Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 85342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
I try not to laugh as I pull out of the garage. “Um, I refuse to answer that question.” I chuckle. “Why can’t he have a cookie?” I ask, and she turns and glares at Jamieson. I mean, glare is too strong of a word. She gives him the mother look that means watch out.
“Did you tell Auntie Juju why you can’t have a cookie?” she asks him, and I can hear my nieces yelling in the background. “Today, Mr. Horton called one of his friends a small dickhead,” she shares, looking at him, and he just looks down at the floor. “And then told him he was going to cut him.”
I roll my lips, trying not to laugh. “I mean, not that I’m saying it’s right or not, but…” She now glares at me. “Did this little boy do something to bother him? There are always three sides to every story.”
“Julia.” She says my name between clenched teeth. “That is not the point. We don’t attack other people.”
“Are you alone?” I ask, and she nods her head.
“Michael is gone for two days,” she says of my brother-in-law. The two of them met seven years ago and ended up having a one-night stand. She had no idea who he was, and five months later, their paths crossed again. Not only was she pregnant with Jamieson but she also found out he played hockey in the NHL and came from a hockey royalty family.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask as I make my way over to her house. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes, depending on traffic.”
“You don’t have to do this,” she huffs.
“Please, it would be my pleasure, especially after the day I’ve had,” I say. “Why don’t you order food and I’ll be there to help give the girls a bath.”
“Is everything okay?” she asks. Over the years, I’ve shared a couple of things with her, but mostly it’s all private and confidential, so I can’t disclose certain things. But when a case gets to me, she can feel it. My mother calls it the twin intuition.
“Just a hard day, that’s all.” I shrug. “But now I get to spend time with my favorite people.” I smile at her. “See you soon.”
CHAPTER 2
Chase
“Two minutes to go!” the coach shouts from the bench, and I look up at the Jumbotron. “I’d like to get on the plane with at least one win.” I lean against the side of the wall, just out of the way, folding my arms over my chest. “Stone!” he yells for my cousin, Dylan, to get his ass on the ice. Dylan jumps up and throws his leg over the bench getting on the ice and in the middle of the play.
I watch the Jumbotron, seeing them score in the empty net. Clapping my hands, I turn around and walk back to the small office they gave me when I got here. As a visiting team, they give you the bare minimum, just enough to get your stuff set up. I pack up the medical bag I travel with as I hear the players start to walk back into the dressing room. “Bus leaves in one hour!” I hear someone yell, and I smile, knowing I’ll be sleeping in my own bed tonight. Not all teams carry their own doctor to games. Some just use the doctors the other teams have, but not Nico. Nope. He doesn’t want anyone touching his guys but the best.
Forty-five minutes later, I’m shrugging on my suit jacket and walking out of the office with my bags packed. I place my bags on the trolly at the same time Cooper, my older brother, comes from the dressing room. His hair’s still wet from the shower, and he holds his tie in his hand. “Don’t you look all Rico Suave.” I roll my lips to stop from laughing as he glares at me.
“This coming from the walking, talking GQ model.” He points at me. “Your ponytail is crooked.”
“It’s called a bun.” I wink at him. “And the girls love it.” We walk toward the bus side by side. This is another reason I took the job here. When Nico offered me the position two years ago, I laughed it off, but then I kept coming to Dallas more and more to see my brother, Cooper, who plays with the team, and my two cousins, Dylan and Michael, who also play for the team. I liked the weather, and it made me want to finally plant roots. “Just the other day, Erika was running her hands through it.” He stops walking and just glares at me. He’ll take any joke, but you bring up his wife, and all bets are off.
“I will put you through a fucking wall,” he says between clenched teeth, and I just laugh at him.