Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“Tough shit. I’m not worried about your little feelings.” He focused on Madison. “You all right?”
She nodded. “Nothing that a good night’s sleep won’t cure.”
“You need some food, too,” Ethan pointed out. “You didn’t have any dinner. I ordered a pizza a few minutes ago.”
“Thanks. Pizza sounds divine.”
“Good. I guessed. The lobby will buzz you when it arrives, but I can’t let them up.”
“Yeah. The security in the building is great, but it’s a pain that Todd or I have to approve everyone. I’ll plop on the sofa while I wait for the front desk to buzz. I hope it’s not long. I’m so tired, I could sleep for a week,” Madison groaned as she headed into the apartment, closing the door behind her.
Matt studied Ethan, thinking not for the first time that maybe he’d underestimated his fellow operative. “Slick way of getting rid of her. What are you up to?”
Garrison wandered to the railing of the balcony beside him and overlooked the glassy Potomac. “Look, I know you don’t like me.”
They were going to do this now? “I don’t like you coming onto my woman. It fucking pisses me off, especially since I’m beginning to suspect that you only do it to get under my skin. Because I know Madison. If you were hitting on her to hook up all the time, she’d be fucking annoyed with you. So I’m guessing that your bullshit is for my benefit?”
Ethan laughed. “You know when I first met you, I thought you were a dumb cowboy with a few skills and enough ass-licking ability to make the bosses think you’re special. I was a little jealous because, despite what I thought were your obvious shortcomings—”
“My lack of intelligence?”
“That, yeah.” Ethan smiled wryly. “But every one of the guys on that team really admires you, and the fact you’re basically besties with One-Mile… That’s pretty fucking awesome, you know? But no matter how I tried to win you over when I started the team, you just didn’t like me.”
Was that the reason the kid had been poking him for weeks? “I didn’t know you. And I’ve been in a really shitty mood for a while.”
“How long?”
Matt pulled at the back of his neck. “About the last three years. Losing Madison was the worst thing that ever happened to me, and our split was way more my fault than hers. It took me a while to see that, and once I did…I lived in anger. And I didn’t give many shits about anything else. I just wanted to stew in my rage.” He shrugged. “Then you showed up, all loud and cocky and full of yourself. It rubbed me the wrong way. But you’ve done all right since we’ve been here, and I appreciate you taking care of Madison today. She needed some power over the Pershings. You helped her get that. I’m grateful.”
“Bullshit. You wanted to be the one to help her.”
“I did.” He wasn’t going to lie. “But if it couldn’t be me…”
“We ever going to be friends?”
Instead of seeing the cocky, tattoo-laden, Vegas-bred son of a supposed Mafia assassin, he saw a kid who’d left everything familiar, done a stint as a marine, moved across the country, and started over—not merely in a new city, but embracing a new culture, job, and dangerous life. He was trying to find his way after planting himself among a bunch of strangers…and he didn’t feel secure in his place.
“Is that what you want?” Matt asked, then couldn’t resist ribbing Garrison. “Or should I give you One-Mile’s number you so can hit on him?”
“Fuck you.”
“Pass.” Matt laughed. “Yeah, we’re going to be friends. Hopefully, you can appreciate that being here and Madison being constantly in danger doesn’t bring out the best in me.”
“I get it, and I’m glad we’re going to be bros, because someday I want you to look back on this moment and not hate the way this is unfolding.”
“What are you talking about? What ‘moment’?”
Ethan grimaced. “Fuck. You really should be sitting.”
That alarmed Matt. “What the hell is going on?”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Straight up? I like your girl.” Matt glowered, ready to bust the guy’s balls, but Ethan waved him off. “Not like that. As a friend. So she’ll probably be pissed as hell when she realizes I chose honoring bro-code over the secret she’s keeping.”
“She told me everything, that you found Todd’s personal porn-star stash, that she arranged her conversation with the senator and his wife—”
“Madison is pregnant.”
Matt’s heart stopped. Shock stole his breath. He couldn’t possibly have heard that right. “No.”
“She is.” Ethan clapped him on the back. “Congratulations, Daddy.”
The certainty on Ethan’s face crushed Matt’s doubt. “Fuck. Why the hell did she tell you and not me?”
“She didn’t say a word. I figured it out just now. When we came in from the limo ride, I noticed a paper bag in the corner, next to the water feature. I investigated it, wondering—”