Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Huckleberry.” He looked excited now. “I know it’s not the norm down here in Texas, but it is up there in Montana where we used to live. We had huckleberry ice cream, huckleberry jam. Huckleberry everything. And God, but I know my wife and I would kill for a huckleberry pie.”
“What part of Montana?” she asked curiously.
“Near Kalispel, sort of,” he answered as he hefted his big bag up. “It’s more toward Canada, actually. We used to live about ten minutes from the Canadian border. Small town of about fifteen hundred people.”
“Why’d you leave?” Athena asked.
“Winters there are hard,” he admitted. “My wife has MS, so it was getting near on impossible to be up there during the winter months, and she was miserable. Texas was about as opposite as we could get from Montana.” He jerked his chin up when he saw me. “She’s easy to talk to.”
“That she is,” I agreed. “When she’s feeling nice.”
“Hey! I’m always nice,” Athena pointed at me. “You’re the one who’s mean, and then I can’t help myself.”
I caught her finger in my grasp and pulled her lightly toward me. When she was close enough, I put my arm around her shoulder and said, “Thanks again for doing this, Jack. I’ll see where I can get some huckleberries so we can get you that pie made.”
“You’d be my best friend for life.” He chuckled. “There’s not a single thing in this world that I wouldn’t do for my girl. Seeing her smile is like a warm electric shot straight to my heart.”
I felt that statement resonate in my soul.
I was quickly becoming aware of what I’d do to put a smile on Athena’s face.
What was worse, I would be wiping that smile off her face in a moment when Jack left.
“Bye, youngins!” he called.
I waited until he was in his truck before turning back to Athena.
I let her go, then rubbed my hand down my face.
“I’m guessing whatever you and Shasha found out wasn’t good,” she guessed.
I leaned against her porch railing before telling her exactly what I’d found.
“That’s…” she shook her head. “In my room?”
I hated that I was nodding.
Hated it.
I especially hated the look on her face when she realized that someone could remotely monitor her house, and her.
“What’s the next step?” she asked, trying to appear calm when she was anything but.
“Next step would be to find out who put them there,” I explained. “Shasha is running the cell signal to see if he can triangulate where it’s coming from. My dad sent over a couple of officers, one of whom is my mom, to come take a look at everything. From there, we’ll decide what’s next.”
“I can’t stay here,” she mumbled.
Like I was ever going to let her go.
“You won’t be staying here. You’ll be staying with me,” I said. “Until we figure this out.”
“I can stay at my brother’s place,” she explained. “There are no showings scheduled, and…”
“One, if they knew where and how to find you here, they’ll be able to find you at Gavrel’s place,” I said. “Two, there’s a zero percent chance that I’m letting you out of my sight until we know more about what’s going on here.”
She closed her mouth, and I had the distinct feeling she was grateful that I didn’t give her the option.
“Okay,” she said simply.
Current relationship status: sleeping diagonally across my bed.
—Athena to Maven
ATHENA
I was in shock.
Someone had been recording my every breath.
They’d watched me undress.
They’d watched me bathe.
They’d watched me run naked from my laundry room to my bathroom.
“Oh my God.” I angrily rubbed my knuckles against my eyes.
“Honey,” Gable said. “It’s going to be okay.”
I was already shaking my head. “I think I need an intense therapy session, stat, to talk about how disgusted I feel that someone’s been watching me.”
Gable rounded the bend that would take him to the cul-de-sac his family lived in and groaned.
“What?” I asked, immediately looking for what caused him to make that sound.
I found it and laughed.
Maven was standing in his front yard, looking angry.
“Ruh-roh.” I giggled. “I guess she was let in on the fact that I have a stalker.”
“That’s probably pretty accurate seeing as Shasha, Dima, Milena, and Nastya are sitting on my porch,” he grumbled.
He pulled into the driveway and Maven met me at my door and opened it wide.
She had to stand fairly far back, too, because her big belly was in the way if she got any closer.
“I’m fine,” I assured her.
Gable snorted and got out, causing Maven to glare at him. “What’d you make that sound for?”
“Because she’s lying to you. She’s not fine,” he ratted me out as he closed the door and walked around the hood of his vehicle.
I followed much more sedately because Maven was a lot more unwieldy since she was so pregnant now.