Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 83167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
No one could take care of Tex.
Especially when he was bellowing louder than his normal bellow and pounding on a door.
I suspected even my mother couldn’t take care of Tex when he was doing that and Tex was head over heels in love with my mother.
Sadly, while these thoughts tumbled through my head, Mo had found his cargos and tugged them on.
He exited the room doing the fly.
Shit!
“Mo! Wait!” I yelled, scrambling to get out of bed.
It took me too long to find my panties and nightie in the mess of bedclothes and too much longer to struggle them on at the same time racing out of the room.
My nightie was floating down as I hit the top of the stairs and I started to bolt down them as I heard, “You! You’ve got some explaining to do.”
Tex.
Tex getting in the face of Mo.
I kept going, just a lot faster, and when I made it to the bottom, my feet squeaked on the floor as I slid across the hall and slammed into the arch to the TV room from my momentum.
This was when I saw that this situation was not just Tex in A Snit bad.
It was worse.
Way worse.
Because, filing through the foyer, was not just my big, wild-haired stepdad Tex.
Behind him came Lee.
Hank.
Vance.
Luke.
Hector.
Ren.
And Eddie.
The entire Hot Bunch (save Mace, but I figured he only wasn’t there because he now lived in LA and he hadn’t been able to catch a convenient flight).
Shit!
They all glowered at me as they trooped into my living room, trailed by Mo.
Mo was not glowering.
When he turned his head to look at me, he appeared to be having trouble containing his mirth.
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
He didn’t get it.
This was not funny.
I’d been onboard when Smithie had explained why he brought in Hawk, way on board, for a variety of reasons.
First, and arguably the priority, because the Hot Bunch run amuck in Denver in protection mode of one of their own was a very scary thing.
Second, and arguably the priority, because Eddie would tell his wife, my sister, who would tell my mother, and the other Rock Chicks, and they’d all be worried, just like everyone at Smithie’s.
And I couldn’t have that.
Now, it was very clear the men knew.
And now, they were ticked, not that they’d been kept out of the loop, that they hadn’t been asked to do the job.
And the Hot Bunch ticked was another very scary thing.
I needed to handle this.
Immediately.
I rushed to Mo.
“Mo—”
“Babe, go upstairs and put on some clothes,” he murmured.
Was he insane?
We didn’t have time for that!
“But—”
Tex boomed, “Get your ass in here, girl.”
There it was!
No time for that.
Mo looked toward my living room.
I looked toward my living room.
It was filled with the Hot Bunch.
Tex appeared in the archway.
“What did I say?” he demanded (in another boom).
“Tex—”
“Eddie got the word. Smithie had some lunatic who was fixated on you and sending detailed letters of how he was going to cleanse you,” Tex stated (loudly, as well as irately). “And you. You didn’t call in me or the boys.”
Eddie appeared at Tex’s side.
“Lottie, get in here,” he growled.
Oh man.
I felt Mo’s hand come to the small of my back and he put pressure there.
Apparently, he’d realized it was time to handle this.
Immediately.
But at that juncture I wanted to dig in my heels. However, since I was an adult and not ten minutes ago had decided to act like one, I probably shouldn’t go back on that now.
Tex and Eddie got out of our way so we could hit the living room.
My living room wasn’t small, as such.
And it didn’t seem tiny with all those big men in there.
It seemed miniscule with all those big men being seriously ticked off at me in there.
“Uh—” I started.
“Hawk had it covered. I had her covered. It’s done,” Mo said over me.
Was he seeing these men?
I mean…
Did he really think that was going to work?
“We’ll get to you next,” Tex boomed at him.
See?
It did not work.
I looked to my side and up to see Mo had his head bent, staring at his feet, his profile telling me he was even more amused than he’d been before.
Yes, he was insane.
This was not funny.
I had to take things in hand.
“Listen, guys, like Mo said, it’s done,” I shared with the room. “It’s been rough, but it’s over and we’re on to the celebratory phase. So if we could do the debriefing when there’s beer and tequila handy, in other words, some other time, it would be appreciated.”
“The celebratory phase?”
This came from Hector.
And the way it came from Hector had my body locking.
It was then I noticed that the Hot Bunch had been so preoccupied with being pissed at me that they hadn’t quite noticed Mo was there, he was wearing nothing but cargos, and I was in a nightie.