Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“I hear you, Harry,” Riggs said low. “And not once have I said I wasn’t gonna take your back. But just to note, that vodka princess has come to mean something to me, so this is your job, and I get your job means a lot to you, but this is also pretty fuckin’ personal to me too.”
“Right, since we’re being honest with each other, I’ll repeat, you’re not your dad.”
“I know that,” Riggs ground out.
“Good. So that means you’ll stop fuckin’ around with a woman who clearly does it for you. It hasn’t been long since you’ve known her, but I have never in my life seen you the way I saw you with Nadia today. Not the way you hauled ass out of my station to get to her, not the way you bickered with her at her front door. Fuck, man, you shot out of your chair simply because you got a call from her.”
Riggs had no response to that, but even if he did, he wouldn’t have been able to say it because Harry kept at him.
“You’re not gonna beat her, Riggs, because you’re not that man. You’re not gonna steal from her, because she’s got a lot, but you aren’t hurting, though mostly because you’re not that man. And you’re not gonna put her in danger by doing asshole shit with asshole people.”
Riggs cut in at that, at the same time burying the rest, “Right, and buying that bottle from Bubbles didn’t put her in it?”
“That’s on Bubbles, it’s not on you. You know you got a woman who knows expensive things on your hands, and you wanted a decent apology. If I had a friend who owned a bar, I’d go to him and swing a deal on a bottle of wine that’d cost me a shit ton more if I went to the liquor store. It makes sense. It’s Bubbles that put you both in it, not you. Though, I’ll note, you missed my whole fuckin’ point.”
“Right, we’ll talk about me getting serious with Nadia after we talk about you getting your head out of your ass and realizing you’re pissing your life away. I loved her, fuck knows you loved her, but your woman died a long time ago, Harry. You’ll never get over it, but she’d be pissed as all fuck at you that you stopped living when she did, even if you didn’t quit breathing.”
Harry’s face was stone when he said, “I think we’re done here.”
“I coulda guessed you’d shut down the minute you heard that honesty.”
“I hate to take us back to the playground, brother, but it takes one to know one.”
They scowled at each other.
Riggs was angry, hungry, and he wanted to be with his son and Nadia, so he ended it.
“I get a shot at Bubbles, I’ll do all I can,” he bit off.
“Appreciate it,” Harry bit back.
Riggs walked by him to get the fuck out of there.
“Riggs!” Harry called.
Goddammit.
He turned back.
“You shrug off the baggage he landed on you, I’ll consider finding my way to do the same,” Harry said.
Goddammit.
“She lives in Chicago, man.”
“Rus lived in Virginia, now he’s here. Delphine lived in Cali, now she’s here. Stop putting up walls.”
“She’s not my type. We’re total opposites. She can barely climb up in my truck.”
“And Delphine is an award-winning author, and famous actress, and she’s with a retired FBI profiler. And Rus is former FBI, living with a woman who runs a burlesque club. Got more?”
He didn’t, damn it.
“Fuck off,” Riggs bid, earning a dirty look from a passing nurse.
Harry cracked a smile.
Goddamn.
He flipped his friend the bird.
Then he got the fuck out of there.
SEVENTEEN
Pick A Lane
Riggs
Riggs’s mood had significantly deteriorated by the time he pulled into the lane to his house.
This was because the hospital was a good twenty minutes out of town, but since he was responsible for dessert that night, he’d had to swing by the grocery store to get it.
He should have grabbed something from the deli to eat, but he didn’t want to spoil his appetite for whatever Nadia had planned for dinner. He’d had her spaghetti, and her cake, so he knew whatever it would be, it was going to be good.
So he had a shit day to contend with, and now he was even hungrier, because it took him more time than he would have liked to get home.
His mood didn’t get better when his house came into view.
This was because there was a Fret County Sheriff’s cruiser there, and standing outside it, leaning against the fender, was Raul Hernandez.
Riggs didn’t know the kid well, he just knew he was one of the newer deputies, and young, so inexperienced.
Riggs could see that call from Harry, since he needed his more senior deputies to be dealing with investigating a break-in when a rash of burglaries were happening, but he still didn’t like it.