Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Letting him go, I stepped back and turned to head out the back exit. I was going to miss this place, but I’d move on and find something new. I always did.
• Nine •
With all this caffeine and sugar, I might just make it to Tampa tonight.
Briar
I couldn’t reach the basket filled with the food Maeme had given us. I really wanted another muffin. But I also needed coffee.
Dovie was sound asleep in the passenger seat of the Honda Accord I’d traded in my Jeep for back in Jacksonville. That was painful. I’d been wanting a Jeep for years, and when I bought that eight months ago, it had made me giddy. But driving around in a candy-apple-red Jeep stood out, and I needed to blend in. So, gray Honda Accord it was.
At the last minute, I’d decided against going north and headed south instead. But not the real South. The Florida south. I figured we could keep driving all the way to Key West. Find a little bungalow or house boat to rent. I’d be able to find a singing gig easy enough there. Or perhaps Miami would be better. It was bigger and easier for us to get lost in. Right now, I just needed to get some more miles between us and Atlanta before I felt safe enough to stop and get rest. A few more coffees, maybe two muffins, and I’d be good to go for at least six more hours.
I’d turned off the audiobook we’d been listening to when Dovie fell asleep. I didn’t want her to miss any of it, but it had helped keep me awake. Maybe if I stopped for coffee and got another muffin out of the basket, I could load another audiobook and start it instead. A good story might keep me going for eight hours. I wasn’t big into reading like Dovie, but there was something to be said for an audiobook. I liked it. Dovie had told me I would. She knew the real reason I wasn’t a big reader was because I struggled with the words. Labeling myself as dyslexic had always felt off because when it came to music, I could write it all day. Something about the notes and the melody made sense to me. But reading words on paper, nope.
My phone began to ring, and I reached for it, seeing a number I didn’t recognize. I stared at it, unsure if I should answer or not, but seeing as it wasn’t Jameson’s number or even one with that area code, I decided to see who it was. If it was him, I’d hang up before he could track me. If that was even a thing with cell phones. I wasn’t sure. I’d need to get a new one when we got to wherever we were going. But for now, I had to use what I had.
“Hello?” I said, not talking too loud. I didn’t want to wake Dovie.
“Where are you?” Storm’s voice came over the line.
My head was in battle with the rest of my body. While my brain knew to be annoyed with this rude, intrusive man, my body began to warm up and come alive from his deep, husky voice. Stupid body.
“Uh, I don’t see how this is your business.”
When he’d left my former dressing room, hadn’t he made it very clear that I should leave town and he no longer cared what I did?
“Maybe not, but King is pissed. The tracker on your vehicle is in Jacksonville, Florida, at a dealership.”
What?!
“Tracker?!” I caught myself before shouting and ended up hissing the word instead.
“You knew he was keeping tabs on you,” Storm sounded as if this made sense.
“I’m sorry. A man I do not know had a tracker on my Jeep. I have the right to be angry.”
Storm sighed. “He’s going to find you, and you can make this easy or hard. I’m just warning you that you don’t want an angry King. He’s got a temper.”
Gripping the phone tightly, I glared at the road ahead of me. “I am getting out of town, like you suggested. I was unaware I had to check in with King. The man who was my father is dead. Very dead. Bottom-of-the-ocean dead. I swear my life on it. He can stop watching my every move.” I glanced over at Dovie, who was thankfully still asleep.
“Why are you whispering?” Storm asked, catching me off guard.
Did he pay attention to everything?
“I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are. Who is with you?” The distrust in his tone was clear.
“Not Roger, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I replied, disgusted at the thought.
Silence.
Had he hung up?
“King is not someone you lie to, Briar. He’s pulled a gun on Sebastian for letting Rumor wear his fucking hoodie because she was cold. When it comes to Rumor, he is not sane. He’ll put a bullet in your head and go eat his Maeme’s banana pudding in the same damn hour.”