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)
She stared at me for a few long moments before saying, “Okay.”
I followed her into the apartment, which she left open, and turned just as I made it through the door.
“He’s big,” I said to her as she disappeared into her room.
“He’s over nine feet long,” she called out from her bedroom. “His name is Zilla.”
“Godzilla, Zilla for short?” I wondered, studying the large animal that had a tail as long as the door frame he was perched above.
I never really did like iguanas. They were kind of creepy.
“Does he bite?” I wondered.
She answered as she was coming out of her room, now completely changed out of her earlier outfit—which was hot—but this one?
She was in black leggings, a black tank top, and black and white Jordans.
Her hair was now up in a ponytail on top of her head, and her eyes were still that beautiful shimmering reddish brown.
My dad’s favorite Brandy was some French brand that had to be imported. But it was the same color of her eyes and made me want to melt into them.
“He whips his tail,” she said. “As long as you touch him anywhere but on his tail, he’s good. Face. Eyes. He’s all right, but there’s just something about when you touch his tail that he doesn’t like. I think the only reason he tolerates it when I come in and out is because he knows he’s in the way. But if I try it any other time, no deal.” She shook her head, smiling.
“I can’t say that I’ve ever petted one,” I admitted, not making a move to touch him. “Are you ready?”
She held up her hands with the receipt and said, “I hope they take it back. It’s about a week shy of being three months since I bought the bag.”
They would be taking it back. I’d make sure of it.
Everything went smoothly but the bag.
But since I was there with her, and I could glare the stupid cunt of a man down over her shoulder, he reluctantly took the return. He also said, “I can’t believe you’re returning this. Everyone wants this bag. They’re selling for three times this amount on eBay.”
She reached for the receipt to sign, making my heart do a funny little flip inside my chest.
She didn’t stop or even hesitate at the knowledge that she could’ve sold the bag on eBay, gouging someone for their hard-earned money just to make a buck.
“Thank you for your help,” she replied carefully, smiling so fakely that I wanted to pull her into my arms.
Patience, Carter. Patience.
The cop at the front door is never a stripper when you want him to be.
—Hollis’s secret thoughts
HOLLIS
I was such a sad sac.
I should really be at home, not allowing my bad attitude to inflict others, but here I was, riding in Quincy’s truck, heading to places unknown.
“Are you sure you won’t tell me?” I begged.
I wasn’t fit for company right now.
In truth, I shouldn’t be doing anything more than grabbing drive-through Whataburger and asking him to take me back home.
But his presence was… soothing.
The pain and anger I’d felt after leaving my parents’ place was almost… gone.
Just spending time with him had made a whole world of difference.
That didn’t mean I wanted to deal with anything beyond just him, though.
Which was why, when he pulled into a dirt road ten minutes later, without, might I add, answering me, I was relieved.
Maybe he was taking me to…
The thought of being alone flew out the window when we rounded the bend of the dirt road, and I was faced with the fact that there would be no being alone.
Not when there were eight cars parked in front of the house we were pulling up to.
“Quincy…” I hesitated, unsure what to say or do.
On the one hand, I wanted to stay with him. Just being around him was comforting.
But there was no way that wherever we were, I wasn’t about to be bombarded with people.
“I’ll take you home the moment you feel overwhelmed,” he said.
The way he said it, making me more than understand that he truly meant what he said, had me deflating in my seat. “I’m awkward.”
His brows rose. “You do perfectly fine with me.”
I scoffed. “That’s because you are threatening me with arrest half the time. Had you just shown up, smiling at me, I would’ve been a completely different person.”
Speaking of smiling, the front door opened and a little girl, all of three at the most, came barreling out of the house.
She was wearing a leotard with so many sequins on it you could see her from outer space, a smile a mile wide, and bright red cowboy boots.
“You have…” I pointed out the windshield at the little girl. “A little girl barreling toward you at a mile a minute.”
Quincy got out of the truck, a large, welcoming smile on his face, and crouched down.