Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“Calm down,” Doc advised. “She’s at least 18, we can assume that much, so no way can she be forced to go back there. And I’ll keep the search quiet, do it myself. If anything pops, we talk it over before we decide anything. She never even has to know we looked.”
But that didn’t pan out.
The next day, Chris was nearly ready to close up shop when Doc pulled into the turnaround in his cruiser. He parked it and stepped out. Chris met him halfway. Doc shook his head. “I got nothing,” he told Chris. “Whoever your little tenant is, she’s a ghost. No car, no I.D., always pays in cash. Anything you get is gonna have to come straight from her.”
Chris scuffed his boot into the crushed gravel of the turnaround. “Well, I won’t hold my breath on that,” he muttered.
Chapter 11
It was just after midnight and the bar was packed. Hayley was already tired but kept plowing through. She set some drinks down on the table of some cowboys and headed back to the bar for the next order. On her way back, someone grabbed her by the upper arm.
“Hey, we ordered some beers!” snapped the frat boy who’d shown up with his friends almost thirty minutes ago. They were not having much luck snagging any of the women in the place and their demeanor was growing steadily churlish.
Hayley opened her mouth but nothing came out as the frat boy was lifted up suddenly by the scruff of his neck.
“You do not put your hands on any woman here!” Chris informed the college boy. “Especially not that one!” Chris half carried, half dragged him to the door.
The rest of the frat boys got up, shouting at Chris and following them outside. Hayley put her tray on the nearest table and ran out, with Tex, Hawk, and half the bar spilling out the door to watch.
Chris tossed the frat boy onto the gravel of the parking lot.
“Hey, you can’t do that!” one of his friends said.
Chris smirked at him. “I think I just did, son. Now why don’t you get the fuck out of here? You’ve done your bit of slumming for the night. No one’s interested. Fuck. Off.”
“Hey, come back here!” the guy on the ground yelled, getting to his feet. Chris turned to oblige.
“Oh, god,” Hayley breathed and took a reflexive step toward them. Hands clamped down on her shoulders and she realized Tex was holding her.
“He’s alright,” Tex murmured in her ear.
“Kid,” Chris said dismissively. “Just go the fuck home.”
“Fuck you!” the kid shot back. “I’ll kick your ass.”
Everyone laughed, including Chris. “Uh huh,” he told the frat boy and turned to go back inside.
The kid took a step forward and his hand shot out toward Chris’s turned back. Hayley drew in a sharp breath to scream but Chris half-turned, grabbed the kid by the wrist, twisted, and tossed him down on the ground again.
“What are you standing there for?” the kid shouted at his friends. “Get his ass!”
After a moment’s hesitation, several of the frat boys launched themselves forward, directly at Chris. He sidestepped the first one, landing a punch to his stomach that sent him reeling. Two more split up, attempting to get at him from both sides. Chris kicked one in the knee and when he went down, smashed the other one in the face with his fist. The ringleader staggered to his feet and pulled out a knife from his pocket. This time Hayley did scream.
Chris grabbed the kid by the wrist again and with his other hand took hold of the back of his neck. He swung him into a parked truck, bouncing his head off the hood. He slammed hand holding the knife into the fender. The kid dropped the blade and fell backward. Chris bent down and casually picked up the knife, folding the blade back down.
At this point Caleb swaggered into the lot, pulling out his badge. “Don’t think I need to tell you boys we’d better not see you around here again.” The boys bolted to their SUV, carrying their most severely injured friend.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Chris asked sarcastically, eyeing Doc. “You just show up at the end? I almost got my clothes dirty!”
“I was in the head!” Doc said defensively. “I didn’t know you were gonna start a bar fight with a bunch of posers! What was that about? You couldn’t just ask them to leave? This might have ended in paperwork, Shooter! Paperwork! I did not become a cop to fill out fucking paperwork!”
“One of them grabbed Slick.”
“Oh.” Caleb turned to Hayley. “You okay, honey?” Hayley, still recovering from having witnessed the fight, nodded a little. Caleb turned back to Chris. “Well, alright then.”
Chris handed Caleb the knife. “Here. If they come back, arrest them.”