Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
He left around midnight, even giving me a hug at the door. I’m talking a good hug. A classic Camden Cole hug.
We made plans for the next day, unfortunately most of which involved a drug test he’d scheduled just to “cover my ass in case we saw the inside of a courtroom.” But he also promised me brunch at my favorite diner in Thomaston, so I didn’t complain.
All in all, it was a fantastic evening of good food, good wine, and good company.
Even if I did cry myself to sleep.
The deafening ring of my cell phone on the nightstand shocked me awake. Between listening to the couple in the room next door argue and thinking about Nora’s oh-so-calm reaction when I’d told her I wasn’t available, it had taken forever for me to fall asleep.
I had no idea what specific time it was at the moment, but based on the dim light cascading through the curtains, it was too damn early to be receiving phone calls.
An unknown number flashed on the screen, and against my better judgment, I picked it up. “Hello.”
“You stupid fuck. Are you kidding me with this shit?” Jonathan snapped.
Smiling, I shifted up in the bed, propping my back on the headboard. He must have heard about my interest in the Sean Watkins arrest. This would be fun. “Good morning, cuz.”
“Fuck you! You think you can put a tail on me and I wouldn’t notice? You have no idea who you’re dealing with here. I don’t give a shit if you’re family. I will put you in the ground before I let you jeopardize my career.”
A tail? I hadn’t put a tail on him, and as far as I knew, Leo hadn’t, either. But I sure as shit wasn’t going to tell him that.
“Okay, you want it gone? Talk to the prosecutor, tell them you fucked up, get the charges against Nora dropped.”
He barked a laugh. “You’re delusional.”
“Am I? Because, right now, I have evidence to support how you not only planted evidence, but also tampered with evidence, falsified a police report, and that doesn’t include the property damage and harassment. Sounds to me like I’m not the one jeopardizing your career. You’re doing a fine job of taking care of that all on your own.”
“Call off your dogs!” he boomed.
“Drop the charges against Nora!” I shot right back.
“Oh, I’m gonna drop something on that bitch. Little throwback to when she liked it hard and rough. She give it to you like that, Camden? Is that why you’re all pussy-whipped, flying down here, and shoving your nose into shit you have no fucking clue about?”
I sat straight up in bed, the hairs on my arms standing on end. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You should try taking her to the old dugout. I’ve seen a few videos where she comes alive like a fucking wildcat.”
My stomach soured and bile clawed up the back of my throat. A thought so vile that I’d never even considered it scorched my neurons. “You kept Josh’s videos of her?”
“You never know when shit like that might come in handy. Like, say, when your cousin is trying to ruin you over some bitch and those tapes anonymously find their way to the internet for the whole world to see.”
I stood up and balled my fist at my side, a blistering rage igniting in my veins. “You son of a bitch. You wouldn’t fucking dare. Josh is on those tapes too. You’re not going to rake your precious little brother through the mud like that.”
“You know, I’m not real worried about his reputation as long as it keeps me out of the grave next to him. Call off your dogs, get off my ass, go back to New York, and never show your face again. Or get ready for war. Your choice.”
The line went dead and I stood there with the phone to my ear, trying to make sense of what the hell had just happened.
He had the videos.
He had a tail who was not mine, and therefore, I couldn’t call them off even if I wanted to.
And, for some reason, he thought he might end up in a grave next to Josh.
What the fuck was happening?
There was only one person I could think of who might be able to piece this clusterfuck together.
“Swear to God, this better be good,” Leo said when he answered the phone. “Boy, my eyes aren’t even open yet. What time is it?”
“It about five your time, but I need help and I didn’t want to wait.”
He let out a groan, which sounded more like he was climbing out of bed than frustrated. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”
I spent the next few minutes filling him in on my call with Jonathan. As I’d expected, the tail was not ours. Which meant Jonathan had far bigger problems than harassing the Stewarts. When I told him about the tapes of Nora, he appropriately lost his shit, spiraling into a tornado of curses and death threats that matched the fury bubbling inside me.