Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
I’d heard of Athena but hadn’t actually had the chance to meet her yet.
When her brother, Gavrel, had been killed in the line of duty, I’d seen both her and Maven at the funeral.
At the time, I’d thought Athena looked young.
But she’d definitely grown into herself in the time since I’d last seen her.
Athena’s shoulders drooped for a short second before shrugging. “Making it.”
“I was just encouraging her to work on an app to help find her sister who went missing when she was five,” Maven said, changing the subject.
That had my eyebrows raising in surprise.
“Your sister went missing?” Garrett was the first to ask. “What happened?”
“You know what happened, dummy,” Gable interrupted. “This was the little girl who was playing at a park with a friend, right across the street from the friend’s house. Nice neighborhood, even nicer park. Upper crust of Dallas elite. That was why Gavrel joined the DPD. To help other kids who went missing like his sister did.”
“Oh, yeah.” Garrett winced. “I’m sorry. I should’ve remembered that.”
Athena smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“I’m trying to encourage her to make an app that’ll help her compare old missing persons photos. Ones that’ll transform the kids into what they’d look like today. Then create a database with all kinds of helpful stuff.”
“It’s already been playing out in my head for the last ten minutes.” Athena looked far away. “I have so many ideas.”
Maven grinned. “Go, friend.”
Athena glanced at Maven. “I was going to go to the lawyer with you.”
“Yeah,” she said. “But I don’t need a ride anymore.”
“You don’t?” she asked.
“She doesn’t,” I replied succinctly, even if I did have something to do after this.
Just the thought of spending more time with Maven was way more appealing than meeting my mom at the Home Goods store to pick out fucking linens.
Personally, I was perfectly okay with my Amazon sheets, but my mom was appalled.
This sounded like the perfect excuse to get out of that…
“Okay then.” Athena stood up. “It was very nice to meet you all. Thank you for the save back there.”
She pointed at Scott and Sheldon who were now at their old table with their drinks, glaring at our group.
That made me angry all over again.
They really did know how to be assholes, didn’t they?
It also made me even angrier that last night I’d heard Scott bragging to another cop how Chief Austin had closed Maven’s bakery down because of a health violation.
Bogus or not, why would he fuckin’ be excited about that?
What kind of shitty, stereotypical villain boasted about something like that?
Conversation waned at the table after Athena left.
It was Gable who asked, “How’s she really doing?”
Maven smiled sadly, and I couldn’t help but reach for her hand underneath the table.
The hand that was still clutching her hardback.
Taking it out of her hand, I sat it on the table between us and regathered her hand in mine.
Her eyes went to the book and froze.
“Oh, that’s the book Hollis was reading the other day,” Quincy said as he absently took a drink of his coffee. “Didn’t she get Mom to read that? I remember the fancy yellow cover.”
“It’s an author based in Kilgore, Texas,” Maven said softly. “It’s fun to read a book set around your area. I love her references to tornados, heat, and the surrounding areas.”
My brothers looked at me, confusion marring their brows.
The mention of her reading had shut her down.
Why?
“I think that’s why Mamasauce—my mom—loves her, too,” Atlas admitted. “Something about ‘not making Texans look stupid with fake, Southern accents.’”
That had Maven’s mouth tipping up into a small smile.
I leaned forward, ready to ask her another question, when phones started to go off everywhere.
I pulled mine out, right along with my brothers, as well as the state trooper next to our table.
“Ruh-roh,” Maven said as she eyed the entire table. “This isn’t lookin’ too good for y’all.”
Quaid stood up with a snarl. “Gang war. Hostages. Goddammit.”
I stood up and shoved the phone into my pocket.
“Shit, I have to go.” I looked at her. “Can I get you a ride?”
She smiled softly at me before saying, “It’s a three-block walk from here. Remember?”
More like eight, but I couldn’t argue with her as nearly the entire café emptied.
“I’m sorry for leaving you hanging,” I said as I bent over and placed a short kiss onto her lips. “But let me know what the lawyer has to say.”
She raised a brow at me. “How would I do that?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. “Shit. I guess you’d need my number, wouldn’t you?”
“We gotta go, dumbass!” my brothers called from the door.
Since I was the driver for three of them, it wasn’t like I had time to kill here.
“Just come over tonight,” she suggested. “If you have time.”
I winked, then took off at a jog.