Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Wow,” I said. “That kid’s cute as hell.”
Derek pulled into the driveway and put the truck in park.
I opened the door to get out, but before I could get it open, Hayes caught the door and offered me his hand.
I looked up at him in surprise.
“Umm, thank you,” I said, my hand going to his forearm.
He held it steady for me as I slowly slid out of the truck, my feet hitting the concrete and standing strong.
“Welcome,” he answered, backing away.
Derek was at his side then, offering Hayes his hand.
“Y’all didn’t have to do this,” I found myself saying.
Derek snorted and then let Hayes’ hand go.
“They’re getting paid,” Derek countered.
My eyes widened in surprise. “But I don’t have any…”
“Money.” Derek nodded. “They’re getting paid by the kid who was caught doing it. That cheerleader chick that harassed you as we were leaving your school the other day.”
I curled my lip up in disgust. “Ashley.”
Derek shrugged.
“Anyway, Ashley was caught red-handed by Malachi last night when he was on patrol. Ashley’s parents were called, and in order not to have any charges filed against her, her father offered two grand to clean it up,” Derek said.
I shook my head. “I think I would’ve rather had charges filed against her.”
Derek and Hayes burst out laughing.
The next hour was spent telling Derek what I did and didn’t want packed to take to his place.
A place that I’d tried repeatedly not to stay at but got overruled time and time again.
First by Derek, then by Derek’s father, Luke.
And finally, by his sister, Rowen, who’d come to see me a lot in the hospital since my accident.
After my packing was done, I’d then pointed out things that I didn’t want, putting yellow Post-It notes on the things that I really did.
Those things would be moved to storage, because there was only so much room in a duplex, and a house worth of stuff wouldn’t fit.
We left Derek’s friends to finish up the cleaning of the house, and tomorrow they would start packing it up for me.
Something that I knew they weren’t being paid to do, and also something that I felt extremely bad for making them do.
In fact, I felt so bad about it that by the time we got to Derek’s place, I almost wanted to call the entire thing off.
“Listen,” Derek said as he rounded the truck and opened my door. “I know that you think this is too much, but it isn’t. You’re one of ours. Nobody is pissed that they’re spending a day to help you pack and move. Nobody. In fact, this was all volunteer, anyway. We have a bunch of people coming over to help you move. There’s going to be so much help that I don’t even see it taking but a couple of hours at most.”
I felt sick to my stomach but reluctantly agreed.
Derek helped me out of the car, and together we walked into his house.
The first thing I saw was the mountain of groceries on his counter.
“I thought you said that you didn’t have any food at your house,” I found myself saying.
He looked at all the groceries that were on the counter, then shook his head.
“I have a feeling my mother took it upon herself to help out,” he muttered.
I grinned at that, knowing that my mother would’ve done the same.
He led me to the chair that was in the living room, the big, roomy, leather recliner that looked as if it was in the perfect spot to be directly lined up with the TV, despite that it took up quite a bit of the couch’s viewing space.
Once he had me seated, he kicked up the foot of the recliner, then nabbed a blanket off the couch.
“Let me get all these groceries put…”
His phone started to make an alarming sound, and he cursed.
“What’s that?” I asked.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and groaned.
“SWAT call.” He paused, looking horrified. “Are you going to be okay?”
I gave him a thumb up. “I’ll be fine.”
And I was fine.
The only problem was, he was gone for hours and I got hungry. So I ate a sandwich.
The other problem was, those hours went all the way until it was time for bed, and I didn’t know what to do.
I couldn’t get my stupid clothes off by myself, and I really, really wanted a shower.
I also wanted to change my clothes.
Honestly, I did the best thing I could with the clothes I had at my disposal.
In the end, I wound up raiding Derek’s closet, ripping all of the padding out of the vest that I could reach, leaving only plastic parts and metal pieces, and taking a shower.
I was sure to be careful, and I also had a pretty decent time washing my hair.
Washing my vagina was incredibly awkward and shaving my legs was definitely out of the picture.