Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“Oh, we should’ve asked Jessa to come.” Nastya turned, hearing our comments. “She would’ve wowed her with the World War II stories.”
“World War II?”
I grinned at the way that Brecken was standing in the doorway, bent over, helping Lola hold up a couple of pies balanced on a tray.
“Our grandmother, who goes by Grams or Jessa only, loves talking about the wars,” Nastya explained. “We almost asked her to come with us, but she was very firmly entrenched in Bingo today. It was black light night.”
“What, exactly, is black light night?” Tibbs asked.
“Exactly what it sounds,” I admitted. “She goes up there with her black shirt covered in fluorescent paint and plays Bingo in the dark with only black lights to light the area. I’ve gone once and came home with a pounding headache because of the amount of bass that was playing.”
“They like to listen to techno and screaming metal bands.” Nastya shivered.
She, too, had experienced the Bingo Night From Hell.
“The last time I was there it was nudie night. I didn’t realize that until Grams told me I had to get undressed.” Milena shook her head. “I waited out in the parking lot for four hours for her to get done.”
I’d died with all the messages that night Milena had been sharing.
Apparently, you’d been able to see from the windows what was going on inside, and what she’d seen had scarred her for life.
“That’s wild.” Auden shook his head. “I had no clue that was even a thing here.”
“It’s done at the old folks’ home that she moved into when we moved here. She adores it. It keeps her active, and also slightly independent. Two things that she adores,” Milena explained.
Lola and Brecken came farther into the room and placed the two pies on the table.
She had to lean over me to do so, and I had to resist the urge to push my face into the side of her breast.
Just as that thought hit me, the sound of her stomach gurgling had me wincing.
The poor thing.
She’d eaten a lot tonight, and no doubt all of it had dairy in it.
The tray was sat down, and then Brecken said, “Dig in!”
Then, very quietly, she disappeared out of the room, hoping not to be noticed.
I knew, but I didn’t bring attention to her or her issues.
Instead, I ate, and wondered how it was that we already had this level of contentment in our relationship that I didn’t care if she was exploding in the bathroom or not.
My phone rang after about thirty minutes, and I got up to answer it in the hallway after seeing who it was.
Alexi.
“We found him,” Alexi said.
I didn’t ask him who.
He was only tasked with finding one man, after all.
“Where?” I asked.
“Trying to break into the gate,” he answered. “We called the police because there are a few witnesses.”
Fuck.
Of course there were witnesses.
“Who?” I asked.
“The man’s parents.” He paused. “And a sister of his. We had to call because they were already on the phone with the police, saying that we were holding his baby captive, and he wanted his child.”
What he likely wanted was his fifteen minutes of fame.
He had a big case coming up that he wanted to win, and to do that he had to get his name out there and garner as much support as he could.
Because the case he was working on now was a doozy.
A cop killing a dog in front of a kid.
Though, that cop was fully justified in the shooting.
The dog was about to bite a three-year-old, again—for the fourth time—when the officer had come on scene. The toddler’s mother was freaking out, screaming and begging for help. All the while the black lab’s owner was watching it all go down, not trying to help in any way, while she watered her begonias in the flowerbed while drinking a cup of coffee with her kids playing in the front yard.
The cop had done what he’d had to do and had shot the dog when the dog wouldn’t be contained any other way. In front of the family that owned the lab.
It was heartbreaking all the way around, and the entire community was divided.
“Fucking wonderful,” I said. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“We’ll be here,” he said.
I carefully picked my way through the large farmhouse, correctly guessing that if Brecken was going to disappear into a bathroom, it’d be one not easily accessible for the rest of the guests.
I was right, finding her in a back bedroom that looked like the master bath.
The door was closed, and the only reason I knew she was there was the moaning.
I winced. “Brecken?”
The moaning stopped, and then a wheezed, “Please, please tell me you’re not directly outside the door right now. That I might have misheard.”
I found myself grinning. “I hate to break it to you, but you didn’t. I have to go, though. Gabriel Stone is outside my house right now and I have to go deal with it. Do you mind catching a ride home and then coming to my place after you pack a bag?”