Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 73043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Tegan held out a white piece of paper.
“And who might this complaint be from?” I asked as James took the paper. “There are no ‘neighbors’ out here to complain.”
Tegan bared his teeth at me. “It was a runner passing by. She felt that her life was in danger of the dogs jumping over.”
“The dogs won’t jump over a razor wire fence,” I told him bluntly. “You can start handing out bogus complaints all you want, but it’s not going to bring Janie back to you. You were just a filler for me…FYI.”
Tegan’s jaw tightened. “That’s not what she said.”
I snorted.
“I’m sure she wouldn’t tell you that you were filler,” I pointed out.
“Janie told me everything,” Tegan countered. “Everything.”
My brows rose.
“She told me that your father was a piece of shit, and ruined multiple families’ lives with his Ponzi schemes. How you were on a vendetta to right the wrongs of your father. How you were misunderstood, and that you were trying to become someone that your father would never be. She also told me that you were her childhood crush…but I just didn’t know that that childhood crush was an adult crush, too.” He laughed. “I guess I should have, though.”
I wasn’t sure how Tegan had found this information out—though it wasn’t hard if you asked the right people—but I knew Janie would never tell him anything.
I confirmed that moments later when James started to laugh. “I told you that, numbnuts. You didn’t even know Janie had dogs.”
The dogs wagged their tails.
“Don’t come around here handing me bullshit.” He handed the warning back, but Tegan refused to take it. “I know you’re hurt. I know that you feel slighted. But let me tell you something, don’t mess with my girl or my family.”
Tegan turned to go. “Rafe isn’t family yet, though, is he?”
I think that Tegan was expecting a different answer than the one James gave him. Hell, we both were.
“Rafe’s been family for a while now.” James paused. “You just didn’t know it. Like everything else you were kept in the dark about.”
Tegan got to his car and turned his eyes to me. “Don’t think that I forgot that you assaulted a police officer the other day in that hotel.”
I grinned. “I’m unsure of what you’re speaking of, officer.”
I wasn’t stupid.
I knew that the dash cam was running—as well as the body cam that Kilgore required all of their officers to wear when they were on duty—and I knew that admitting that I hit him wasn’t something that I should be doing on camera.
But I couldn’t help but mention a few things to him that he did.
“Do you remember calling Janie a slut?” I asked.
Tegan paused getting into his car.
“What about calling her trash?” I asked.
“I was drunk. I can’t remember what I said,” he lied.
“Then if what you’re saying is true, then maybe you can’t remember what happened, exactly, either.” I paused. “From my recollection, you fell and hit your face on your own knee.”
“The camera at the hotel…”
“Isn’t on the particular floor we were on due to it having four rooms on it. All of which are honeymoon suites,” I pointed out. “Everything in that particular portion of the hotel is very circumspect due to the high probability of honeymooners getting a little frisky in the hallway. And honeymooners paying out the ass to keep themselves safe.”
Tegan got into his car and drove away.
Moments later, I turned to find James staring at me.
“There are cameras in that hotel hallway.”
I snorted. “I know. Or there were, anyway.”
James shook his head, then went to the gate and typed in the code.
Moments later the gate opened, and he got back into the truck.
I did, too.
“I feel like I’m the winner here,” James said, breaking the silence. “Maybe I’ll pay for the wedding after all.”
I snorted out a laugh.
“You can try,” I taunted.
Chapter 20
Ending work-related emails with ‘fucking dickbags’ is apparently unacceptable.
-Rafe to Parker
Rafe
“Are you sure you’re okay with going?”
I looked at Janie over my shoulder. “Yes. What the hell is the big deal?”
“They’re a little…much. Alpha as hell.”
Janie and I were on our way to a Dixie Warden MC party. It was being held in Benton, Louisiana about an hour and fifteen minutes away, and all of the family—Free family anyway—was riding over there in a group.
“I’ve been penetrating organizations for a very long time, honey,” I told Janie. “I’ve been working with Hail Auto Recovery for a while now. I’ve worked for the FBI, CIA, and a few other organizations as a contract agent. All of which had me dealing with a large group of ‘alpha male men’ as you call them. Trust me when I say I can handle myself.”
Janie sighed, then closed her eyes.
“I’m tired.”
“Then sleep,” I told her, reaching for her hand.
She clutched onto it, then leaned over onto my arm, which was resting on my truck’s console.