Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
His arms encircled her. Holding her tight. That feeling of safety that came from being held by her big brother stole over her. Suddenly, everything didn’t seem so hard. Or so scary.
She really had missed the boogerbreath.
“Did she just say that she missed your boogerbreath?” a deep voice with a slight southern drawl asked.
She turned to look at a smiling older man. His dark eyes twinkled at her.
A smile crossed her face. Although she didn’t move out of Aidan’s arms. She could guess who this guy was from the description that Aidan and Livvy had given her, but she wasn’t ready to go back to reality.
It was easy to hide here and pretend that bad things couldn’t get her.
“Occasionally, I do,” she replied. “Although I don’t miss the stinky stage he went through as a teenager. Teenage boys do not smell good. And the stuff they use to make themselves smell better . . . seems to make everything worse.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Hey! I never stank as a teenage boy!” Aidan protested. “That was Cash!”
“Sure, you didn’t,” she drawled.
“Watch it, Squirt. I have a few stories I could tell about you.” He narrowed his eyes at her.
Uh-oh.
No way did she want those stories getting out. Especially not in front of Hack, who was currently in the midst of some sort of bro hug with Mr. Sexy-and-Southern, who she was guessing was Razor.
She drew back. “You know what . . . you’re right. It was most definitely Cash. He was the stinky one. You smelled like roses and all things nice.”
Aidan just grinned down at her. “Squirt, this is Razor, my boss.”
“Pleased to meet you, darlin’,” Razor said, holding out a hand. She shook it.
“And you remember Duke.”
She spun to Duke.
“Of course she does,” Duke huffed, holding out his arms.
She threw herself at him. Duke was one of Aidan’s oldest friends. She knew that he’d lost contact with most of his friends when he’d gone to jail. But Duke had always been there for Aidan. And for her. He’d always been a phone call away, even when she was halfway across the country. He’d helped her move to Savannah when she couldn’t stay here any longer.
“Hey, Greer,” Duke muttered, rocking back and forth. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’d say me too. But I’m not entirely sure that’s true yet.”
“I get that. And if you need me for anything, I’m here for you. Especially while Sav is away. You will call me. Got me?”
There was a stern note in his voice that made her grin. He’d always been so bossy. She wondered how his wife put up with him. She drew back.
“I’m looking forward to meeting Sunny.”
“She’s dying to see you too, kid.” Duke ran his hand over her hair.
Okay, she wasn’t that much younger than these guys. Kid, really?
“I’m nearly thirty,” she muttered.
Duke grinned. “You’ll always be a kid to me.”
She huffed.
“I wanted to come see you,” he told her. “Let you know that we’re all here for you.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” It warmed her, knowing that Aidan and Cash weren’t the only people she had in the city who cared about her.
“Hey, Hack.” Aidan drew her away from Duke and tucked her under his arm. He then turned to where Hack was standing. “Thanks for looking after my baby sister. Hope she wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Hey!” she protested. “I’m never trouble.”
“You’ve got trouble in your veins, Squirt.”
“Rude,” she muttered. “I was a delight, wasn’t I, Hack?”
“Well . . .” Hack’s eyes twinkled down at her. “She’s a terrible driver, and her car is a piece of crap.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Aidan said darkly. “I’m sure it didn’t look that bad last time I visited you, Squirt.”
“Did someone smash into your front bumper, darlin’?” Razor asked, crouching down in front of her car to get a better look.
“Um. No. I kind of crashed into a pole when I was trying to park it at the supermarket. In my defense, those poles are hard to see.”
Everyone gave her an incredulous look.
“Well, I could probably do some work on the outside for you,” Razor said. “And get the motor running better. There was an issue with the battery?”
“Yeah,” Hack said. “Asshole mechanic replaced it.”
“Asshole?” Aidan asked sharply, tightening his hold on her.
Great, he was moving into big brother mode.
“Did he do something? Try to rip her off?” Razor asked.
“Nope. Much, much worse than that. He was checking out her ass.”
“You make things clear to him?” Duke snapped as anger filled Razor’s face.
They were all nuts.
“Course I did,” Hack huffed. “I wasn’t going to let that fucker ogle her like that. I threatened to pull out his eyes.”
“Good,” Aidan said with satisfaction.
“You did what?” she asked. She knew he’d threatened the other guy, but she hadn’t realized what he’d said.
That should probably freak her out. She’d had enough violence in her life to last her a lifetime.