Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
I wasn’t hungry. Death tended to lower my appetite, I guess. I passed the plate of waffles along to Dario, who sat across from me, and just put a few pieces of cubed fruit on my plate.
“That all you’re going to eat?” Tommy whispered in my ear.
I nodded. “Not feeling so hungry.”
“Excuse us,” Tommy said to the room and put his napkin on the table and reached for my hand. I took it and followed him out of the kitchen, down a hall, and out a set of sliding doors onto a deck that overlooked a swimming pool.
He took me into his arms and lifted me up a few inches off the patio, holding me tight, “You okay?” he whispered into my hair. I started shaking again.
He set me back on my feet and tipped my chin up with his thumb and index finger and then kissed my forehead softly. “Everything is fine. I dealt with that security breach and it won’t happen again. You don’t have to worry. By the time we get back home the house’ll be 100% safe.”
“It the same people as Mexico?”
“Don’t worry, baby. It’s dealt with. We’ll have brunch with these guys and then we’ll go for a drive and get out of the city for a bit, okay?”
I nodded, looked down, but melted into him feeling oddly safe.
“Tia, smile, please. Come and eat. Okay? I won’t let anything happen to you. Anything. Ever.”
He smelled so good. I inhaled him at the chest and nodded, then followed him back into the house. He hadn’t seemed threatening with me, but that hadn’t settled my nerves much, either. I saw Tommy’s father in the doorway. He’d been watching us. He had a smile on his face. It was sort of a sick smile and gave me chills.
The rest of the meal was jovial. Not because of me, but because of Tom Sr. and Dario, mostly. When we got back to the table Tommy heaped scrambled eggs and bacon on my plate and then went back to eating. I picked at the food, but didn’t consume much.
They were debating almost non-stop for almost two hours on a variety of subjects. Tommy was quiet other than dropping the odd wise crack in there to cut up one, the other, or both of them. I was quiet, but I tried not to be broody. He seemed deep in thought, too. Lisa sort of just sat there looking pretty, but she rolled her eyes at me a few times, too, due to the topics or the passion with which an argument was delivered.
Finally, Tommy rose from the table. “Well kids, I hate to break up the party but me and my girl need to see a man about a hog.” He fist bumped his father and his brother and then gave Lisa a kiss on the cheek. Dario and Thomas both kissed me on the cheek and Lisa and I hugged. I thanked them for their hospitality and Tommy and I left hand-in-hand.
“You’re off the grid, then?” Dario asked him, following us to the door.
He answered, “’Till tomorrow.”
Dario saluted him and Tommy saluted him back.
Outside was a silver Jeep Wrangler. He opened the passenger door and ushered me in, moving the bag with my pjs from the passenger seat onto the back seat.
“A man about a hog?” I asked.
He smiled at me. “You’ll see.”
We left the city. He played the radio so we didn’t chat, but he held my hand on the console between us. After about an hour, we turned into a dirt driveway toward a farmhouse and barn and I started to wonder if the ‘man about a hog’ thing wasn’t just a figure of speech.
He parked the Jeep and motioned for me to follow him. It was a pretty place. Big barn, little stone farmhouse, a bit overgrown but wildflowers everywhere, and no visible neighbors. He unlocked and then opened a set of double barn doors on the big, powder blue barn and inside there was a path down the center and horse stalls all the way down on either side. I heard no noise and smelled nothing that resembled animals, but then he opened a stall door and revealed a very shiny-looking candy apple red and chrome Harley Davidson motorcycle. Ah, a hog.
“Care to put something exciting between your legs?” he asked, suggestively, smiling at me.
I looked down at my clothes, “I’m wearing a skirt,” I said.
He shrugged, “You’ll be against my back. No one’ll see your cute little baby blue panties,” he winked.
“Obviously you saw them.” I wondered how he knew. Maybe he approved what Nino had brought me.
“But, I’m allowed to. Let’s do this.”
He walked the bike out and then got into the Jeep and backed into the barn, closed the doors, and locked them.
He passed me a metallic candy apple red helmet and put a black one on his head and then we got on the road and he vroomed out of the driveway.