Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 57216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“What about your apartment?” I asked. “Is it safe?”
“You think I don’t got a killer fucking security system?” he asked. “And that the cement walls were just an aesthetic choice?”
“Oh, I didn’t… think about that.”
“Cement, brick, and cinder block walls can stop most caliber bullets. They’re not foolproof, but it’s not like I’m ever expecting to be chased with military-grade machinery.”
“The windows…” I said.
“Didn’t look thicker than they should be for ancient, single-pane glass?” he asked, shooting me a look that said they were definitely not normal windows.
“I didn’t notice.”
“There’s a polycarbonate layer. Again, not foolproof, but it will prevent most bullets without fucking with my view. And in the off chance that anyone ever got in, I got what I need to protect myself.”
“Why do you have so many precautions?” I asked. “Because of the… enforcing thing?”
“Not so much, no. It’s mostly about the hacking thing. Usually, people who are hiring me are fucking over someone else. And none of the players are what you would call good guys.”
“Have you ever been found?”
“No. I’m good at what I do. And I try as much as possible not to do shit in person, so nothing could ever trace back to me. There are the occasional times I will do it. But it’s rare. And they have to be paying a fuckton to even make me consider it.”
“This fuckton of money,” I said, barely able to think clearly with his hand still clutching my thigh, “how many zeroes would it require for you being gone for two weeks?”
He let out a little chuckle at that.
“Five.”
Five.
Five zeroes.
Six figures.
At the low end, a hundred grand. Which was, to someone like me, a fuckton of money. But it could go all the way up to nine hundred thousand dollars. Almost a million.
“Low mid,” he said, reading my thoughts.
“Low mid,” I repeated. Four, five hundred grand. “But who… who would have that much money?”
“Criminals,” he said, smirking. “But not many jobs pay anyone that much. It’s why I took it, even though I hate leaving my place for work. That’s my retirement money,” he added.
“DINKWAD life?” I asked.
“The fuck?” he asked, brows raised.
“DINKWAD. Duel income, no kids, with a dog,” I clarified. “Assuming you want someone in your life, that is,” I said.
“Always saw myself settled down like my parents. But maybe I’d have a kid,” he said, shrugging. “Haven’t given it a lot of thought.”
“Guys kind of have forever with that,” I said, nodding.
“You?”
“Me?”
“You want to be a DINKWAD?” he asked.
“Duel income sounds like a dream after being on my own for… ever,” I admitted. “But I want a kid or two. And dogs. But I’m on a clock,” I said, shaking my head. “And let’s just say that no one has inspired me to want to spend forever with.”
“As someone who knows more than they fucking want to about men’s private lives, yeah, I don’t blame you. My ma when she was younger worked as a hacker who mostly exposed men’s secrets to their wives. Fucking shocked she even gave my old man a shot after all that.”
“It’s kind of awesome that you followed in both their paths,” I said. “Are you like them?”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Both are kind of loners. Both rough around the edges. Ma is hot-tempered. Loves a good argument. My old man is a little more even-tempered, but will bicker with Ma for shits and giggles.”
“How’d they meet?” I asked, always a sucker for a good meet-cute.
“He kidnapped her.”
“What?” I hissed, lips falling open.
Junior looked over, giving my shock a smirk.
“Yeah. He was hired to grab someone named Alex. Thought it was a guy. So he accepted. Turned out it was my Ma. But he couldn’t back out on it because it was a real sonofabitch who hired him.”
“Oh, my God. Who?”
“Big time trafficker back in the day. A actually lives in the house he used to live in,” I added.
“This town is insane,” I said, shaking my head.
“Lotta history,” Junior agreed.
“How’d they end up together if he kidnapped her?”
“Well, Ma was… a pill. My old man liked that. He had to hold onto her for a while, so feelings grew, I guess. Then when it was time to hand her over, he couldn’t. Came up with a plan. Actually, that story is too fucking complicated and includes Jstorm and Wolf.”
“You can’t just drop names like Jstorm and Wolf and not explain.”
“Remember how I said we got the bikers in town?”
“Yeah…”
“Wolf is a biker. Jstorm is part of that paramilitary organization I mentioned. Anyway, their story kinda coincided with my mom and dad’s story. Ended up in this big clusterfuck that involved a bomb and shit like that. Some day, when you know more about the town’s history, I will give you that whole story.”
Some day.
Because he planned to be in my life?