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)
The drive to Canton took less than an hour. Traffic was bearable, and everyone stayed the hell out of my way.
When I arrived, Wendy’s parents let me in with a sad smile on their faces, then went out the door, closing it softly behind them.
Taking a deep breath, I walked into the living room where Everest and his wife, Wendy, were talking softly.
I walked up to them, took a seat on the couch across from them, and announced, “I’m moving to Dallas.”
Unsurprised at my arrival, they jumped right into the conversation at hand.
Wendy shook her head. “You can’t stand Dallas.”
She was right.
I hated everything about Dallas.
Driving anywhere near it gave me hives.
But…
“I’m about to ruin Sage’s careful life.”
Everest’s lips twitched. “She’ll hate that.”
I shrugged carelessly. “I don’t even care.”
Two days later, I moved to Dallas, with a job as a hotel concierge, and free board if I took the night shifts.
One day after that, I also found a job at the bakery that Uncle Coke said Sage liked to frequent.
One day after that, I met the man who saved Sage’s life.
The one who hated me at first sight.
I love driving alone. I just played the same song 10 times.
—Atlas’s secret thoughts
ATLAS
I tossed the wad of tissues I’d just blown my nose in into the trashcan across the room and made it.
My nose itched, and I immediately wanted to reach for another tissue, but my boss was giving me the stink eye.
My brother eyed me, his smirk telling me that he found my predicament funny.
He would.
The asshole was the one to give me the fuckin’ cold in the first place.
My family shared everything.
Opinions.
Food.
Houses.
Colds.
“Are there any other issues that you want to discuss today, boss, or can we get out of here already?”
I nearly choked on my phlegm as I snorted.
Scott, my boss, narrowed his eyes at the speaker.
Before he could chew Bob a new asshole, I interrupted with, nasally as it was, “I don’t have anything else to go over.”
I was exhausted.
Well and truly exhausted.
“You’re free to leave,” our team leader, Scott, offered up.
I was instantly on my feet, ready to get the hell out of the training facility.
Last night, Scott had declared that today we would have a team meeting, as well as a mandatory two-hour training session at the DPD SWAT’s training facility.
Which put a damper on my morning plans of fishing with my brothers and dad.
The last thing I wanted to do was be in this place on my day off, yet Scott didn’t seem to care.
Apparently, Scott had no life. Scott felt like just because he had no life, it meant that no one else should have one, either.
My phone rang as I was heading outside, and I smiled when I saw my sister’s kids’ faces there—Tex and Addi.
“Hey, Ande,” I said. “What’s up?”
“I’ll give you absolutely anything you want if you bring me some Pie Hard,” she pleaded.
I grinned. “Hard night?”
“Tex is potty training,” she said. “He wet the bed twice, and one of those times was in our bed, all over Keene.” She sighed. “And you know how he feels about having the kids in bed with us. He lost his shit on me after we got Tex all cleaned up and back in his bed. Rightfully so. I promised I wouldn’t allow the kids to get back in our bed after Tex peed in it the last time, and then I broke it because I was too tired to go do his sheets.”
“You could’ve gotten him up to clean them,” I suggested, angry that my brother-in-law would get mad at my sister.
I loved the hell out of the guy, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t always choose my sister over him.
“And I have. The last four nights.” She groaned. “He’s sick, and I couldn’t wake him up again.”
“You need to figure something else out then,” I suggested. “But yes, I’ll bring you Pie Hard. What do you want?”
“A milk bun and a cinnamon twist.” She sounded excited. “And whatever for the kids.”
Her kids were like rats. They’d eat anything as long as it was edible.
“See you in a few,” I said as I got into my truck and headed over to the bakery.
The bakery was close to the station, which had to be why I saw cops in there all the damn time.
Today being no exception.
Though, the cop I saw also happened to be my brother.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Gable.
Gable looked up from the display case and said, “I’m trying to tell myself that I don’t need anything to eat, but the smell drew me in.”
“What can I get you?” a woman breezed in from the back, door swinging in her wake.
The breath stalled in my lungs.
She was… beautiful.
Breathtaking.
Captivating.
She was tall, like five-foot-nine or so. She had long, flowing blonde hair. Not straight, but not curly either. Like Faith Hill used to have in those old country music videos I used to masturbate to.