Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Taking out her cell phone, Arden scanned the grocery list. “No need. This is pretty straight forward.”
“I’ll go get Wizard’s card for you to use.”
“I’m not comfortable using someone else’s card. Would it be all right to use mine, and he can reimburse me?”
“I don’t see why not. He’ll love that I won’t have to wake him up to get the card,” Kat said cheerfully.
The more she worked with Kat, the more she liked her. Margarita had been unexpectedly nice yesterday when Doom had wanted her to change clothes. Even Celeste and Lola went out of their way to be friendly to her.
Taking the disinfectant water and towel to the kitchen, Arden managed to keep her face averted.
Tugging her baseball cap lower before heading out the door, she saw Jesus and Burn talking, neither man paying any attention to her as she passed them.
Thrilled she was able to switch jobs with Kat, Arden felt as if she had been given a brief break from the anxiety of this morning’s attack.
When she had looked at her phone, she saw the headmaster had called her four times. She didn’t know what to do about tomorrow morning. Usually, she would go into the school at five a.m. to take out the trash and make any repairs which had been ordered the day before. The school had many cameras, yet the video equipment was in the main office. Would it be safe? Would he be wary enough not to try anything else again?
She arrived at the grocery store, and it didn’t take her long to do the shopping. The list was a bare minimum, which would only last for a couple of days, if that. Taking it upon herself, Arden picked up a several items she had heard members complaining they didn’t have. As she moved through the aisles, she caught several sales which were too good to miss.
There weren’t any hiccups at checkout, and with the assistance of a bag boy, it wasn’t long before she was driving back to the club.
Making sure her cap and sunglasses were on before stepping out of the car, she opened the trunk to grab two grocery bags, leaving the trunk open as she carried them to the door.
Jesus and Burn were outside, so she held the bags up high to cover her face as she thanked Jesus for opening the door.
“Would one of you grab the rest of the bags for me?”
“Sure,” Burn said.
Kat was still the only one inside the bar.
“I’ll put the groceries away,” Arden told Kat as she went behind the bar.
“I can help.”
“No need. I think I know where everything goes. If I have any questions, I’ll yell out.”
“Okay.”
Arden started putting the frozen meals and hamburger patties into the freezer.
“You buy out the store?” Burn joked as he walked into the kitchen, setting the bags down on the back table.
“Nope. I left them a few things,” Arden joked back. “I left the baby formula and the diet aisle alone.”
Keeping her head in the freezer, she pretended to be organizing the meals until she heard Burn leave. Then, relaxing her guard, she went to the table to start unbagging the groceries.
She left the cap on but took the sunglasses off, tucking them into the neck of her sweatshirt so she could easily put them back on before leaving the kitchen.
Turning from the table with her hands full, she came face to face with Kat, whose mouth dropped open as she stared intently at her face.
“Burn forgot this one. Jesus and Burn said thanks for the deli sandwiches.”
Arden walked around Kat to the refrigerator to put the milk and eggs inside. “There’s more in the bag, if you want one.”
Arden turned around to see Kat was gone.
Quickly putting the sunglasses back on, she left the kitchen to see Kat wasn’t out there either. She returned to the kitchen and finished putting the groceries away, hoping Kat had just used the opportunity to go to the restroom.
Keeping the excuse she had come up with planted firmly in her mind, she left the kitchen, finding all the stools at the counter were filled with Last Riders. Neither Wizard nor Doom were sitting, though. They were standing at the end of the bar near the kitchen door. All of them seemed to be half-dressed and had just been woken up. None of the men had drinks in front of them, and Kat was still nowhere to be seen.
Kat must be in the restroom, she thought.
Ignoring Wizard and Doom, she started to where Burn sat with the unopened sandwich in front of him. “Let me get you a beer.”
“Lose the hat and shades.”
Arden froze in place at Doom’s frostbitten tone. Then, taking off the hat, her fingers trembled with so many eyes on her. She took off the oversized sunglasses. Staring straight ahead, Arden didn’t meet anyone’s eyes.