Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69993 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69993 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Ro laughs. “So you’re not really looking for a job?”
“I am kind of. Sort of.” I sigh and push the laptop away. “It’s the same old shit, Ro. These jobs want a degree, which I don’t have and can’t afford to get, even though I can smoke those programmers with one hand tied behind my back.” I groan in frustration. “I might as well wait tables myself.”
“What’s wrong with waiting tables?”
“There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s honest fucking work, but we both know I don’t exactly have the disposition for the service industry.”
Ro barks out a laugh. “True. So what about those remote work jobs? You can work when you want and make good money. Look them up now,” she orders. “I’m almost home. I’ll come by after I change.”
“You’re bossy right now, and I kind of like it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she says, and I know she’s blushing because my bestie does that a lot. “What else is new with you?”
“Not a damn thing. Mom is being a royal bitch, and I think it’s because Frank hasn’t come by in a while. A long time now that I think about it.” I don’t care for him either way, but compared to Mom’s other boyfriends, he’s all right. “Weird.”
“Not really. I mean, his church burned down, Gia.”
“No way! How do you know?” This is the first I’m hearing about a burned-down church.
“Uhm, because it’s been all over the local news. All day, every damn day. Jeez, girl do you ever watch the news?”
“No. My own life isn’t tragic enough that I don’t need to fill my brain with other people’s problems. What happened?”
“Don’t know exactly. The police aren’t saying much other than they suspect arson and possibly kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping! Who in the hell would want to kidnap a pastor?”
“Don’t know that either, but his wife is worried. No one has heard from him in days, possibly longer.”
“He has a wife? Shit.” I shake my head. Frank is a bit of a goody-goody and more judgmental than I care for, but he’s good to my mom, and that’s all I care about.
“Dumb motherfucker. I wonder if my mom knows he’s married.”
“Of course she doesn’t,” Ro insists, angry on Mom’s behalf. That’s another reason she’s my sister from another mister. “She wouldn’t be with him if she knew he was somebody’s husband. Your mom isn’t a homewrecker. She just has terrible taste in men.”
I laugh bitterly at that. “Understatement of the fucking millennium, Ro. Even when she chooses a good guy like Frank, she manages to find the assholes.”
I can’t believe Mom’s ability to pick men she has to scrape underneath the bottom of the barrel to get.
“This is going to fuck her up, Ro, and in turn, she’s going to bitch at me even more. Thanks a lot, Frank. Fucker.”
The last thing I need is to have Mom more on my case than she has been lately, and when she learns about Frank, she’ll be all over my ass.
The hinges on the front door squeak, and I freeze for a second. “Hang on, Ro. Mom? Is that you?”
There’s no response, and I drop my legs and stand, breathing nervously.
“You think she heard us?” Ro whispers the question as if she’s here in the kitchen with me.
“No. The door just squeaked. Mom?” My pulse starts to race.
It’s silent again, but I know I heard the fucking door. I go to the living room and see the door is closed, but the ugly as fuck lace curtain is swaying just a little.
“Shit, Ro, there’s someone here.”
“What? Get the hell out of there. Now!”
She’s right, and I tiptoe toward the front door and grip the handle. When I tug on it, I let out a perfect Hollywood horror movie scream at the man standing on my front porch.
“Gia? What’s going on? Gia, say something!” Ro screams through the phone.
I hear my bestie screaming, but my gaze is caught on the man in front of me with the smooth skin the color of honey mixed with whiskey, thick dark hair pulled back, the band barely containing his wild locks. “Fucking Preacher! You scared the shit out of me! What are you doing here?” Is he trying to get inside my house to kidnap me? Or worse, to kill me?
“Are you all right?” His brown eyes stare at me, and his brows dip in concern.
“I’m fine. Why?” I take a step back and eye him suspiciously. “Did you open the door like two seconds ago?”
“No. Go stand on the porch and don’t move.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
He takes a step forward and then another, forcing me to step back or have his big body barrel me over. “Two guys just went in the door, and I need to find them.
“What? You’re crazy. There’s no one in here.” I shake my head and ignore the way my heart speeds up, chalking it up to lust rather than fear because lust is easier to handle. “For all I know, you were trying to get in here for some nefarious reason.”