Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Fuck. She was right. “Okay,” I relented. “There just better be beer.”
She snorted. “Yeah, well I’m gonna need something to drink, too. There’s only so many times I can tolerate it as well.”
Chapter 12
Ladies, wearing heels is not sexy if you walk like a newborn calf.
-Life Lesson
Shiloh
“Where do babies come from?” Janie asked the group as a whole.
We were eating dinner at McAlister’s Deli with all of the women. Cheyenne had her three kids and Janie, Payton had her daughter, Blaine had her son, Winter with her daughter, and Ember had her two as well. Cheyenne had called a meeting of the minds, and since this was the most kid friendly, we decided it was as good of a place as any.
“Uhhh, why do you ask, sweetie?” I asked into the shocked silence.
“Daddy was talking about missing his baby this morning when he was holding Cat. He kept rubbing his beard along her hair and telling Jack how much he missed his baby.” Janie said around a mouthful of macaroni.
My mind went down the dark road, and I kept thinking about what he could do with that beard. How it would feel with his bearded mouth running along the sensitive insides of my thighs. How it would feel to have his mouth on me... down there.
“Beards, sweetheart. Amazing beards.” I said wistfully.
It wasn’t until I heard the women all out laughing that I realized I’d said it aloud. “Whoops. Didn’t mean to tell you that.”
“Aunt Chey, Uncle Sam doesn’t have a beard. How do you have three babies with no beard?” Janie demanded.
“Well, honey,” she choked. “Uncle Sam has a beard every morning before he shaves it. Trust me on this.”
Conversation flowed, and I allowed myself to let it sink in that I was actually a part of this. Over the past two months, I’ve gotten to know these women fairly well, and I was honored to be a part of their tight-knit group.
I’ve also become very close to James and Janie. They are a huge part of my life, and each movie we watch, and night out we spend together, the happier I seem to be. It made me realize how a real family should feel like, and I envied James’ relationship with his little girl.
The more I thought about what I’d learned from James and my father, the more I’ve come to understand that I need to talk to Sam. Only, I don’t know what or how to go about doing so. I know he’ll be hurt, and we’ve just begun building a relationship of a sister and brother. I didn’t want to chance telling him and losing that building closeness. Although, I knew I didn’t really have a choice. It would have to be done, and I’d just have to hope that it didn’t hurt him.
“Cheyenne, would it be possible for me to speak with Sam later tonight? Without the kids?” I asked softly.
“Of course. All you ever have to do is come over and I’ll take the hellions on a walk or something.” She agreed quickly.
“Motherfucker!” Ember yelled, bringing the attention of not only our immediate table, but every table in the fucking restaurant to her face.
“What?” We asked in unison.
She threw her phone into the middle of the table, refusing to answer.
Since it was closest to me, I brought the phone closer and scanned the screen, anger simmering in my body at what I’d read.
Reading the anger on my face, Cheyenne slipped the phone from my grasp before reading it over herself.
My mind was racing. What could I do? Then I had an idea.
“Where are you going?” Cheyenne asked as I started hustling towards the door.
“To bail your brother out of jail.”
***
Although I hadn’t made many connections with the police department, I still had to deal with quite a few of them on a daily basis. It would take time for them to come to trust me, but one thing was for sure, 99.8 percent of the department did trust James.
However, they’d seen me being picked up by him, taken out on dates by him, and generally around town with him a lot over this past month. More than once, I’d been asked about James or Janie by a passing police officer. So when I showed up at the police department a little over twenty minutes after he’d been arrested, most of them were more than aware of who I was to him.
“Ms. Mackenzie.” A young officer nodded in greeting as I approached the front desk.
It took me a few moments, but finally I remembered. “Howard! How’re you doing today?”
He grinned. “Doing good. That woman we picked up last week was picked up on another warrant yesterday.”
A smile overtook my face. “That’s fantastic news!”
It was, too. That woman was a menace, and didn’t deserve to have the two beautiful children she had. Luckily, after a neighbor heard the mother yelling at her daughters at three A.M. the police were called. I was called shortly after that, and we made the decision to have the children placed into the temporary care of the girls’ paternal grandparents.
They’d found drugs and other paraphernalia in the home, as well as a half assed porn shoot going on in the back of the house, all the while the girls were cordoned off to a small laundry room. One of the girls, the two year old, had wandered out of her cubbyhole and walked into the middle of the amateur porn film that was being filmed.
After enduring tons of yelling, the neighbor had finally called the cops, fed up with the horrible language. The cops had been flabbergasted at what they’d seen, and Howard, in particular, had helped me straighten out the fiasco.
“Are you here to bail James out?” His disgust at the mere thought was very apparent.
“Yes,” I said hesitantly.
“I think that’s the biggest crock of bull I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe he was arrested on those charges.” He growled.
“Can you tell me what they were?” I asked cautiously.
He looked into my eyes for a few moments, searching them with cool cop eyes. Then, as if coming to a decision, he leaned forward over the desk and spoke.