Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Maybe especially so because it was new for both of us.
She came back out fifteen minutes later in her usual black tank, a pair of black shorts and her combat boots. But she’d carefully applied makeup to cover up the scars on her face. I couldn’t even see a shadow.
“Convincing, right?” she asked, turning her head side to side as I looked at her.
“That shit is magic.” I mean, sure, the bruises weren’t the same shade they’d been the day after she’d been hit, but she’d acquired some yellow and green to go with the fading purple and blue.
“I know, right? This way, when we are walking out of the apartment, people won’t stink-eye you, thinking you’re beating on me,” she said, going to her nightstand to slip a chain bracelet on.
She never used to wear that. But after she gave me the details of the attack, it was clear she now believed she had to wear it ‘just in case’ shit happened again.
Whether she would admit it yet, to herself or anyone else, that job had changed her. I couldn’t help but wonder if there would be other changes, new fears and anxieties, different precautions or paranoia.
Time would tell.
And I would be there to make sure nothing like this shit ever happened again.
“Okay, well, I’ll see—“ she started as she stood beside her car door.
She lost the rest of that sentence as my lips crashed down on hers, kissing her fucking silly right there on the busy street. So deep and so long that she looked a little dazed when I finally pulled away.
“I’ll see you back here in a few hours,” I said, then waited for her to get in her car, lock the doors, and drive off.
Did I wait a bit then drive past her work to make sure she made it there?
Yep.
Then I took my overprotective ass back to Golden Glades.
“How she doing?” Huck asked, already waiting for me, knowing this talk was coming. He’d been through this more than a few times in the past. Each time one of the women somehow got involved in some sort of trouble.
“She’s mostly better. Physically, anyway. Time will tell for the mental shit.”
“It was bad, huh?”
“She still needed to use this tattoo makeup shit to cover up the bruises. But she got lucky, considering this group.”
“Yeahhh,” Huck said with a sigh. “That group…”
“I’m assuming you’ve done some research into them.”
“It’s not a small organization,” Huck said, tone resigned, knowing that wasn’t going to stop me from getting some sort of retribution. At the very least to the man who’d put his hands on Rynn.
Did I want to take all the fucks out? Sure. But I also had to understand if Huck could only okay me taking out the one who did the damage to my girl.
“Yeah, I figured. It shouldn’t be too hard to find who this guy was. She stabbed him in the face.”
“Okay. I can get behind you tracking him down and taking him out. Somewhere rural where you can’t be seen or have it traced back to you. I just don’t think we have the numbers right now to take on that entire crew. We’re working on that, but from what Seeley is saying, they have us three times over. At the very least. I can’t risk everyone right now.”
“I get that. So long as I can handle this one guy, I’ll be satisfied with that. Can I get on that now? Want to find him before his face heals.”
“Yeah. We got some extra hands here now, so I can spare you. But be careful. Don’t be stupid. I know you get off on the adrenaline, but you got a woman to think of now.”
Yeah, that was a first.
I’d rarely considered the consequences of my actions. Because it didn’t really impact anyone but me. Sure, Levee and Seeley would be upset if I died, but it was different.
I had a woman to come home to now.
I had a future I was curious to try to build with her.
I had no clue what a life with a woman like Rynn might be, but I was excited to find out.
“I’m just going to… look around for now. I will let you know before I make a move.”
“Sounds good. Be smart,” he said, slapping me on the shoulder, then moving past me to head back to his own family.
I checked in with Seeley and Levee, each offering to help me, but I brushed them off, figuring I was just going to do some basic surveillance.
With that in mind, I grabbed some food, cold drinks, and an extra large coffee that I stashed in the club SUV that I was borrowing for this task, before heading back out of Golden Glades, and toward the street where Rynn had explained the warehouse was located.