Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
That was where I’d gotten in the way.
There were many loose ends to deal with, including the location of Charlie’s mother. Discovering who all the people were who’d aided Patricia was proving to be a challenge. The twisted irony of it all was that she had been smart enough, strong enough, and driven enough to run the Ashby empire without the need for an Ashby male to be the face of the company.
“I think we have to call that one a draw,” Cass said to me as he shifted until his dick slid out of me. Despite the sting in my ass, I already wanted him again.
“Agreed,” I said. “You get to pick the next fantasy spot, though.”
Cass chuckled as he settled his weight back down on me. His arms went around me, providing my shoulders and head with a bunch of sexy muscle as a pillow. I put my arms around him and ran my fingers up and down his spine. As well as he and I were doing, we both had a lot to deal with when it came to our personal issues. Cass was seeing a therapist several times a week to deal with the mental damage done by his years in solitary confinement as well as what his grandmother had done to him. I sat in on the sessions whenever he wanted me there, but sometimes he needed to do it alone. It didn’t change the fact that our relationship was still us and not just him or me. We made each other stronger for the times we did spend apart.
I’d had to face my own demons.
Or demon, rather.
After seeing several neurologists, I’d been given similar answers about the pain I continued to experience. Every single one of them had come to the same conclusion that the nerve damage causing the pain was permanent. They couldn’t explain what would cause an episode, but I’d begun trying different medications to get ahead of the pain.
Several of the specialists had agreed that I would likely never get my memory back. There was both frustration and relief in knowing that. I was finally beginning to accept that a piece of my life would always be missing, but more importantly, I was learning to forgive myself for all the reckless behavior I’d engaged in. The brain injury that was causing the pain was a game changer, though. The fact that I didn’t know when an episode would hit made me a liability out in the field. It even made me a liability when it came to things like driving a car. Even if the doctors found the right mix of medications and dosages that would make the episodes nearly non-existent, I couldn’t be cured and no way in hell was I willing to put others at risk just so I could pretend everything was okay.
Adjusting to the knowledge that I wouldn’t be carrying a gun anymore and that something I’d always taken for granted, driving a car, was gone for good too had hit me harder than I’d wanted to admit.
When I’d submitted my official resignation from Targes to my brother, he’d flat out refused to accept it and torn the document up. While I was a skilled marksman, Targes didn’t just need men and women to carry guns around and shoot the bad guys. Sully was insistent that not only was I automatically a partner in the business, I was also in charge of building up an investigative team. Between Cass and Sully, I’d accepted the fact that I was good at reading people and seeing things others didn’t. That wasn’t a useless quality. It would take time to find people who had the natural ability to observe and use critical thinking to solve problems and devise solutions, but I knew it was something I could do. In fact, I already had my eye on my first potential team member.
My brother’s assistant, Michael.
While I knew next to nothing about the young man, he’d already proven that he had skills that went beyond normal assistant work. Even better, though, Michael had moxie. He’d been the one who’d kept Sully out of the office while I’d been talking Cass down from the fallout of learning that his grandmother had not only lied to him, but she’d also replaced him. Apparently, all Michael had needed to do was stand in front of the door. For whatever reason, my brother hadn’t been able or willing to put his hands on the younger man.
Cass had agreed to go out into the field once all the legal stuff had been worked out. Asa Hutch was determined to get Cass a cash settlement from the city that would last him a thousand lifetimes, but more importantly, Asa wanted to put every man and woman behind bars whose palms Patricia Ashby had greased. The only money Cass was interested in was the money he felt he owed Sully for the mortgage on the house we were all now sharing. Considering all the business I had a feeling was coming our way, the house would be back in our hands inside of a year or less.