Regent knew his brother would be taking in every word.
He rubbed at his forehead. He just wanted to get home and go to bed. Victor and Gracen were taking possession of their house tomorrow, and he’d promised Gracen he wouldn’t keep Victor out too late. It was already after ten.
Anne sighed. “No. No, there’s nothing. I just wanted to call and apologize. I realize that I hugely overstepped asking you to check on my Jilly. She’s just . . . her childhood was difficult in a way that you are one of the few people who would understand.”
“Then isn’t that reason enough to keep her away from me?” he asked stiffly.
Shouldn’t she want someone different for her daughter? Someone safer?
“I did want something different for her. Something normal. And yet, the men she has dated have all been normal men and not one of them has been worthy of my girl. She deserves someone who worships the ground she walks on. Someone who would lay down their life for her. Who realizes that she is precious and amazing. I just . . . I want that for her so badly.”
“I’m not that person, Anne.” He kept his voice stern. Calm. Controlled.
He needed her to realize that she wasn’t to do that again. No one manipulated Regent Montclair Malone and lived to tell the tale. She was just lucky that he held some affection for her.
“Right. Of course. I apologize again. I won’t take up any more of your time.”
“Oh, and Anne?” he said.
“Yes?”
“Jilly is an adult who doesn’t need you interfering in her life.”
“Yes, you’re right.”
“But I also know that she will forgive you soon.” He ended the call before Anne could say anything else.
“Anne is still bugging you about Jilly?” Victor asked.
“I wouldn’t say bugging me. She told Jilly she’d called and asked me to check on her. Jilly grew . . . upset.”
Victor didn’t say anything, but Regent could sense him staring at him.
He turned to his brother. “What is it?”
“You like her, don’t you?”
“Just because I don’t want anything to happen to her doesn’t mean I like her.”
“You got her boss fired because she was bullying her.”
“Not yet. That will be happening Monday morning. Jardin couldn’t find anything on that bitch. So he had someone plant some things. Her boss will be getting a number of notifications by Monday morning.”
Then it was bye-bye, old bat.
“Right. And you went to all that trouble simply because Jilly has a tentative connection to our family.”
“She guards the entrance to the tunnels.”
“She’s not standing over them, protecting them with her life. And she gets to live in that house for free.”
“So I should just let her get bullied?” he asked incredulously.
“If it was anyone else, you would.”
“I would never allow any of our women to get bullied,” he snapped. He didn’t understand Victor.
“But Jilly isn’t one of our women. Unless you want her to be yours. And I think you do.”
“Save me the psychoanalysis,” he told him in a cold voice. “Just because you have Gracen doesn’t mean that I’m looking for a woman.”