Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“Back soon.” I kissed her temple. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered into her ear. “Love you very much.”
The grating sound of the loud music on the TV might’ve been bugging her. It was certainly getting to me. I turned the volume down and scrolled until I found cartoons for her. I put the remote beside her and left, taking my keycard and locking the door on my way out.
10
The trip home was uneventful, thankfully. Tommy and I dropped Tessa, Sarah, and the boys off at Tessa’s house. Tessa didn’t want to go back to Tom and Lisa’s. She said she needed to feel near to Jim and it was time to get the boys back into their own beds.
Tommy wasn’t so sure, but Tessa insisted. He sent security there, to stay with her, and Sarah said she’d bounce back and forth between Tessa’s and Lisa’s. If Tessa wanted her full-time, she’d talk it over with Lisa.
Sarah told me, on the side, she was worried about them both. Lisa and Tess needed one another right now but they hadn’t talked since lunch at Venetia when Lisa revealed where she came from.
Tessa had been quiet, subdued, like me I suppose. Sarah had been chatty, trying to take care of everyone.
I was sick in my heart. For what they’d gone through. For what we’d just gone through. And I never wanted to see Sin City again. The first time there nearly broke me.
This time? This time my heart was in tatters. I had a meltdown and a fight with Tommy. I saw my sister-in-law in a state of shock and utter heartbreak after being kidnapped and raped.
I almost got kidnapped or could’ve been killed in an explosion that took seven lives. Someone I knew, a mother of six, Katie “Cupcake” Lewis was dead.
I watched my husband kill another man with a bullet to his face. I watched my husband beat up a half-dead monster and then heard that monster get sodomized as I was forced to listen.
If Tommy ever tried to take me to Vegas again, he'd have to drag me kicking and screaming.
I was relieved to be home. He was preoccupied so he said nothing when I went right up to bed. I didn’t think I’d sleep. I figured I’d watch TV. But as per usual, I fell asleep.
A phone was ringing. Tommy’s phone. He answered it and left the room. The room was illuminated by our television’s splash screen. I guess he’d probably come in to our bedroom and when it rang, he left to answer it.
I sat up and glanced at our alarm clock. It was almost midnight and I was starving. I hadn’t had an appetite that day. But right now, my stomach was growling.
I got up and padded down the stairs toward the kitchen and heard him on the phone.
“Slit his fuckin’ throat. Yep. Only wish it could be done again. Really? Right. Did she? Yeah, man. I’ll pick the pup up in the morning. Bye.”
He saw me in the doorway.
“Hey baby girl.”
He looked tired.
“Hi.” I was frozen in place. Slit throat. Did Tommy kill Leo himself?
Dario’s words from after Mexico rang in my head.
“Pop would’ve sent someone to do it for him. But my brother? Tommy will do it himself.”
“Get over here.” He put his phone on the kitchen counter.
I walked into his arms. He inhaled my hair.
“Wrong,” he whispered.
“Hm?”
“When we’re home, you use a different shampoo. When shit’s bad, your hair almost always smells wrong.”
“A sign we shouldn’t leave the house?”
“Maybe. Or you pack your shampoo when we travel.”
“If my hair smells right, things will be right?”
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” He kissed me. “Wanna go take a shower? I’ll wash your hair. Make it smell like home.”
“As nice as that sounds, I came down here for food. I’m starving. Didn’t eat much today. Baby’s hungry.” I patted my belly.
He dropped to his knees and kissed my stomach and then pressed his forehead against it. I threaded my fingers into his hair.
“I love you,” I said.
Yes, he was someone who would kill but he killed to protect what was his. I was his. He was mine. I felt a burst of affection for him. Of course I still felt dread at what I’d heard, but this man? This man was mine. He would keep me safe. I knew it with everything that I was.
“Could’ve been you,” he said.
“Hm?”
“Kate. That could’ve been you. Tess could’ve been you. Kate could’ve been you. Fuck, Tia. My head is fucked over this shit. You could’ve been raped, taken, dead. Some of it. All of it.”
I got to the floor with him and put my arms around him.
“I’m here. I’m okay. You saved me. Like you always do.”
“Johnny and those six kids sure as fuck aren’t okay. Tess isn’t okay.”
“None of this is your fault, honey,” I said.