Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“Mindy, I’m not supposed to take you anywhere but here. Can we call your landlord?”
“First off, if Tate was so worried about my well-being, he would have brought me home himself. But he’s a coward. Plus, the bad guy is in custody, which means no more danger. It’s fine.”
He doesn’t think it’s fine. “How about I just call—”
“You call him, and I will add you to the hatchet list. Now, just two little stops before we part ways. Cool?” Threatening to cut him up is low, but desperate times and all. He finally gives in, and I smile. “Great!” Unwillingly, he drives the few blocks to the liquor store. I tell him to wait in the car, doing the swinging ax signal when he suggests coming with me, and he obliges. I’m going to hell.
Running in, I make a beeline to my favorite aisle. Taking a left, my eyes scan the bottles, looking for the most expensive one. I definitely can’t afford it, but I’m going to buy it anyway since my life can’t get any worse.
“Hey.”
My head pops up, and I glance to my left. My eyes widen. “Hey, fancy meeting you here.” I focus on the pretty blonde. “Hey.” I smile at the woman standing next to Vince, taking in her perfect hair, glowing skin, and flawless body.
“How’ve you been? I tried texting after our date.”
Shit. I forgot about his text. I feel like a jerk. “Yeah, I’m sorry. Something came up.” I pause and open my mouth to tell him all the gory details but stop myself.
“It’s okay. I just thought we had a good time.” I gaze back at his lady friend. Obviously not a good enough time to hold out hope.
“I did. My life is just… messy right now. I really did have a nice time with you, and I would have texted back if I could have. But it looks like you got lucky.” I wave over to his friend. “You dodged a bullet with me. See ya around.” I offer him a kind smile and walk off when he calls my name.
“Mindy, wait.”
“Yeah?” I ask over my shoulder.
“I want you to meet Vanessa.” Oh, great. He’s so polite, he wants to introduce me to his new— “My sister.”
I blink, waiting for my brain to catch up. Then, I mentally smack myself for being an idiot. “Your sister, right! Figured. I totally see the resemblance.” Not at all.
Laughing softly, I can hear the smirk in his tone. “Well, we have different dads.”
Vanessa smacks him across the chest. “That doesn’t matter. We’re family no matter what.”
Vince offers her his dimpled smile before turning to me. “So, I know this is a strange way to ask, but since we’re here, if you’re not busy, wanna go grab a drink? Dinner? A taco from a food truck?”
I laugh. How was I so blind to him? Because your cooter cat was calling the shots with your watchdog. Ugh, facts. I stare back at him, basking in his sweet smile. Perfect teeth. Greatly styled hair. He’s attractive, nice, stable. I need stable. I should not fuck this up again.
“You know what? I’d love that.”
He grants me a big grin and turns to his sister. “You don’t mind if I drop you off early?”
“Hell no. Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Cool. I can follow you to your place or—”
“Actually,” I start, remembering Justin is outside waiting for me, “um, give me a second.”
He nods, and I smile and hurry off. Forgetting the tequila, I race outside, stopping at the passenger’s side of Justin’s patrol car. He rolls down his window. “Did they not have what you wanted?”
“They had something better.” Assuming he’ll report back to the asshat, it feels good to stick it to him. Also childish, which I’ll address later. “I ran into a friend. A guy friend. A possibly soon-to-be boyfriend. He’s really hot, and between you and me”—and the asshat you’ll share these details with—“I’m going back to his place to bone his brains out. Gonna be the best sex of my life.”
Poor Justin looks mortified. “You sure that’s a good idea?”
“Oh, Justin. It’s a great idea. Thanks again for everything. Good luck with Ruth and the baby. And don’t forget, Mindy’s a great name!” I wave to him and step back as Vince and Vanessa exit the store.
I walk off and catch up to them. “Okay, ready. Where to?”
“How about we start with dinner? Unless you already ate? I know a place off the grid that has a street lined up with all the taco trucks you can dream of.”
Things are already looking up. “You had me at tacos.” He unlocks his car, chuckling. Vanessa offers to let me sit shotgun and climbs in back.
“I feel bad if you two had plans. We can always do this another time—”