Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Her complete trust in me was humbling.
But for the first time in a very long time, since my first deployment in Iraq, I was afraid.
I was afraid not only for Annie, but also for me.
After reading what Casten was able to uncover about not just Liam Cornwell, but my ex-wife as well, I was left reeling.
And I wasn’t sure how the hell I was going to get myself out of this without leaving a huge, gaping hole in my heart.
Chapter 14
When I’m through with you, even the neighbors will need a cigarette.
-Mig’s secret thoughts
Mig
“What the fuck are we doing here?” Casten asked, walking beside me down the corridor of Jefferson High School.
“Exactly what I want to know,” Wolf grumbled.
I took Nathan from Wolf’s hands, delighted to hear him giggle for the first time in weeks.
“Because, for some reason, I was roped into it,” I said, blowing a raspberry into Nathan’s neck.
He was looking really good, and I was happy to see that he’d started to come back to his old self.
“How was a six foot three motherfucker, such as yourself, ‘roped in’ to anything?” Ridley asked.
I waited until we made it into the gym, entering the door that Annie told me to enter through, and pointed.
“That,” I answered, pointing at Annie’s small shorts that covered slightly more than panties would.
“Damn,” Casten hissed, his eyes going to Tasha.
Tasha was wearing much the same as Annie was.
Short shorts that could double as a pair of those boy shorts underwear, a ribbed tank top, knee pads, long socks that came up to her knees, and white shoes the likes I’d never seen before.
I snorted, then walked to the bleachers, stepping up on the first bench to take a seat on the second.
The shoes reminded me of those old 80’s shoes that the women used to wear to work out in, offering what I guessed was ankle support.
I had to admit, Tasha looked good.
But she wasn’t Annie.
“The little high school girls aren’t doing it for me, but motherfucker, look at the other side,” Ridley drawled, looking at a young woman who was still in incredible shape, even though it was blatantly obvious that she hadn’t been in high school for a while.
“My eyes haven’t made it past that ass,” Casten mumbled, mostly to himself.
“So why did the cops get called out to your house this morning?” Ridley asked, keeping his eyes on the woman.
I sighed, shifting Nathan onto the floor between my legs.
He immediately got down and started across the court.
Annie, having seen the little boy, broke off from where she’d been setting a ball, and picked Nathan up.
Nathan and Annie had met at the party last night, and Annie had fallen in love.
Nathan had a way of making women melt, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.
“Nate!” Annie crowed, bending down to gather the boy into her arms.
Nathan squealed, and Annie took him to a cart that was holding about fifty balls, pulled one out and handed it to him.
He wrapped his chunky arms around the ball as far as he could, then laid his head against the top of it.
I turned away from the sight of her holding a baby.
My God, how I wished, yet again, it’d been her that I’d gotten pregnant.
Things would be so much simpler, easier—happier—if it were her carrying my child.
“We went to my place last night, so this morning I had to make a hasty trip by her old place, next to my house, to get her some clothes she was storing there, to wear to this,” I said. “And when I pulled up on my bike, Jennifer, who was home at the time, came out of my front door thinking I was there to see her…which I wasn’t. I’d originally intended to meet with her this morning to confront her about what Casten showed me last night, but I called and canceled when Annie asked me if I wanted to come with her.”
“And she got pissed,” Casten said dryly.
I nodded. “She got pissed.”
Wolf chuckled when his son threw the ball, causing Annie to bend over for it.
He continued to do it, too, thinking it was a fun game.
I, of course, thought it was awesome.
Annie kept bending over, giving me a fine show.
“Needless to say, she started wailing and carrying on, accusing me of cheating with our neighbor. Called me every name in the book,” I continued. “And the old woman on the other side of my house called the cops.”
Ridley nodded.
“Not really sure what she expected. You can’t just scream profanities in your yard like that. I could have charged her with disturbing the peace,” Ridley growled.
I clapped my hand down on his shoulder causing him to jerk forward slightly.
He glared at me.
“What?” He asked. “She would’ve deserved it.”
She would have, but I was trying not to be petty.