Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
About ten minutes later, as Ant is leaving out the door, Ven hops out of her car. She collects some things out of her back seat and comes to greet me and AJ. Too bad my son is throwing a fit in my arms as Ant drives off without him.
“Aww, poor baby. Daddy will be back,” Ven coos. “I’m here to spend the day with you. We’re going to have so much fun.”
He looks at her like, yeah right. His little cheeks shake as he pouts while tears roll down his face. I kiss his temple and rub his back.
“He’ll be fine. This is just the first time they’ve been apart since we’ve been here. I swear they’ve been tied at the hip.”
“Ox looks so happy. Tell me about last night. Were you surprised?”
We move to the kitchen and sit at the table. She places a leather folder down. I eye it curiously but answer her instead of asking questions of my own.
“It was so romantic and the fact that AJ helped was so adorable. They had on matching outfits for dinner and everything. Like, when did he have time for all of that?”
“You make time for someone you love.”
My cheeks heat and I look down. I know Ant loves me, but he doesn’t say it as often as he used to. I’m telling myself to be patient.
“Speaking of making time. I’m sorry for not making enough time for you—”
“When have you not made time for me?”
“I could make a list, cuz.”
“I’m not pressing you about anything.”
I glance at my cousin and notice that not only does she not have on a unit, which is so rare, but her natural hair is also pulled out of her face. I can see the scar that runs into her hairline.
“Hey, I wanted to ask you something I’ve always wondered about.”
“What’s up?”
“That scar. You told me it was nothing. You slipped or something like that. You were there. The night of the race, you were one of the drivers, weren’t you?”
She darts her eyes away and licks her lips. I know she didn’t want her dad to know about the races back then, but she doesn’t have to hide this from me.
“Yeah, that’s how the guys and I met. It was that night.”
“Oh my God. I should have told you back then about Ant. If you would have known, you would have known to stay away from those races.”
“Lex, that night, there wasn’t anything that would have kept me from that race. I needed to be there.”
“Yeah, but everything that asshole touched turned to shit. Including his own life.”
“Yeah, that was so crazy. I was in shock when I heard what happened. I’ve always felt a little guilty. I mean, that could easily have been Pit or one of the others.”
“It was coming one way or the other. The sad part is he was never truly about that life. At least, he didn’t have to be.
“They had money. He had decent grades. If he had truly applied himself, he could have done better. He just always had to be in the middle of something, it was exhausting.
“Watching him get into trouble just to be bailed out to do it all over again. I swear, he only dated me because he was chasing a look. He wanted street cred.”
She wrinkles her brows. “Does Ox know about him?”
“He knows I was seeing someone right before we hooked up, but I never told him who. Why?”
“Nothing, just thinking. Look, he cried himself out. You want to put him down for a nap and we can really talk?”
I look down at AJ to find him passed out, looking like the sweet boy he is. I kiss his cheek and smile. My little angel.
“Yeah, I’ll be right back. You know where everything is. Help yourself. It’s your place after all.”
I stand and take AJ up to place him in the bed. When I get him settled, my phone goes off. I pull it out and see a text from Ant.
Anthony: Two of Uncle Blake’s guys are about to pull up.
Anthony: John-John and Odell. John-John is blond. Odell has dark hair and is the taller of the two.
Me: Okay. Miss you already.
Anthony: Miss you too. They’ll have a gift from me and my uncle for you.
I don’t text to ask what. I get this feeling I might not want the answer by text. Instead, I send back a message with hearts and head back down to greet his uncle’s men and have a talk with my cousin.
When I get to the kitchen, Ven already has two guys seated at the table with her. One blond and one with dark hair. She seems to be familiar with both.
“Hey, this is John-John and Odell, they work for Uncle Blake,” she says as I come into view.