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)
She and Taylor walked out.
And Kyle got to cleaning up.
“Dude, she is pissed at you,” West said, taking his half of the body.
“And you are excellent at stating the obvious.” Kyle moved. He could hear sirens coming in hot.
His night wasn’t going at all the way he’d planned.
Chapter Nine
“You’re home for less than one hour and you bring me a dead body.” Ian Taggart stood in the parking lot of Sanctum, his hands in fists at his hips as he stared down at the trunk of Drake Radcliffe’s rental vehicle.
Oh, Kyle had heard all about how expensive it was going to be to clean up that rental car. Drake had complained about it incessantly as they’d driven around Dallas making sure they didn’t have a tail. Drake had become a complaining old man since he’d settled into a relationship.
Kyle wanted to be a complaining old man. It sounded fun. Complaining old men complained because they had a good life, and anything outside of that happy bubble was something to be complained about. He didn’t complain about dead bodies because his life was actually livened up by them. For a good at least half a year, he’d almost made complaining old-man status because he’d been with MaeBe and everything except MaeBe’s world annoyed him. The last couple of months had been spent hiding and plotting and doing a surprising amount of dishes because the woman who’d been willing to hide him didn’t believe in free rides.
He’d also learned how to work a commercial fryer. If he made MaeBe some truly delicious fried food, would she smile his way?
“Yes, I was rather surprised myself since he knows damn well this is a rental,” Drake huffed.
Yup. That was what he’d dealt with the entire time they were driving, waiting for his uncle to tell him where they should meet. Taylor had tried to soothe Drake. No one had tried to soothe Kyle, and he was the one who’d nearly gotten shot. “You’re a freaking spy. You should know to get the insurance.”
“I told him,” Taylor said with a shrug. “We should have gotten the one with the trunk liner. Body storage and cleanup is so much easier with a good trunk liner.”
“Mr. Taggart, I assure you it was a necessary kill.” West had been standing at attention like he was in the Army or something. “There was no other way out of the situation.”
The asshole had also taken the seat next to MaeBe in the car. The cowboy had been damn quick to slide in beside her, and those sirens had been too close for Kyle to force the issue. MaeBe hadn’t said a word since she’d boldly told Taylor the men would do the cleanup. She’d nodded Drake’s way and then sat in the back seat like someone was taking her to prison.
He needed to get her alone. He needed to get his arms around her, and apparently he definitely needed to do some fast talking because she’d misunderstood what he’d done. Or rather why he’d done it.
He loved her so much. That love had been the only thing that kept him going—even when he’d accepted he might never see her again.
He’d also gotten his uncle up in the middle of the night to deal with a dead body. “I’m sorry.”
A grin spread over Ian’s face. “You mistake me, nephew. I was saying no one ever brings me dead bodies to deal with and here you are like a cat with a mouse in his mouth not an hour after hitting town. This is a treat. I’ve got some decisions to make. Fun ones. Do I use the acid I’ve been wanting to try, or bury it somewhere on Julian Lodge’s property and give that old man something to think about? There’s no wrong way to go. Hence my delight. Oh, and I’m glad you’re all okay.”
“It wasn’t Kyle, sir. It was MaeBe.” West just had to spit that truth out.
His uncle’s grin turned to a full-fledged smile. “Seriously? Because that looks like a complete blindside. That bullet went straight through his back and into his heart. You obviously didn’t warn him.”
“We don’t play fair,” she said quietly.
But Mae always played fair. Always. Even in stupid fantasy games, she made sure she knew the rules and carefully followed them all because she believed in fair play.
What the fuck had she gone through while he’d been away?
His uncle’s smile muted, and he walked right up to Mae and wrapped her in the bear hug the man reserved for his closest friends and family. Ian Taggart was a massive ass much of the time, but Kyle had quickly figured out that was a façade that hid a nosy, meddling, loving grandmother who wanted all of her kids to be happy.
“You okay?” Ian asked as MaeBe hugged him back. “You did what you had to do. I know you know that, but it’s hard the first time.”