Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 15704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 79(@200wpm)___ 63(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 79(@200wpm)___ 63(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
“Hey, Harbor!” Remi greeted me as he walked out of the building they were remodeling, more than likely to see who had pulled up. “Everything good?”
“Everything’s good,” I assured him. “You guys taking lunch soon?” I stupidly held up my lunch as if it would reiterate my point.
Remi turned and leaned into the open doorway of the plain, white building. “Adler, can we take lunch? My stomach’s been eating itself for the past two hours.” I snickered. Remi was so overdramatic, but it was amusing.
“Wouldn’t happen if you would eat breakfast like a normal person,” Adler retorted, “but yeah, we can take lunch.”
I heard power tools hit the floor before five more men poured out of the building. Elliot grinned as soon as he laid his eyes on me. He was covered in wood dust, sweat running down the sides of his face, the bandana wrapped around his head not doing much to help him in this sweltering heat. But he was still the finest fucking man I’d ever laid my eyes on.
“Hey,” he greeted, leaning down to softly kiss me once he was close enough. “Come on. Let’s chill in my truck where it’s cool.” He eyed my car. “I don’t want to ruin your clean car.”
I laughed. “I got bored,” I told him as he linked our fingers together before walking me over to his Raptor. Once I was seated in the passenger seat, he handed me his keys. Immediately, I leaned over and started the truck before rolling the windows down and blasting the AC. It was the quickest way to get a vehicle to cool down—the AC would push the hot air out of the windows.
Sure enough, the air began to quickly cool, and I rolled the windows up just as Elliot slid into the driver’s seat. He quickly closed the door and leaned his head back on the headrest, shutting his eyes for a moment, a low groan crawling from his throat.
“Fuck, I’ll be glad when the cooler weather moves in,” he grunted. He opened his eyes, staring through the windshield. “The heat is kicking our asses.”
I turned around and reached into the backseat for his small cooler, grabbing out a Gatorade. After cracking it open, I passed it to him. “Drink this,” I told him. “Get some electrolytes back into your body. And then eat.”
He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “Thanks, Har.”
He guzzled down the Gatorade before tossing the empty bottle into the backseat. When he cracked open his sandwich container, the smell of the ham and cheese wafted into my nostrils, and I gagged. I quickly shoved my own food container to the floor before lurching out of his truck and emptying the contents of my stomach onto the asphalt parking lot.
“Har? Baby,” Elliot rasped, rubbing my back. I retched, spewing vomit, tears running down my cheeks, my throat burning. Harlan rushed over to us and thrust a bottle of water in my direction once I stood to my full height, sagging against the side of the truck. Elliot grabbed the water from Harlan for me and cracked open the top, passing it to me. I grabbed the water and poured some into my mouth before swishing it around and spitting it out on the ground, grimacing at the taste.
“You been feeling sick?” Elliot asked me. His slightly submissive nature I was used to was gone, and he was in full take-charge mode now, his eyes running over my face, a frown pulling at his lips.
I shook my head. “Felt fine,” I told him. “The smell of your sandwich bothered my stomach.” I knew what that could mean, but I was refusing to face the fact. I wasn’t ready to deal with it yet.
Elliot looked at Harlan. “Can you go throw my sandwich away?” Elliot asked him. “Or give it to one of the other guys. I don’t give a fuck right now.” Elliot wrapped his arm around my shoulders and gently steered me to my car. “I need to get you home.”
“Everything good?” Adler asked, walking up to us.
Elliot shook his head. “I’m taking her home and taking the rest of the day off. She just threw up pretty fucking violently. Just have someone drop my truck keys off at Harbor’s.”
Adler nodded and offered me a smile. “Feel better, Harbor.”
The same thing happened later that evening when Elliot ordered a pizza from the convenience store not far down the street. As soon as he walked through the door with it, I was running to the bathroom, throwing up again. And it happened again this morning when he was making his lunch. The smell of his sandwich meat sent me over the edge.
Which was why Elliot forced me to take off work and go to the doctor. And because he was worried I wouldn’t go if he didn’t go with me, he was sitting beside me in the waiting room, my hand clasped in his as I waited on a nurse to call me to the back for vitals.