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)
So I did, telling him about Aspen.
“I remember hearing all that when she got arrested for police brutality,” he spat. “Knew then, just as I know now, that this is a big clusterfuck. What else happened?”
So I told him that, too.
Luke blinked, his eyes going wide.
“One of my men is doing this?” Luke asked, a note of annoyance in his voice.
I nodded, pulling the papers she’d received from my coat pocket and tossing them down on his desk.
They hit with a soft thud, and Luke immediately started to pour through them.
“Wait,” Downy said, silent until now. “You’re telling me that douche wad is trying to sue my sister?”
I nodded. “He is.”
Downy’s fists clenched.
It seemed Downy wasn’t as immune to his sister’s well-being as he tried to make himself seem.
“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” he grunted, standing abruptly.
“Sit down!” Luke barked.
Downy flipped Luke off and left without another word, causing Luke to sigh.
“You really had to do that with him here?” He asked.
I shrugged. “Someone had to do it. I have my peace officer’s license, but I don’t work for you. If I’d have done it, it wouldn’t have had the same effect as if one of y’all had done it.”
“You’re going to get him in trouble,” Luke muttered, his tired eyes coming to meet mine.
I shrugged.
“You know what?” I said. “I don’t think I really give a fuck. It’s time someone thinks of Aspen, here, instead of themselves. It’s time for Downy to step up to the plate.”
Luke snorted.
“He did step up to the plate,” he said, standing now too. “She would’ve gotten five years in prison had it not been for him.”
I shrugged, even though that was the first time I’d heard that.
It didn’t surprise me, though.
“Good.” Was all I could think to say.
He shook his head.
“Anything else?” He wanted to know.
I hesitated, remembering the boy from last night. The same one who’d been staring at me from his front yard this morning.
Remembering the note of promised violence in his eyes, I went ahead and informed him of what happened there, too.
“Fucking kids,” I muttered darkly. “This whole fucking thing is a clusterfuck.”
Luke nodded.
“I’ll do some research. Do you know his last name?” He asked.
I shook my head. “No. Only the first, but I can tell you his address.”
Luke tossed me a pile of Post-Its and I quickly jotted the info I did have down.
“Give me the day, and I’ll have more information for you later tonight,” Luke instructed.
I nodded, but something in the back of my mind was telling me that it wasn’t good enough, stuck with me.
And I was right.
Turns out tonight would be too late.
Chapter 20
Dear sleep, I love you.
-Coffee Cup
Aspen
“Look at that,” Attie said. “Do you think that my dad would…” she stopped when she saw the look on my face.
“He wouldn’t let me, would he?” She laughed.
I shook my head.
“No, he wouldn’t,” I said, scanning names on the internet. “I think I found you a doctor. It’s the one I use for my yearly exams and have used since I turned sixteen. My mom doesn’t use her, though. She’s too ‘hip and modern’ for her. She also does obstetrics.”
Attie’s eyes turned squinty.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing. I just don’t like thinking about…it.” She hesitated, “When I first found out I was,” she swallowed. “Pregnant. I did some research.”
I laughed then at the look on her face.
“It’s not very pretty,” I said. “But it’s got a good benefit at the end,” I supplied, standing up when I heard the doorbell ring.
She snorted.
“I guess,” she grumbled. “I wasn’t very happy to find out. The guy I was with…” she looked down at her lap and I paused. I hadn’t heard anything about this ‘guy.’ I’d asked, of course, but she’d been pretty tight lipped about him. “He told me he put on a condom. And he also convinced me to do it in the first place.”
I stopped with my hand on the knob.
I didn’t bother rushing to answer it. It was the mailman, and he usually just left my belongings on the front porch for me and left without waiting for me to answer.
“You didn’t want to do it?” I asked in surprise.
She shook her head.
“I, well, I fell in with a bad crowd. When my parents divorced, I decided to find some other friends since mine thought bringing it up every five minutes would help me get over it.” She bit her lip. “And so I found different friends that knew nothing about me…and that’s where Ellison came in.”
“Ellison,” I tested the name. It was familiar. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”
She pointed across the street.
“That’s him,” she said, pointing to the front yard.
I looked out the side window at the yard directly next to Drew’s, and my heart dropped.
“No,” I gasped, voice low and unsteady. “You and him?”