Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
I would think she was a terrible dog if she didn’t do so well while she was on duty.
But the moment she was off, she was tearing stuff up or eating something that didn’t belong to her.
Just last week Mocha had eaten the birthday cake that Downy had picked up for his wife, and everyone in a three block radius had heard Downy’s bellow of outrage.
Of course, it’d helped that we were outside at the time.
“Okay,” Tai broke into my thoughts. “I think we should talk about this.”
“Talk about what?” I asked him.
“About the fact that you haven’t shared that you were with someone,” Tai continued. “Mia would love to meet her. Bring her to the fire station on Sunday.”
I thought about that for a moment, and then shrugged.
“I’ll ask her,” I mumbled.
It wasn’t likely that she’d want to go to a fundraiser at the fire station on her day off from house arrest, but I’d offer it to her anyway.
“Alright, boys,” Luke cut in, his voice saying that it was time for business to commence. “I have the plans. Let’s do this.”
I leaned into the side of the truck and watched as the rest of the SWAT team, including me and Tai, gathered around to go over the plan of action.
“Everyone good?” Luke asked a few minutes later.
We all nodded.
“Tai,” Luke said. “You’re here in case we need you. Drew, you’re with us.”
My stomach tensed as it always did right before I went in with the team, but this time was different.
I used to think of Attie right before I went inside, but this time, there was another person added to my worries.
If I didn’t come home, there’d be two ladies devastated, not just one.
And I found that I kind of liked that.
A lot.
Chapter 17
All my life I thought air was free. Then I saw The Lorax and it all finally makes sense. You pay for the air as well as the potato chips when you buy a bag of Lays.
-Aspen’s secret thoughts
Aspen
“What’s wrong?” Attie asked as I closed the door on the man who’d just served me papers.
“I’ve been served,” I muttered in the same voice that the man had just used on me.
Attie blinked, her eyes going wide.
“Like, you’ve been sued, papers?” She asked worriedly.
“I don’t know,” I tried to be calm, taking the papers from the manila envelope and taking a seat at the dining room table so I could spread them out.
My eyes scanned the words of the first page, and the more I read, the more anger that built until I was about ready to scream.
“What…” Attie muttered as she read over my shoulder. “Abandonment? Who did you abandon?”
I gritted my teeth.
“Apparently, my ex thinks that I’ve abandoned him, and he’s suing me for support. When he’s the one who left me,” I said dryly. “And the court date is in two weeks. On a Tuesday, no less.”
“How are you going to get there?” She asked. “You can’t leave.”
I looked down at where she was indicating: the ankle monitor that was sticking out of my sweat pants.
“I can’t,” I agreed. “I guess I’ll either have to see if they will let me get off for the day. That or I’ll have to request a different day from the judge.”
She bit her lip, her finger twirling around a lock of hair that’d fallen down from her high ponytail.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head, causing another piece of hair to fall from her ponytail.
“You look a mess,” I said. “Do you want to take a shower or something? Your mascara is dried to your cheeks.”
Her horrified gasp had her bringing her hands up to her cheeks in a manner only a vain teenager who cared about her appearance would.
“Does it look bad?” She asked, patting her cheeks.
I shook my head.
“No,” I lied.
She smiled, but excused herself to the bathroom to clean her face anyway.
Her horrified scream a few moments later had me chuckling, even though the words I was reading on the papers had me wanting to scream.
“You son of a bitch,” I growled, looking at Danny’s name. “You fucking suck.”
“Who sucks?” Attie asked as she came back long moments later, her hair back up in a tidy ponytail, and her face scrubbed clean of makeup. “What’s wrong?”
I pointed at the papers.
“It states that we’re common-law married,” I growled. “What the fuck?” I looked guiltily over at Attie. “I’m sorry, but my mouth seems to run away with me when I get all hot and bothered.”
She snorted and raised her hand in a clearing gesture. “It’s fine. I’ve heard worse from the boys at school.”
I smiled at her, then my gaze fell back onto the papers.
“What happened?” She asked. “I heard a little bit about what you did to earn the ankle monitor from my mother while she was talking on the phone to someone about you, but I never heard why you beat the crap out of the cop’s car.”