Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
“Looks the same as any other,” Nolan says, impressed, giving the back of the carrier a small knock too. “Nifty.”
I grab the baby bag, sling it over my shoulder, and cross the road. “Go inside and turn off the music.”
“But Brad’s doing auditions.”
I stop and look at Nolan. I don’t need to say a word. Off he goes, while I check my phone again, holding it up to the sky to find some service. Nothing. “Fuck’s sake.” I hear the track playing in the club cut abruptly so I make my way inside.
“Are you fucking joking?” Brad asks, standing from a chair that’s in front of the stage. “Seriously, Danny, it’s bad enough I live in a house full of women and kids, now you’re bringing them to work?”
“Shut up, you miserable fuck.” I sling the bag down and nod to Mason, Des, and Drake at the bar. “And there’re only two kids in the house. Three if you include Anya. Four if you include Pearl.” I raise a brow, and Brad snarls. God, he’s being a dick lately. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing.”
“This got anything to do with Pearl?” I ask, watching for his reaction. I’m still not convinced that matter is dead in the water.
“Fuck off, Danny.”
“Where is she anyway?”
“Are we talking business or pussy?”
So she’s pussy? “Or kids.” I smile, earning myself another snarl.
“How the fuck would I know where she is?”
“Because she works here.”
“Don’t I fucking know it,” he mutters.
I’ve known Brad since I was ten. He’s the first to crack a joke. The first to alleviate the tension. The most easygoing deadly man I’ve ever known and ever likely to know. But since his brush with death—or, more to the point, the arrival of Pearl—he’s changed. I can’t say I appreciate it. I know exactly what’s wrong with him. He wants to fuck a female he shouldn’t want to fuck, because the female is barely a woman, and Brad isn’t getting any younger. What I can’t figure out is if his beef is purely age related, or simply because a member of the opposite sex has gotten under his skin, and women never get under Brad Black’s skin, least of all one nearly half his age.
“I can’t believe you brought the baby to Hiatus,” he grumbles.
“Her name’s Maggie. You want to hold her? You’ve not held her yet.” Hardly even looked at her. “Here.” I start unfastening the straps on the carrier, and Brad backs up, alarmed.
“No, thanks.”
I falter in my movements. He looks truly terrified. “What the hell is going on?” I ask, leaving Maggie exactly where she is, safe against my chest. This reaction, the mood, all just feels over the top for a simple case of having the hots for someone you shouldn’t have the hots for. Do I need to take him for a drink? I know I’ve been absent recently. Distracted. Really fucking tired. But . . . I look down at my chest. She’s awake. Awake and quiet. It’s a fucking miracle.
“I’m fine,” Brad grunts. “The interviews are over.” An impatient hand gets thrown up in the air. “You were all shit.”
I look across the bar, noticing for the first time a line of young women sitting on the edge of the stage. All eyes on me. Or my chest, and not for the same reasons I’m used to. It’s swoon central, apparently, as they all move in. I wrap my arms around Maggie and get us the fuck out of there. “Where’s Otto?” I ask Brad over my shoulder.
“Upstairs with James.”
James is here? “He’s not with Beau?”
“Beau’s with Rose at the salon,” he calls.
I stop at the entrance of the office, looking back at him. “You coming?”
He holds up a hand, his phone going to his ear. I leave him, entering the office, and Nolan swings around, startled. Could be me, but he looks guilty as he puts something in his pocket. “All right?” I ask, suspicious.
The smile he slaps on his face is epic. Fake. Nervous as shit. “Good, boss.”
I scowl at him, assessing his disposition. I don’t like it, but Brad walks in behind me before I can pin the fucker down and grill him.
“Leon’s gonna pick up some more stock later,” Nolan says.
“Got it.” Brad punches in the code at the door that leads up to the secret office and looks back at me impatiently, like hurry the hell up. “May as well give Maggie the full tour.”
I rip my wary eyes off Nolan. “Want to see where we hide some of the cash, Maggie?” I ask. “Just don’t tell your mummy.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Brad shakes his head in despair. Couldn’t give a fuck. She’s still quiet. “I think I’ve nailed this babysitting business.”
“It’s not babysitting when it’s your daughter, you jerk.”
Daughter. Still weird. I climb the stairs and enter with Brad, finding James with his feet kicked up on the desk, looking bored out of his mind, and Otto hunched over a laptop. I’m staggered every time I see Otto like this. What the fuck does he do on that fucking laptop all the fucking time?