Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Chris, again, looked up at Hayley's window.
"Just let it go tonight," Doc said, sounding exhausted. "I'm tired. You're tired. She's tired. Asshole’s gonna cool his heels in lock-up for a good long while. Justice was served here. Let's head home."
"She's not safe here," Chris declared.
"No. No she's not. But there's nothing you can do about it tonight short of kicking her door down and carrying her to your bike." Chris looked like he was actually considering this. Doc sighed. "Don't make me arrest you. Tomorrow. Fix it tomorrow." Instead Chris headed for the stairs. “Chivalry is not a defense against kidnapping!” Doc called after him.
Chris actually agreed with Doc. It was late. It was not the time to try to convince Slick that the Rainbow was the end of the line for Rapid City’s bottom feeders. But that didn’t mean he was just going to walk away. He rapped on her door. He could practically hear her debating whether or not to open it. When she finally did, chain on the door, of course, he scowled at her. He reached behind himself and grabbed his wallet. He took out a business card for the garage and handed it to her. “Anyone else bothers you tonight, you call me.”
She bit her lip and looked at the card. “Why- why wouldn’t I just call the police?”
“Jesus, why are you busting my balls? Fine, Slick. Call the police! And when you’re done, you call me. I can get here faster.”
She glanced down at the card. “No one will bother me after this,” she said, gesturing to the squad car.
“It’s like you’re trying to piss me off,” he declared. “Anyone bothers-”
“Okay! I get it. I- I’ll call. If anyone bothers me. Which they won’t. But I’ll call if they do.”
Chris gave her a curt nod and walked away.
Chapter 4
Hayley made her way to Maria's the next morning with a little more pep in her step. She grudgingly thanked Shooter and his cop friend for that, albeit silently. Getting rid of the Giggler had resulted in a a far more decent night's sleep than she'd had since arriving in Rapid City. She wasn't exactly happy about four huge bikers invading her personal space, well, two invading her space and two standing sentry at the door, but they didn't press her for personal details and had left her alone after arresting the Giggler, so all in all it had been worth the trouble.
She stowed her bag in Maria's office and tied her apron around her waist. She'd lost a little bit of weight. Especially since moving to South Dakota. The room at the Rainbow didn't have anything like a kitchenette or even a hot plate and when she was off-shift she was too tired to walk to a nearby place to grab some food. Also, that kind of thing would hit her savings hard after a while.
She smiled at the regulars, warmed their coffee and served their lunches and decided that she'd splurge on a danish tomorrow morning and peruse the paper for a place to stay. Her shift went by pretty quickly, or maybe it just seemed that way because she wasn't hurting for sleep this afternoon. She cashed out, said goodbye to the other girls, and finagled her duffel through the swinging door out into the main bar area when the front door swung open and in stepped Chris Sullivan. Hayley frowned. He was alone and from her limited experience at the bar, he rarely, if ever, came to Maria's in the afternoons. Usually only on Fridays and Saturdays, Miranda had said.
She stopped. Face to face with him now was awkward because one the hand, he'd basically stalked her to her motel room last night. But on the other hand, he'd done it because he was worried about her safety and he'd also gotten rid of the Giggler. She reluctantly decided that the pros outweighed the cons and resumed her approach as his gaze zeroed in on her. He started toward her.
Meeting in the middle, Hayley said, "Um. Tell your cop friend thanks for getting rid of that guy." There. She'd said it. Now she could live her life knowing the scales of karma had been balanced once again. She started to step around him when he moved in front of her. She sighed inwardly, not really wanting to have an actual conversation with the man when he did worse than that. He reached down and grabbed her duffel off her shoulder. She was so surprised that she almost accidentally let go of the damn thing. Coming to her senses she gripped it tightly.
"Hey!" she cried.
"Let me carry this for you," he said. But he didn't say it in a way that sounded helpful and friendly. He sounded pissed.
"No! Why?"
"Because it's obviously heavy," he replied.