Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Hawk frowned.
“You didn’t go to work,” Shooter declared. “I called the bar and Thomas said he hasn’t seen you all day.”
Well, shit, thought Hawk. So much for that. It must have been irritating for Slick to have to go back to daily phone calls and sitreps, but damn she shouldn’t be lying to Shooter.
“Where are you?” Shooter asked again. “The mall,” he said, glancing at Hawk.
Hawk shrugged. It wasn’t a good time to tell the man that he was being a little paranoid about his wife’s safety.
“Ass. Home. Now,” Shooter ordered.
Hawk recognized the tone. He was in full Ranger mode at the moment. Slick better get her butt in gear and shag ass back home before her husband took a page out of Tex’s playbook and tanned her hide. Shooter disconnected the call and slammed the phone down on the coffee table. Hawk was surprised it didn’t crack.
“The fucking mall,” Shooter hissed.
“Yeah,” Hawk replied, because that was the only response that seemed safe.
“What the fuck?” Shooter demanded.
Hawk had no idea what to say. He’d be pissed too if Tildy... but then Tildy wasn’t his woman, was she? He got up, tucking the cat under his arm, and headed toward the kitchen to snag a beer. He resisted the urge to call Tildy and popped the cap off a bottle. He heard the front door open and close a few times; the other guys were arriving. He heard some low voices, Shooter’s distinctive growl, and hoped the night could still be salvaged. He did not want to go home and stare at the wall. The last thing he needed was time to think.
He wandered back into the living room and reclaimed his chair.
“She’s alright,” Tex said in an attempt to placate Shooter. “She’s at the mall. With Abby.”
“She lied,” Shooter insisted.
“Well... ”
“Well, what?” Shooter demanded.
Tex made a face. “You’re being too controlling.”
Shooter’s jaw flexed. “I am trying to ignore the irony of the Dom telling me that I am too controlling.”
“Oh, come on,” said Tex, not interested in the joke. “That’s bullshit. I don’t control Abby. She doesn’t report in to me like she’s out on a mission every day. Okay, well she does,” he said, grinning. “But for entirely different reasons. My point is that I let Abby do whatever she wants. She’s not in danger. And neither is Slick. If Slick was in danger, Abby’s loaded for bear.”
“She lied,” Shooter repeated.
“As a defense mechanism against your paranoia.”
Hawk silently agreed. Tex said whatever he felt like saying, whenever he felt like saying it. It had the added ring of truth to it because he had a psych degree. Hawk had no such qualification so he usually refrained from offering advice.
They heard the sound of Sarah and Abby pulling into the drive, and Hawk took a long pull of his beer. The cat purred loudly in his lap, unaware yet that her mommy was home. Hawk would definitely need more than one beer before the blowout was over. Shooter looked so mad that they might just move straight to tequila shots. Slick came in through the front door, looking appropriately contrite with bags in her hands.
“Shopping,” Shooter declared. “You disappeared all afternoon to go shopping.”
“I-” Slick stammered.
Hawk shook his head. Don’t bother, he thought to her silently. Just let him steam for a while.
“I called your phone. You didn’t answer,” Shooter reminded her.
“Well-”
“And you said you were working today. But then you didn’t.” Shooter was obviously winding up now. The cat, unaware that anything unpleasant was happening, jumped down and wound itself around Sarah’s legs. Hawk figured, if things got any worse, Slick could always throw the cat at him and run like hell.
“True, but-” she tried to argue.
Big mistake. She shouldn’t argue.
Hawk hadn’t recognized the bags Slick was holding, but Shooter did. “Panties,” he said loudly. “Panties were such a big emergency that you lied to me?”
Hawk shrugged and looked at the guys. Easy was grinning, and Tex was intently watching the two of them. Caleb caught Hawk’s look and smirked. Hawk silently agreed. Yeah, she lied. But panties...
“Can I speak?” Slick demanded.
Hawk smiled. She was done being intimidated. She really did have a low threshold for that sort of thing. She squared her shoulders, and jutted her chin up. Hawk watched Shooter’s mouth twitch. As pissed as he was at that moment, no one could resist the little woman when she got wound up. She was fucking adorable. Shooter admitted that sometimes he wound her up just to watch her go off on him. He loved to see his woman showing her backbone. This wasn’t one of those times, but that could change.
Slick was apparently at a loss for words though, because she just threw up her hands and skirted around Shooter toward the stairs. Hawk was a little disappointed.