Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
She’d also left us shortly after to go back to her job of helping customers.
Pepper eventually had to help, too, because a bus full of kids came in with their school field trip.
Forest and I moved off to the side, trying to get as much out of the way as we could.
I watched Forest enjoy his treats and was pleasantly surprised when he kept going back to the peach scone like it was his favorite.
It made me feel good that he liked the things that I liked.
Which got me to thinking again about what else we would share.
Which was when horror started to overtake me as a thought popped into my mind that sent terror racing through my veins.
Sleepwalking.
I sleepwalked.
What if I accidentally got out of the house? What if I left the door open, and Forest followed me?
The panic must’ve shown on my face because Pepper peeled off from the customers she was conversing with and came over to the little table that was in the very corner of the little shop.
“What is it?” she asked, using her fingers to run through Forest’s hair.
Forest looked up at her adoringly.
“Um,” I swallowed hard. “Sleepwalking. I sleepwalk.”
I’d told her, of course.
I’d told her all about how I’d mostly grown out of it.
But the last two days, I’d woken up standing in front of the front door, trying to get out of it.
I’d luckily installed a locking system on all the doors that would keep me inside, but still.
What if I got out?
New things fucked with me.
New places. New people.
Stress was a huge factor in it, too.
I stacked and restacked the plates in front of me, over and over again, until Pepper took the plates from me and placed them behind the counter in the sink.
With nothing left to fiddle with, I picked up the toy car that I’d bought Forest a few days ago and started to gently roll it back and forth.
When she came back, she sat down at my side and said, “I’ll stay with you tonight.”
The worry that was inside of my gut, nearly choking me to death, lessened. “You will?”
I could’ve asked my parents, of course.
I could’ve asked any of my brothers or sisters-in-law.
I could’ve even asked a couple of my good friends.
But that hadn’t been who I’d wanted.
She was.
Not that I’d known that particular tidbit of information at the time.
But after she’d offered…
It felt… right.
I don’t need a boyfriend. I need 12 million dollars and a carton of Blue Bell.
—Pepper’s secret thoughts
PEPPER
I was set to arrive at Atlas’s house about two hours after he had.
I’d had to run back to the hotel, do a check on a few things, and then gather up some of my wig stuff.
I had quite a few finished products that I needed to package up, too.
I gathered it all, my label maker, my laptop, and a week’s worth of clothes, and headed back downstairs to my car.
I ran into the night bellhop, and he waved me over.
“Hey, I wanted to talk to you about a few things,” he looked at me warily.
“Give me a sec,” I said as I walked over to one of the luggage carts and set my crap down.
Pulling it over toward Petra—I didn’t leave my laptop anywhere but fully secure after an incident with Sage a few years ago—and went back to him.
“What’s up?” I asked him.
He grabbed my cart and started pulling it toward the side hall where employees had a break room, a couple of bathrooms, and a few storage rooms.
“So you’re not hearing this from me,” he said. “But a woman came in today with long blonde hair and started accusing you of selling drugs out of your room.”
I blinked.
“They’re going to do a random room inspection with a few K-9 dogs tomorrow,” Petra continued.
I sighed, my mind whirling.
I knew damn well who the blonde was.
I also knew, like always, that this was a tried and true tactic that Sage liked to use.
“Was the blonde a police officer?” I asked stiffly.
He looked at me with surprised eyes. “Yes, how did you know?”
“Because that woman is my sister, and she’s had a vendetta against me since she turned twelve.” I explained my situation, not leaving much out.
What was the point?
I wasn’t trying to protect her anymore.
Nor was my mom around to get offended that I went out of my way to let everyone know what kind of asshole my sister was.
“Wow,” he shook his head. “That’s…”
“My sister,” I finished for him. “Did she pay someone for a card to get into my room?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know that. I just overheard it when your sister was discussing it with the day manager. I just got a really bad feeling and felt like you needed to know what was about to happen.”
I scrubbed my hands up and down my face.