Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
On top of it all, Jett also had fights break out all the time. Not to mention not one, not two, but fuckin’ four murders in the parking lot, bathroom, and surrounding area. It was a powder keg waiting to blow, and it’d never gotten better in the four years it’d been open.
Needless to say, as I was walking around Jett, wishing I was anywhere else but there, I was in a terrible mood.
I should’ve just taken the night to myself like I’d originally planned.
But again, the piece of paper in my pocket burned against my leg, and the thought of seeing Hollis Aue was enough to keep me there.
I still didn’t know why I was so obsessed with the woman.
There was just something about her, though, that kept my mind wandering back to her, even all these months later.
It was on my fifth circuit of the place that I passed the comedian.
And what I heard had me rolling my eyes.
“What are you talking about? I’m fucking hilarious,” Taite DeRosa crowed, raising his glass. “Kind of like that ugly toupee you have on your head.”
“It’s not a toupee,” the man he was talking to gritted his teeth. “This is my hair.”
“Well, it’s fuckin’ awful hair.” Taite grinned.
“Well, I guess I don’t have to tell you about how your car was just found with every single tire on it slashed but one, a new paint job that says ‘killer’, and a sweet new sun roof,” the man who really did have bad hair said.
I paused.
The comedian was no longer smiling.
He was leaning forward, his eyes huge. “That car is brand new!”
“Brand new, and in need of a new paint job.” Toupee guy shrugged. “Have a nice night, Mr. DeRosa. I’ll keep you updated on any other further issues.”
“Further issues?” the woman beside Taite asked.
The woman was new. I’d not seen her until this last pass.
“My fuckin’ number was spoofed, and it was reported to whoever the fuck deals with that, and they’re accusing me of breaking the law. I just know it’s that fuckin’ bitch again,” Taite grumbled.
“What bitch?” someone at the table asked.
“The bitch who is making my life a living hell!” Taite growled, answering the woman who looked like she could use about two more inches on her skirt.
“The stalker?” Short skirt asked.
“Yeah, her.” Taite lifted his lip in disgust, then curled his hand possessively around the new woman who’d just showed.
Must be a girlfriend.
“She’s terrorizing you, you poor thing.” She patted his chest.
Her phone beeped, and she pulled it up, a frown on her face.
Her eyes widened, then she was straightening up, no longer leaning on Taite.
“I, uh, have to go to the bathroom,” she said as she stood. “I’ll be right back.”
Curious, I followed her, my gaze going to Taite only long enough to see if he’d noticed anything wrong with his girl like I had.
He was too busy bitching about ‘the stalker.’
The stalker being Hollis Aue, was my guess.
It was as I was two steps behind the girlfriend that a flash of white caught my attention.
I follow that flash of white out the door and to the right.
I narrowed my eyes, because something about the woman’s body shape seemed familiar, and it hit me.
I followed sedately behind as the woman pushed into a hallway that led to the back rooms. The girlfriend followed, and I was even more intrigued.
My luck is like a bald guy who just won a comb.
—when Hollis first meets Quincy
HOLLIS
Okay, so I told myself I was going to stop.
Really, I did.
But then I got that thing in the mail about my restraining order, and I’d gotten angry all over again.
One day a few months ago, I’d woken up to a huge firestorm of social media posts about Taite DeRosa filing a restraining order against a ‘deranged fan’ and dove into the posts. Only to find out that the ‘deranged fan’ was none other than myself.
I’d tried to be the bigger person.
But then dear old Taite had gotten a girlfriend that he was ‘so in love with’ and I couldn’t stop myself.
I couldn’t allow him to be happy while my best friend was rotting in a cold grave on the edge of the city.
It’d started out pretty tame on my end.
After confronting Taite in that club, I’d gone home and drugged myself with NyQuil to go to sleep.
I’d been absolutely exhausted when I’d woken up, but the first thought in my mind was ‘time to start operation payback.’
From there, it’d started out with little things. Little things that were nothing more than an inconvenience.
Eventually, I got tired of spending all my extra time on the asshole, and I told myself that I was done.
I’d even put Kaylee on the back burner.
Then I’d gotten the restraining order.
A restraining order based on zero evidence against me that I now had to follow or would wind up in jail.