Total pages in book: 225
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
“That’s inaccurate,” he corrects.
My jaw is about to hit the floor. Missing?
Derek gives me a sharp shake of his head. “One of my brothers had his girlfriend vanish without a trace. But it was a miscommunication. It’s since been sorted. She’s fine and living her own life in San Diego. But I guess Craig left that part out?”
Alannah looks contrite at the same time as pissed off. “And what about Thad’s two dead wives?”
What? My eyes widen.
“They weren’t missing and then reported dead. They both met untimely ends. Thad is dead. He was problematic. He’s no longer a problem because his bullshit caught up with him, finally. You girls want pancakes?”
He opens a kitchen cupboard and takes down the yellow box of pancake and biscuit mix along with a glass jug of maple syrup. He opens the fridge and pulls out bacon, eggs, and milk. “Did you want coffee or tea, Alannah? Chloe seems a little groggy still. You drink some of your coffee yet, baby?”
I stare at the full cup in my hand and then my eyes bounce to Alannah who is watching Derek as he pulls down a mixing bowl. He turns the kitchen tap and soaps up his hands.
“I don’t want coffee or tea or pancakes, man. I want you to stop this… whatever it is… you’re doing with Chloe. You blackmailed her. You’ve threatened her.”
“Yeah, I did. To get her here where I want her. Now that I have her, I can do what I intended.” He stares at Alannah expectantly.
He’s waiting for her to ask the obvious question, so that he can answer it.
“And what’s that?” she demands.
“So I can be her loaded baked potato with all the toppings.”
Alannah looks at me with her eyebrows raised.
Derek continues. “So I can continue to be forty four thousand and sixty nine out of ten on the sex skills scale.”
Alannah’s thrown. She grabs the counter to steady herself.
Derek isn’t done. “So I can be everything she should have instead of that bland, self-absorbed, journalist.” Derek puts a fresh cup under the coffee maker, opens the machine and pulls out the used pod then tosses it as if it’s a basketball. It lands in the trash can in the corner of the kitchen. He opens the drawer under the machine. “Pick your poison,” he offers, ironically, smiling as he says it before he glances at the side of the pancake mix box, then opens the egg carton and cracks an egg into the large mixing bowl.
Alannah helps herself to a breakfast blend pod and brews a cup, saying, “You’re forcing her to be here with you.”
“She’ll be happy. Don’t worry.” He cracks another egg.
Alannah gives him a skeptical look.
“By the way,” Derek says, lifting Alannah’s cell phone, which she set on the counter to make her coffee, “I’ll just turn this off.” He does what he did the day I came in here with my phone recording the conversation.
Alannah’s back straightens, and she immediately pulls a butcher knife from the knife block on the counter. She points it at Derek. “Give me my fucking phone.”
He finishes what he’s doing without showing a reaction, then puts the phone down and reaches into the cupboard and pulls down a Pyrex glass measuring cup.
“Go relax with your drinks while I do this,” Derek says, pretending Alannah isn’t standing in front of me with a knife in her hand.
“I’d rather take her home with me,” Alannah tells him. “She doesn’t want what you’re offering and there’s a lot wrong with you.”
“Chloe stays here,” Derek says calmly, measuring milk. He pours it into the bowl and reaches for the pancake mix. “Nothing has to change between you and her. Actually, something will change. You’ll get to see how happy I make her. A transformation that’ll make you ecstatic. I’d like it to be fast but as I’m getting to know her better I see how many layers I’ll have to get through until she believes she’s worthy of all I’m offering.”
Alannah and I exchange looks. Derek pulls a whisk out of a drawer and starts mixing the batter.
“Seriously?” Alannah asks him.
Derek’s eyes move over me and fill with warmth. “I’m gonna be one of your favorite people, Alannah. Guaranteed. Because you’re gonna see that your best friend has what she deserves. Finally. A man who will go out of his way to make sure she’s blissfully happy.”
“You expect me to believe you’re for real? That you’re not some psycho killer who could go postal and hurt my friend irreparably?”
“I’m for real. You wanna put the knife down? If you weren’t who you are to my girl, I wouldn’t be too happy right now at the fact you’re between her and I with a knife pointing at me.” He continues mixing the pancake batter. “Go on. Sit down. Enjoy your coffee while I get this going.”