Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Hutch was making the leap from apartment renter to actual homeowner. He’d bought Beck’s three bedroom and called it an investment.
MaeBe had forks. Eight of them, and they matched the spoons and knives. She’d bought them as a set at Target, and she was weirdly proud of them. “I’ll take you shopping. And I won’t even mention it to Charlotte. I think it’s time I headed out. I’ve got a yoga class in the morning.”
“Hang on a minute and I’ll walk with you,” Hutch said as Deke walked up and a brow rose over his eyes.
The two men started talking, likely about something work related, and Kori had been pulled into another conversation.
The parking garage was well lit, and it wasn’t too late. She didn’t have to drag someone out of the party to walk her across the street.
She set down her glass and started for the door, glancing back and watching Beck and Kim dancing. Beck was a little stiff, but it didn’t matter. They were obviously so in love.
Was she ever going to find something like that for herself? Or was she one of those people who moved through relationships, never finding anything permanent?
The night was cool against her skin as the door closed behind her, and she stepped away from the lights surrounding Top.
“Hey, MaeBe.”
A shadow peeled away from the big tree right outside the parking garage.
Her bad-date lawyer was back, and she should have waited for Hutch.
* * * *
Kyle sat back as MaeBe walked by.
The impulse was right there. To join her. To walk beside her. To do something stupid like ask her to dance. He didn’t dance. Not anymore. The dumbass college kid who hadn’t cared what he looked like was long gone, and he didn’t have anything to offer her so he’d stayed away.
But the impulse remained.
I have a game night if you want to come. It’s pretty fun. We play all kinds of games and I usually make something tasty for dinner. It’s every Thursday at my place. Since I now have a place.
He knew about her place. He’d checked it out, and the security was solid or he would have had a talk with his uncle about gently steering her away from it.
He still didn’t have a place because something was wrong with his credit reports. And his bank accounts. Someone—likely Drake—had dumped a shit ton of cash into Kyle’s personal accounts, and he couldn’t spend a dime of it because he rather thought the money had once been Julia’s. Julia’s blood money.
Someone might come looking for it. Yet another reason to stay in his seat and not follow MaeBe out.
“That girl is going to get in trouble.” Kori walked over to his table, shaking her head. “Did you see which way MaeBe went?”
“She just walked out the door. Why? Did she forget something?” He stood, all prior thoughts consigned to hell. If MaeBe had forgotten something then he would definitely be faster than Kori.
“Yes, she forgot that she’s picked up a bit of a stalker and shouldn’t be walking around alone,” Kori said with a frown. “She had a date go bad a couple of weeks ago. A lawyer from your building a friend of hers set her up with. Mae was not impressed but the lawyer was, and he’s been calling her and routinely is in the same elevator as her when she leaves work. It’s gotten annoying enough that Hutch has been walking her down and making sure she’s safely in her car.”
That did not go far enough. “Hutch is walking her down? Does he know there’s an actual trained bodyguard unit he could call on? I’ll have a schedule for her tomorrow, and I’ll catch her and let her know how this is going to work.”
Kori stared at him like he’d grown an extra head. “Uhm, I think she’s cool with Hutch handling things. They’re friends. I don’t know if she’s going to want the bodyguard unit involved.”
He shrugged. “Then she shouldn’t have walked out without Hutch.”
He jogged away before she could say another word because he wasn’t about to argue with Kori about something like this. She might have a lot of sway at Sanctum and with Kai, but she was not the boss of MaeBe.
And it was becoming crystal clear that MaeBe needed a damn boss.
He was sure she would argue with him that she was a grown woman and didn’t need a man treating her like a child. He wasn’t. Most of the children he knew obeyed way better than MaeBe.
Not that he would tell her that. Normally he was a deeply forward-thinking guy. Mae brought out the caveman neanderthal in him.
He would never have thought twice about Julia walking to a parking garage by herself. It wouldn’t have even occurred to him she might be in danger. Because she’d been the predator, and she knew damn well how to protect herself. She never did a single thing that didn’t serve her own best interest.